Zubeida Malik interviewed Maya Ramsay and myself about the Station X project for Radio 4 Today programme. The interview was broadcast on Monday 30th May. A clip of it is available to listen to here…
and the BBC online gallery with photos of the project is here
Station X opened on 3rd May at Milton Keynes Gallery Project Space. Having access to Blocks C and D at Bletchley Park has been an amazing opportunity and it was exciting for the four of us collaborators to realise the installation. Transferring the sounds and sights of the Park that we had been so immersed in to another space was a compelling and poetic experience. I have been delighted to be supported by PMC speakers who have provided speakers of incredible clarity that are printed with Rachael Marshall’s wonderful photographs of pigeons. Station X is at MK Gallery Project Space until 27th May.
I have been making lots of recordings recently on the Explorer E202 of natural radio signals finding mostly sferics but also the occasional (very exciting) whistler. This week I have taken E202 to Bletchley Park to see what electromagnetic signals I can pick up there. Plenty of hum mostly, the site is right by the train line and hums like one enormous generator. I have been trying to find increasingly more isolated spots around the perimeter in the hope of getting away from 50Hz and its overtones…
Inside blocks C and D the pigeons continue their performance.
photo by Rachael Marshall
I have been researching natural radio emissions such as whistlers, sferics, auroural hiss and chorus caused by space weather. I plan to use recordings of these for a new sound installation planned for an outdoor site in Milton Keynes this summer, supported by Milton Keynes Gallery and Arts Council England. I am enjoying long walks as far from electricity as possible with an Explorer E202 – listening to the usually inaudible electromagnetic signals that surround us. It is amazing being able to tap into these imperceptible waves and listen with “radio ears”. Paul Nicholson and Wolf Buscher monitor VLF radio signals on a 24 hour basis and make them available as a fascinating live stream.
Wolf drew attention to an incredible whistler storm that occurred on the evening of 28th February and I plan to use his and Paul’s recordings of this event for the sound installation. Prof Bill Chaplin at BiSon has kindly supplied data relating to the acoustic modes of the sun ( the 5 Minute Oscillations) that I will be using as the basis of a more tonal composition that will mix with the electromagnetic emissions – presenting an artistic response to the electromagnetic and acoustic energy of the sun.
My new sound installation Autapia is playing in Milton Keynes Gallery Project Space until 27th November as part of the current exhibition on new towns, Community Without Propinquity. Commissioned by Claire Louise Staunton of Inheritance Projects, Autapia is a sound portrait of the new town of Milton Keynes. Comprising field recordings interwoven with thoughts, ideas and experiences, all the archive material comes from old tape cassettes found in public and private archives, including the Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre. The installation is diffused through speakers I modified that are more commonly associated with large public address systems.
I am collaborating with photographer, Rachael Marshall and installation artist, Maya Ramsay, on the documentation of buildings at Bletchley Park that are to be renovated. Our new blog is here. We have been granted access to make work in Blocks C and D, previously inaccessible to the public due to their state of repair. Rachael has been photographing the buildings in their current state and will document the renovation process throughout. Maya makes works by lifting pigment debris and texture from surfaces in the built environment and has been working on surfaces in both blocks. I have been capturing sounds within and outside the buildings. Block C in particular is a really challenging environment – many of the ceilings have collapsed and several of the rooms are inhabited by pigeons who fly towards flashlights and head torches! It is amazing to be granted access and, in spite of their inhospitable states, both blocks are strangely compelling due to their incredible histories. Block C is chiefly boarded up but a skylight near the back of the building has allowed enough light in combination with the damp environment for a “garden” to form. The pigeons seem to have established their individual territories and one in particular spends most of the day hopping around this garden space.
Photo by Rachael Marshall
Extracts from my sound installation Recording Contract Recordings, Milton Keynes Gallery.
Filmed and edited by Luke Williams.
Stan Warnow’s film – Deconstructing Dad, The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott – is showing at Milton Keynes Gallery on Friday 12th August, 6.30pm. The film is my choice for the New Art MK screening program and despite its critical acclaim, has only been shown a couple of times before at festivals in the uk. Stan is the son of Raymond Scott and the film provides a fascinating perspective of the pioneering composer’s relationships, personal life, work and inventions. View the trailer here…
Read Stan Warnow’s post about the MK Gallery Deconstructing Dad screening on his website, www.scottdoc.com where you can order the film directly on dvd.
New Art MK opened with a well attended preview at Milton Keynes Gallery on 7th July.
The sound installation, Recording Contract Recordings has been an opportunity for me to work with various spaces in and around the gallery and to use those spaces as an element of composition. The main sound installation is situated in the cube gallery. Every 35 minutes, a section of the piece is broadcast simultaneously inside the cube and “through the walls” into the public square, connecting inside and outside space. The section consists of tiny piano fragments recorded within the body of the piano and diffused through horn speakers into the square. Listen to the section here: Recording Contract Recordings (vertical slice)
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Just finishing work on new sound installation - Recording Contract Recordings – at Milton Keynes Gallery for the New Art MK show that opens 7th July and runs til 11th September.
