Jane and Louise Wilson: Unreal Island

I spent a few wet and windy days at Orford Ness working with artists Jane and Louise Wilson helping them set up a series of installations. Oxford Ness is an small island (or spit) of the coast of Suffolk and for most of the 20th century it was used as testing site for top secret military experiments. It is now a nature reserve managed by the national trust.

Steve Claydon

I set up this sound installation at Firstsite gallery in Colchester for the artist Steve Claydon. A feedback loop between the amp and microphone causes sonic modulations and the the bell to resonate.

Accordion Bear

 

I had spent an interesting evening playing french tunes on an accordion whilst wearing a bear head on a M2 motorway bridge. This was for artist Anna Best, Soon to be used in an iPhone/iPad game....

Lighthouse

Working with artist Catherine Yass I used lots of muffled and ominous sea sounds to create the soundtrack for her latest film "Lighthouse" which was previewed at the De la Warr Pavilion in june. It was filmed from a boat and helicopter orbiting the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse, five miles out to sea, just visible from the Pavilion. Yass describes her interest in the project:

"I am fascinated by the structure of the lighthouse, balanced precariously on the corner of the platform, which is in turn balanced on its post. The platform looks too heavy for the post, as though it might topple over at any moment. And yet it survives all weathers and tides, standing throughout them with its odd sense of gravity."

An article can be found here

Repeater

With a nice scratchy quill, artist Caroline Wright wrote the 10 Commandments for six hours. I linked her pen to loudspeakers broadcasting the sound over the Bury St Edmunds Marketplace.

Somewhere

Working with artist Kirsten Lavers, I created a sound track for a short film documenting the building of Orchard Park, a housing estate in Cambridge.

Blank Canvas Project

"Charity project entitled Blank Canvas, which will see tents transformed into artworks by leading names in the art and fashion world, including Peter Blake, Rachel Whiteread and Vivienne Westwood." I worked with artist Catherine Yass to create a sound tent playing back the sounds of nocturnal birds. First exhibited at The Big Chill.

Trust

Created and mixed sound for a new film by Runa Islam. Commissioned as part of the UN celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

HIGHWIRE

I created the sound for Highwire a new film by the artist Catherine Yass. A multi-screen film and video installation, High Wire was filmed at the Red Road housing scheme in North Glasgow when French high wire artist Didier Pasquette attempted to walk between three of the high rise tower blocks. The event turned out to be somewhat anti-climatic with high winds leading Pasquette to abandon his walk after several steps out onto the wire and, terrifyingly, retrace his path....



Originally shown at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow it has since be exhibited at the German Gymnasium in London and at the Whitworth in Manchester.

Catherine Sullivan at Afoundation

October 2007 I set up the sound and was part of the AV team that installed Catherine Sullivan's installation at Afoundation's Greenland Street, Liverpool. The piece consisted of seven projected films all running in sync. For the sound we used seven parabolic speakers, one for each film.

FSRADIO

During July/August 2007 I set up an internet radio station at Firstsite Gallery. I built a sound studio and transformed the gallery into a drop-in radio station where participants could record and crate audio material for broadcast, these included radio plays, jingles, spoof radio shows, field recordings. The public could also turn up and take part in the live webcast.

Il Tempo Del Postino 2007

Commissioned by Manchester International Festival I worked with artist Koo Jeong A to create live Foley for an piece featured in the group show Il Tempo Del Postino which previewed at the Manchester Opera House. Co-curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno the show showcased work from a group of leading visual artists and focused on how art would occupy time in a physical performance space.

AERIAL PHONOGRAPHY

A sound project recording a hot air balloon journey. Flying over Cambridge, I recorded sounds moving up from the ground, creating a sonic map of the journey I was taken on. Funded by Arts Council England and featured as part of The Junction's art and technology festival ENTER_ 2007. More information can be found here.

Lock

Photographs: "Lock" Catherine Yass 2006 Gallerie LeLong New York

October 2006 I created and installed a multichannel soundtrack for "Lock" a new film by artist Catherine Yass. The film Projected in two parts on opposite sides of the gallery, with a "front" and "backwards" soundscore. The film was shot at the Three Gorges Dam in China's Yangtze River and the soundtrack was created from field recordings of these giant concrete locks. The film was previewed at Galerie Lelong New York.

Kettles Yard Open 2006

October 2006 I helped create and install a multichannel installation for Kettles Yard Open. Working again with Kirsten Lavers we installed the soundtrack in the chapel.

The sound is a reading of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an alternative school portrait through sound with Coleridge Community College, Cambridge. The poem is read by all of the school’s pupils and teachers and is underpinned by an atmospheric soundscape composed from recordings made in the school building.

The Hour - Tate Modern

Photograph: "The Hour" Rosemary Butcher Tate Modern 2005

In November 2005 I worked with why not associates to create and install a six channel soundscore to accompany new work by innovative choreographer Rosemary Butcher. 'The Hour' was created specifically for the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall.

I have also created a subsequent sound piece to accompany Rosemary Butcher's performance 'Images Every Three Seconds' now touring in Vienna, Munich and Rotterdam.

Radio Taxi

Photographs: "Radio Taxi" Cambridge 2005

June 2005 I collaborated with Kirsten Lavers and cris cheek of the Taxi gallery to set up and run radio station in the Cambridge area. The broadcast and webcast were delivered from the front room of a semi-detached house (with the aerial on its roof) outside of which an old London black cab is parked in the front garden. The front room acted as a control room with a live microphone in the cab. All was visible to streetside passers-by, any of whom could knock on the door, climb in the cab and be put live on air.
Radio Taxi archive

Follow Me

Photographs: "Follow Me" Susan Philipsz Maryland Park London 2004

In November 2004 I worked on an audio installation by Susan Philipsz piece called "Follow Me". It was installed on a dark rainy day in Maryland Park, Charton London as part of the Paul Rooney curated show titled Pass The Time of Day at Gasworks Gallery. The piece consisted of four separate sound channels routed to four outdoor speakers mounted high in the treetops.