Quiet at last

What a peaceful couple of days it's been! The last two weeks preceding this balm of a weekend have been hectic, stressful and mind-numbingly boring in periods of downtime. My 'real-job''s to blame for this, though for the sake of avoiding a rant that topic stops here. There's been so much on my mind art-wise as well.

The EAF (Experimental Art Foundation) show for next year Private Invocations has been readied for the 2009 program following some editing and refinement to the original proposal and solidifying the roster of contributing visual artists. The incoming EAF director (replacing the long serving Melentie Pandalovski in April 09) seems like an ideal candidate for the role.

The new release Tiefurt has inevitably been held up as well, after listening to the track sequence in various scenarios (at home, ipod, good speakers/bad speakers) I'm still having some quibbles over the quality of the sound in parts and whether I should pare down the extensive sleevenotes which will accompany the album.

It's been a refeshing (albeit guilty) coule of weeks away from the thesis and general research as well, the Xmas break from work will allow for some time on these things.

My various tinkerings in the early hours have been productive and revelatory in some cases. I've become converted and a bit obsessive over the creative and compositional potential of wireless interfacing via my iPod Touch using OSC controllers (Open Sound Control), which has been evident in a couple of posts documenting the Touch OSC application. I'm currently exploring the Sonic Life application which uses Conway's Game of Life algorithm, which is useful for triggering toggles in Max/MSP. I've been promising video documentation of these activities for a while, so I hope to post something soon.

Oh yes, the Xmas single will be recorded in the next couple of days and posted here for download forthwith.

EAF: ARTERIAL > TLR discovers his gut limit

I thought there was a smaller that usual crowd at the EAF for an opening. There was a good reason.

Thursday evening presented 'Arterial', a performance/installation work where the performers (senVoodoo) bleed from the wrist across a long strip of photographic paper. I lasted about three minutes. The sound of dripping and a horrid 'sticky foot' sound nearly made me pass out. I inspected the delicate blood patterns after the performers had left the space, feeling a little more at ease albeit with a twisted stomach and a desire to consume more wine.

An impressive work nontheless.

un/gather: sound design documentation

Some video documentation of Linda Lou Murphy's un/gather exhibition at EAF.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih767vr0j5o

Un/gather opening night

Last night was the opening of Linda Lou Murphy's un/gather performance and exhibition at the EAF. It was a nice night with a good crowd and reception. My installation sound suited the environment quite well, despite the fact it could scarcely be heard with a crowd in the space. I observed some nice moments when the conversations died away temporarily and the droney textures resurfaced with the occasional 'konk' and 'snap' of a dynamic sound element.

I'll be going into the space during the week to get some recordings/video doc done.

Many thanks to Linda for providing me with this opportunity, it's been a very good experience.

Apologies to Melentie for spilling wine on the wall.

Ungather bumps into EAF

This afternoon I was at the Experimental Art Foundation wrangling with the boomy exhibition space which is admittedly ill suited for audio. The reverb is quite something - a good thing I don't use too much artificial reverb in my pieces! Thankfully the 'dry' character of my piece manages to work in consort with the natural reverb as a positive element, it seems to colour the space nicely. Some expert advise from EAF's resident install tech Michael was very helpful too. Nice Bose speakers.

It's always a bit unpredictable going into a space for the first time as you can't really predict what it's going to sound like. I'll be making some subtle refinements tomorrow morning then we can wait for the opening next Thursday.

Ungather update

My sound pieces for Linda Lou Murphy's upcoming Un/Gather exhibition cum-performance at the EAF are nearly finished. I don't understand all of the flak Gargeband cops, its video feature is remarkably simple and runs quite smoothly. As long as you don't start feeding DV files into it.

Familiar Strategies

Today I've been agonising over the many activities and projects that are going on at the moment. My sound assignment for Lynda Lou Murphy's EAF installation is one of these, and has been at the mercy of over-complicated approaches and strategies in putting the sound components together. Lots of flow charts, lists, weird sketches and amorpheous graphic scores are scattered around my work space at home, a good thing I came to work in my uni space then, which is model poverty pack Ikea in its cold austerity and minimalist functionality.



