For the next day or so these blogs will be limited to text & image only, as we work out a way to post sound unrestricted by site limitations: sound for all days will be uploaded soon, so do check back in!
A big day today - 3 events in rapid succession: an event for Tate Members which gave us the opportunity to explore in more depth both our current installation & its place in our wider oeuvre, & also to investigate our praxis in the context of the Dion installation, via a talk by James Barber, who was a primary assistant on the Dion as well as being an installation artist in his own right. We were able to explore issues surrounding the wide spectrum of possibilities inherent in the site-specific more of working, as well as enjoying a Q&A session with the audience present, which once again has proved invaluable to our work here. This was followed by the first two of our more formal performances (two more tomorrow) - a 5pm & an 8pm concert where we explored the wide ranges of performative potential this work has had for us. Many thanks to all who came, & for the Q&A sessions here too. Audio to come soon!
0 Comments
With 2 performance-biased days approaching, today was a good day to make some near-final additions to the space. We're aware that, although we're continuing to add small elements, the space is beginning to slow down in its accretions & feels close to attaining a steady state, in which we might make small changes, but are unlikely to continue adding at the usual rate. So today saw another field-recording, a text banner, another sweep of muslin, & the addition of some book work, but from tomorrow onwards the likely primary activity in the space will be sonic - preparatory & performative.
This altering in our focus brings some interesting dialogue to bear with the Dion installation we share the space with - our work has been very active & in flux in comparison with The Maritime Artist's steady state. How will we feel about things as our own material elements reach a more 'fixed' state? How will the two works communicate across the space? & how will our soundwork sit in the space as the 'active' element in a more fixed environment as opposed to the 'always-changing' space we've been used to? Link to today's performance recording here A big day - solidly into week 2 via some explorations of different ways of articulating the space (expanding into & across the volume), additional field-recordings & text, revamped Max patches, new graphic scores & objects, & shaking up the performative approaches to propel us in fresh directions.
A particular feature of today's performance was a focus on the graphic scores we've been making, alongside a paring back of other sonic elements - playing objects using amplification only without the usual additional processing was interesting, with Elizabeth's principal field-recording of the day running throughout as an environment, highlighting again how interesting it is to work in a space where both the field-recordings & the performative sound have analogues in the ambient sound of the world going on around us as we play. Exploring a more determinedly duetting approach to our flute-playing was also fun. The performance was once more followed by a stimulating, engaged, & helpful Q&A with our audience - we thank our interlocutors again for their willingness to invest in this aspect of the daily work. We hope to post today's discussion in due course. For a recording of today's performance: https://soundcloud.com/salt-soundings-blog/day-7 Saturday was the day of our first semi-formalised performance! With a slightly longer set of 30 minutes, our audience attendance widened to include a variety of age groups, livening Q&As before and after improvising significantly. Our performance wove together a selection of material developed in our improvisations throughout the week, including object-sounding, loops, flute sounds, precomposed material, and raw field recordings. Combined with this were a few new elements: graphic score interpretation with flute and objects, a varied microphone set, and new speaker spatialisations and channel distributions between the two of us.
soundcloud.com/salt-soundings-blog/day-6 Physically, our space is beginning to fill with collected text, both seen and overheard. Experiments with the presentation of this have begun with the development of banner-like strips of text, while other methods of presentation aimed at filling the volume of the space three-dimensionally have been percolating... The Genelecs went on adventures in interesting new places in the cellar today! Spatialization experiments and new objects to sound lent themselves to two performances this afternoon, both on soundcloud here
Today was a day for sound and text collection, photo printing, and tank acoustic experiments, after yesterday's busy day of visitors in Cellar 4. This resulted in a new graphic score, fabric streams of words, and photos accumulating in the space, along with multiple improvisation sessions featuring Gavin in the pilchard-brining tank! Our performance today included new sounds and voices gathered in the morning, more object-sounding, and interplay between flutes above and below deck. Have a listen on our soundcloud here
An exciting & varied day - beachcombing yielded several new objects, while Elizabeth's binaural field-recordings collected some new sorts of sounds. We also enjoyed sharing the space with volunteers explicating the Mark Dion The Maritime Artist installation we share the space with - thanks to Dell, Jenny & Phil, & to the visitors & audience who came along. Some of today's finds: Plus a couple more elements taking shape: Experimenting with speaker placements yielded enticing results, so more of that tomorrow, with some explorations of text & materials to potentially articulate some volume in the space.
Equipment failure meant that today's performance went unrecorded; however, you can still check out the soundcloud to hear Elizabeth's composed electroacoustic material sourced from her soundwalk. Today's work involved more object collecting, sound developments, and score experimentation. Our performance this afternoon was well attended by some wonderfully engaged audience members! Recordings of the entire improvisation are available on our dedicated soundcloud, as well as both pre- and post-performance discussion: soundcloud.com/salt-soundings-blog Objects sounded today included: And below are the beginnings of some graphic scores: ... as well as some text collection:
Welcome to the Salt Soundings blog - our residency-installation opened in Porthmeor Studios today! Having set up our audio desk, unpacked some muslin, tested microphones, collected and sounded objects, we have delved into the residency nicely. Our first improvised performance featured Gavin on electronics and flute, with Elizabeth playing flute and piccolo - below are some photos and sound snippets from the day. Daily updates to follow, so keep an eye and ear out!
|