Anyhow, I decided to take a leaf out of the brain of Brian (Eno) and write a personal strategy card for myself - in the vien of the Eno/Schmidtt Oblique Strategies:

KEEP IT FUCKING SIMPLE.

It seems to be working - my Sumi_Matic Max patch chews up and abuses samples and Garageband (eeeeek!) crudley bashes them into sonorous disharmony. Perfect.

EAF : City Tags (31.8.07 Day 6)

There's been a bit of a delay on the post for the final day of the City Tags workshop on Friday due to time constraints and being generally worn out. The session on Friday morning comprised of presentations of the participants projects and some general (and lighthearted) discussion to wrap up a weeks worth of activity. The projects were by no means finished works, but rather explorations of art practice in public space. I've included some brief overviews of some of the participants projects that I was impressed by.

Adele: Adele showed us excerpts of her French New Wave/Goddard-esque film. The film focuses on three characters at various locations around Adelaide, where messages are written on walls by each of the characters as a means of communication (i.e. "meet me in the city at 3.") The direction of the film is playful and deliberately abstracted by the quirkyness of the characters, use of both colour and black and white, as well as camera techniques (handheld/fixed) and media (ISight, Mini DV, mobile phone.) I was impressed Adele's film. It examines the city of Adelaide in a curious and cheeky fashion with three main inhabitants, seemingly out of synch with each other whilst attempting to locate themselves and each other.

Yasamin: Yasamin showed us some by a local art collective that she is affiliated with. One striking example was a series of boxes which they had painted and decorated with various material at installed on Union Street in the East End of Adelaide. Each of the boxes makes up a piece of the finished mural, and was (suprisingly) left relatively untouched by the City Council. I found this work to be a creative and original approach to urban art.

Luigi: Luigi showed us a film that he had made with frames video captures of solitary trees around the CBD. With the title of 'Lonely', he explained that he wanted to explore the idea of lonliness in the urban environment and chose trees as his central subject. I felt the idea could have been developed a little better from just focusing on actual trees, Calin suggested (in all seriousness) that he should have perhaps dressed a person up as a tree as this would add a bit more gravitas to the project.




Logan: Logan examined his assault (see previous posts) by looking at the role of authority figures in public spaces. A foam-board stencil of a security person was situated in locations around the Uni SA City West campus to explore the relationship between the object and its surroundings as well as the reactions of the general public in outdoor areas. The choice of such a location is because Logan's assault occurred close the campus and resulted in a dramatic overhauls of security on campus and its surrounding areas.



Marget: Marget showed us a film which she had made of her performing against a backdrop of the ocean (near the grain silos, Outer Harbour.) She made slow movements and gestures within the single frame as she draw on herself. The clothing she draw onto (like a white cloth poncho) was put on display in our room for us to examine up close. The conceptual background behind the work was complicated, though put simply Marget's intention was to explore one's own presence 'drawing onto' the atmosphere and environment by movement, positions and gestures as well as physically drawing onto one's self.




Bianca: Bianca couldn't make it to our final session, though the conception, materials and proposed location(s) of her project were very interesting. Mid-week she showed us some stickies she had made using an Aquadere composite and coloured dyes. Resembling ooze-like drips, these would be stuck onto cracks and divisions of corporate buildings around the city. Her intention is to examine the austerity and corrupt nature of these buildings, reflected in their impersonal appearance and what they represent.

Which brings me to my project which I unfortunately hadn't had time to develop beyond the examples I showed in the previous post. The idea itself - audio tagging within an urban context - was received relatively well with some good feedback regarding the nature of the work and further developments.

Conclusions and reflections on City Tags:

Overall, the workshop provided me with a good opportunity to work amongst a group of likeminded participants as well as meet Calin Dan, whom I regard as a consumate artist in many respects. Although I didn't come out of the workshop with a completed work, I am satisfied that I have come out of this experience with some fresh new avenues for my post-graduate research as well as my own art practice beyond the ivory tower.

Calin Dan's exhibition is now showing at the EAF until the 6th of October 07.

EAF : City Tags (30.8.07 Day 5)

Well, the plan was to start audio tagging some more populated areas of the city, but due to some time constraints and other priorities (such as tonight's Tyndall Assembly concert) I've been unable to get around to doing it. However, I managed to upload the video I made of my activities yesterday afternoon. You can watch it here.

From here on, there's the opening tonight of Calin's exhibition at 6pm, I've got a concert to conduct at 8.30-ish pm and tomorrow we'll be presenting our projects and wrapping everything up. (Hopefully I'll be able to do a bit of quick tagging before the concert tonight.)

EAF : City Tags (29.8.07 Day 4)

Yesterday was dedicated to doing some fieldwork and developing our projects conceptually and practically. Aside from finding appropriate locations to 'audio tag' I spent some time designing a 'sonic identity'/'sonic signature' for the project as well as putting together a short soundscape which one of the participants had requested for her work.

Today's activity consisted of discussion amongst the group and reporting on how our projects were coming along. A couple of examples (too many to list here.) Marget's investigation into the atmospheres of spaces is very interesting as she presented a video capture she made yesterday (at the wheat silo location of the bus tour - see Day 1) of her performing very slow gestures against a static backdrop - drawing onto the atmosphere with her movements and gestures. Sarah examined the public use of public space for artistic purposes in a video capture of a site off King William Street. The site used to be a warehouse which has since been demolished and in now an empty lot strewn with rubble and e-trash which local street artists have used for shooting films and urban art (incl. some very creative graffiti.) Adele is currently working on a short film in (as she put it) the style of Luc-Goddard and the French New Wave. The film comprises of three characters meeting at various locations around the city. Logan is developing his idea (summarised in the Day 2 post) by postering and stenciling around the site of his assault. Calin provided some very thoughtful comments as well as proposing some new ideas for the projects in terms of examining the role of 'presence' and 'tension' in public space.

As for my own project, the 'audio tag' premise remains intact and this afternoon I picked out some convenient locations to hit. They are listed below.


Madley Lawns - University of Adelaide


Next to Oliphant Building - University of Adelaide


Next to South Australian Art Gallery/Museum - off North Terrace

I'll upload the YouTube video of these activities sometime tomorrow as the server isn't capable of handling large files at the moment.

I'm a bit too mentally tired to encapsulate some of the conceptual ideas underpinning this project, so I'll leave that for tomorrow as we've got a free day to spend some time firming up our works. Tomorrow I'll be striking Rundle Mall and locations with more human and sonic density.

EAF : City Tags (28.8.07 Day 3)

A 'free day' today of fieldwork and developing our projects. Since my post last night, my project has changed its course somewhat. Instead of creating a soundwalk with a conceptual (and perceptual twist), I've decided to simplify my approach somewhat and focus more on the overarching idea which has dominated this workshop: identity in public space. To do this I've decided to create a 'sonic identity' as a virtual audio tag and situate it around designated locations in the city. As I've only got a couple of days left to realise this idea, I can't spend a great deal of time designing some elaborate sound generating device (which I intended to do leading up to the workshop.) Instead, I'll rely on my trusty combo of an iPod Shuffle and my portable speakers with built in amplification. It's a relatively inconspicuous set-up with a reasonable sound projection, so it shouldn't draw attention to itself too much visibly. The sonic identity will be a short looping audio track with a reasonable dynamic range as to articulate its surroundings to varying degrees. So overall at this stage the 'sonic identity' will be used to explore the relationship between an audible tag and its surrounding environment. Hopefully it will make a bit more sense once it's put into action tomorrow morning.

EAF : City Tags (27.8.07 Day 2)

Refreshed after a weekend's worth of recuperation and reflection, today's activity involved some general roundtable discussion amongst Calin and the participants regarding our proposed projects for the workshop. We were also treated to a presentation by Calin of some of his observations and works influenced by his experiences. A majority of ideas for projects are circulating around ideas of conflict, voyerism and identity in public spaces.

Discussion of projects:

A couple of examples. Participant Logan proposed a project based around his experience of being the victim of a group assault nearly a year ago just around the corner from the EAF. He explained he would use video capture and map out the site (using chalk lines, postering) of the assault to recreate the experience in an abstract fashion. Amy wanted to use the experience of the bus tour (see previous post) as a basis for exploring atmospheres of places and juxtaposing them against each other - such as the grain silo location juxtaposed with the warehouses of Port Adelaide. Such an idea comes from her motivation to engage with atmospheres which evoke contrasting subjective feelings and present these using video and photo media.

My project (such as it is at present):

As for me as the sole sound-based participant, I've decided to explore the role of auditory culture in public spaces by examining Walkman/iPod culture in a soundwalk for a city block in the CBD (possibly the Hindley St. circuit.) I will make a recording of the walk whilst mapping and timing it out accordingly. This recording will be used as the guide track that the participant will use (with Walkman/iPod) to navigate their way along the walk. Specific points along the walk will be chosen as designated 'observation points' where the Walkman/iPod is either paused or left running as a means to draw the participants perception towards their surroundings. Foreign sounds also will be added to the guide track in pre-production as a means to enhance/contradict/obscure the participants perception towards their surroundings.



This isn't an original idea by any stretch, it has its roots in the work of Canadian sound artist Janet Cardiff who in the 1990's put together these sort of soundwalks for Walkmans to tour the city. What I'm specifically interested in is combining this idea with the phenomena of Walkman/iPod culture in public/urban spaces. In an essay for The Auditory Culture Reader entitled "The Sonic Composition of the City", Jean-Paul Thibaud examines this phenomena by highlighting the dominance of the visual over the auditory in urban spaces and the common tendency to use the Walkman or iPod as a 'sonic bridge' to 'flatten their perception'[1] as the person moves from one location (such as their home) to another (such as work.) Thibaud uses 'the knots of the urban environment'[2] to describe intermittent and loud sounds which interrupt this state of flattened perception, and in turn draw the persons attention back to their surroundings and situation.

From this perspective, the construction of my soundwalk would take advantage of this state of flattened perception and (in a sense) turn it on itself by superimposing a prior recording of the walk onto the same walk in real-time. A temporal shift (or schizophrenia) of sorts, methods of lowering/raising volume, pausing the guide track and introducing foreign sounds could serve as a means of drawing the participants attention to their surroundings.

This is obviously still an idea in a state of rough conception, so I'll stop here before I start repeating myself and summarise Calin's presentation instead.

Calin's presentation:

Calin delivered a great presentation on what he describes as 'Emotional Architecture' using the capital cities of Bucharest (Romania) and Tallinn (Estonia) as examples. By 'Emotional Architecture', Calin approached the architecture of these cities to evaluate the relationship they have with their citizens.

Bucharest - where Calin spent most of the 1970s and 80s under Communist rule - was presented with a peculiar brutality in its decrepit Bauhaus-style high rise apartments juxtaposed with 19th century facades decaying under years of neglect. Calin alluded to Bucharest as a city with a history of ruptures, instability and 'a brutal activity of reshaping'. He identified this motivation towards reshaping as a cultural dissatisfaction with the way things are, which was pushed to proverbial extremes under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu with the construction of the enormous 'People's Palace' at the expense of surrounding neighborhoods and the construction of the said high rise apartments. This architectural activity and its relationship to Romanian society was used by Calin to explore the subject of public ownership of public space - a persistent topic of discussion in this workshop and a concurrent theme of our bus tour on Friday.

The analysis of Tallinn focused on the strange monolithic structure which is known Linnahall, an enormous building built for the 1980 Olympic Games. Essentially a proposed 'representation of the people' under Soviet rule, the structure became a site for events and demonstrations leading up the fall of Communism. Post-Communism, the structure has fallen into neglect and has (unsettlingly) been adopted by the Russian population of Estonia as a monument of the Motherland.

The ideas of identity in public space in Bucharest and Tallinn were then described respectively in the conception of two films by Calin, Sample City and Trip, which will be shown as part of the EAF exhibition of Calin's work opening this Friday.

(Whew...that's almost a couple of wiki entries right there.)

Overall, a good day. Calin is an absolute pleasure to work with as well as the fellow workshop participants.

[1] Thibaud, Jean-Paul. "The Sonic Composition of the City", The Auditory Culture Reader. (Berg: Oxford) pp. 329
[2] pp. 333

EAF : City Tags (24.8.07 Day 1)

The City Tags workshop facilitated by the EAF (Experimental Art Foundation) and headed by visiting art critic, curator and artist Calin Dan got underway on Friday with introductions, orientation, presentations and a bus tour around Adelaide and surrounding districts.

Introduction and orientation:

Workshop participants backgrounds and areas of practice are situated more or less in the visual arts (print/video/photography). I am the only participating sound artist, though a majority of the participants show a good understanding of sound and its application within their own and other art practices. During introductions, Calin asked questions relevant to each participants background, focusing specifically on where they come from, their heritage, family diaspora and how they relate to their city. These questions led onto a series of short discussions on space and memory, environments as habitat (places of residence), growing up with struggle, urban diaspora and 'conflict' in urban spaces. I'll be coming back to some of these themes over the next couple of days.

Presentation:

After an hour or so of formalities, Calin gave a short presentation of some work of his and discussed how it relates to themes associated with the workshop. More info can be found [here.]

Bus Tour

Around midday the tour got underway with 'guides' Francesca da Rimini and Caron Ward. Using the theme of 'lost/loss' the tour involved visiting various Adelaide-centric landmarks and locations. Fran and Caron had programmed the tour as essentially a 'mystery tour' with the itinerary listed with deliberate obscurities such as "The Big Drop", "Cataplasmic Aspirations" and "Unspecial K via Fuck off Fences".

The itinerary was as follows:

1. Pilgrim Church (aka "You built this city on the bones of our ancestors")

2. The River Torrens Beat and footbridge (aka "The Big Drop")

3. Blair Athol/Kilburn (aka "Unspecial K via Fuck off Fences")

4. Yatala Labour Prison (aka "Wiry Build. Bar None")

5. Mawson Lakes (aka "Cataplasmic Aspirations")

6. St. Kilda (aka "Stand up for the Queen" and "Leaving Alaska")

7. [Unknown Location] (aka "The Grainy Train")

8. Port Adelaide (aka "The heritage! Oh, the heritage!")

9. Pelican Point/Biodiversity Park (aka "Skeleton Mosque" and "The struggle continues")

The first location (prior to boarding the bus) reflected on themes of lost/loss from the perspective of dispossession and genocide. The Pilgrim Church on North Terrace (one of the first churches erected in Adelaide) was built with the sacred stone of the Indigenous inhabitants. This stone was also used in the construction of Old Parliament House and Government House (Genocide Corner.)



The next location was along the River Torrens and a visit to the gay beat of the 1960's and 70's. We were told the story of Dr. George Duncan who was thrown from the Torrens footbridge by two police officers after visiting the beat one night in May 1972. The murder and subsequent investigation led to sweeping reforms of gay rights by the South Australian premier at the time, Don Dunstan. There is a body of evidence to suggest that the murder of Dr. George Duncan was connected to the infamous "Family" serial killings of the 1970's.

The bus then did a drive through of the northern suburbs of Blair Athol and Kilburn, ostensibly a housing trust area and a designated area of residence for Afghan and Sudanese refugees. The State Government has recently approved a bill to sell over the housing trust homes to private enterprise, and thus force the current residents to seek more affordable housing. Essentially a push towards gentrification, such houses are expected to been sold at a starting price of $400,000 due to their 'close' proximity to the inner city. 'Fuck off Fences' refer to the trend in such suburbs to erect imposing spiked fences out the front of their houses. The sense of loss for the current residents must be palpable given their respective backgrounds, forced to undergo another migration (urban-style.)



Next stop was a visit to Yatala labour prison. Approval was sought prior to our visit as a dozen people taking photos and video capture of the razor wire perimeter would be certain to raise a few hints of suspicion. Especially since this is where David Hicks is currently held.



The 'asperational nighmare' that is Mawson Lakes was next on the agenda. A sickening eeriness was evident as we swept around the streets viewing frontyard/backyard-less houses with occasional meagre plots of open space and unhealthy man made river systems. Houses start at half a million dollars, built with cheap pre-fab materials. Four Wheel Drives are everywhere, replete with Gucci, Dior and vacant looking children. Glue sniffing kits and syringes are often found along the riverbanks and incidents of self harm and attempted suicide are high. Numerous billboards proclaimed 'Mawson Lakes is for Families' and 'Designer Living' and the ideal place to 'Watch Tensions Unfold' [!!!].



A drive through the disappearing market gardens of Virginia took us to the tiny suburb of St. Kilda perched on the perimeter of mangroves and salt lakes. Apparently birds migrate from Alaska in the warmer months to nest here. Despite the relative quiet and serenity of this location, the occasional thud and groan of the outer harbor could be seen in the distance.



Thousands of birds could be seen in the sky and around the grain silos at an unknown location (about 5km of St. Kilda.) Juxtaposition of the urban and natural environments was a dominant theme as the native dolphin populations (a few of which we occasionally saw in the inlet) are dying off due to the increasing pollution in the area. Fortunately, the birds can fly and seems to have adapted to their location with a good feed of spilt grain from the passing semi trailers.



Next stop was the old factories and warehouses of Port Adelaide which are due for demolition to make way for housing developments in the area (the boat houses are also slated for removal.)





The final stop was at Pelican Point (Outer Harbour) where we were given a tour of Bio-Diversity Park by local Friends Committee member Nick Davies. The site is the last of the original dune system along the Adelaide coastline and is currently under threat from the Maritime Authority who want to use the land for ASC's secured defence contracts. The ecosystem is comprised entirely of native regrowth and is the habitat for a variety of rare wildlife.



Reflections:

I have to admit that the tour was not what I had expected. It was a fascinating tour of Adelaide and especially sobering in its themes of loss: sacred land, mortality, migration, freedom, space, heritage, habitat and ecosystems. I would certainly say that my perceptions were challenged slightly at first as I was under the initial impression that we would be going around looking for urban tagging practices. However, it would seem (at least to me) that the theme of tagging has been extended to accommodate the broader scope of society and its relationship to a city undergoing change. The themes of space, memory, identity and conflict were dominant for me as we observed things that have or are disappearing and being moved somewhere else. The phenomenon of tagging and street art wasn't especially relevant to the tour itself, though the concepts which are attached to tagging (primarily identity in public spaces) were certainly evident in the thematic and conceptual breadth of the locations we visited.

So where from here? I'm currently enjoying a couple of days off this weekend before we re-commence the workshop on Monday. I can see a great deal of inspiration for my project and collaborations with the other participants. I'm still not exactly sure how I am going to apply these ideas to my primary practice of sound, though I think over the next couple of days these ideas will coalesce into something a little more substantial than amorphous thoughts and tinkerings.

Now I'm going to go and dig out some R.Murray Schafer and David Toop as well as my enormous tome on Auditory Culture and indulge in some light reading. Stay posted.

EAF City Tags Workshop

Starting tomorrow I will be involved in a week-long workshop facilitated by Adelaide's EAF (Experimental Art Foundation) and led by visiting new media artist Calin Dan. Operting under the moniker of City Tags, the workshop will involve participants exploring the phenomenon of public/urban art and its socio-cultural associations through various media. I am very excited about it and will be posting periodically over the next week.

EAF: City Tags Workshop

I will be participating in a workshop called City Tags to take place later this month at the invitation of the EAF (Experimental Arts Foundation). The workshop is part of a visit by the (new) media artist Calin Dan and will focus specifically on the phenomenon of tagging in urban spaces. I will be participating as a sound artist and developing an aesthetic of 'audio tagging'.

More can be read here: http://eaf.asn.au/2007/dan.html