I am standing in a field, Nov 2011
I am standing in a field, as part of Ruth Beale's Department of Overlooked Histories, Wysing Arts Centre
Named for Alvin Lucier’s 1969 sound work I am Sitting in a Room, this piece engages with aspects of sound recording practice, cultural preservation and perceptions of nature, as well as notions of ownership and distribution of media in relation to social space.
The work was created from 3 sound recordings made at the Wysing Arts centre, played back in different spaces and re-recorded multiple times, allowing material features of the recording process and the space of audition to seep back into the domain of listening, reversing the conventional relationship between signal and noise, whereby the presence of the medium normally erases itself. All resultant recordings are registered Creative Commons.
The term ‘soundmark’ , derived from the term landmark, is used to define a man-made sound which possesses a unique and easily recognisable quality that relates it to a specific community or locale. The notion of a ‘soundmark’ is popular amongst the Acoustic Ecology community, keen on preserving what they see as unique or culturally and historically important sounds.
A ‘sound trademark’ on the other hand relates to a sound that is generally produced by a commercial product, such as a laptop, mobile phone or even a motorbike. In order to be legally registered as such, a ‘sound trademark’ must be visually represented, either in the form of standard musical notation or as a spectrogram. This fact illuminates the primacy given to the visual over the auditory; it also highlights ambiguities over ownership of audio objects. Can you imagine if the law were to dictate that a commercial object in order to be trademarked must be represented by the sound of that object?Copyrighting of audio recordings is common place, and of course plagiarism and illegal distribution are part of musical and media culture. Enforcement of copyright often hinges on the recognisability of somebody else’s work, for example a vocal sample or a drum groove. Copyright becomes difficult when dealing with recordings of social and private spaces or the right to record those spaces. This has as much to do with recognisability as it does with notions of public ownership of space, for example establishing the difference between recordings of two splashing waves may prove very difficult. The relationship between space and recording is complex. When recording anything we not only record the sounds produced in the space, but the sound of the space itself. Sounds are produced by space; sounds are space. Audio production practices bracket out, manipulate, or idealise this space, and in the process they transform the perception of its object. With sound recording, the possibility for hybrid space emerges with the duality of playback and recording, and it is this submerged, suppressed tendency that I am Standing in a Field renders audible.
35 Mwph
The Sonification of Deptford Power Station, Call & Response (2011)
C&R presents a generative, 4-channel audio installation at Agency Gallery in South London, using the SELCHP electricity plant as a data source. Forming part of sonic workshop series Code of Contingency, our workshop on June 14th will focus on strategies for exploring audio media ecologies, data sonification and basic environmental sound recording.
The SELCHP is a major incineration plant located in South Bermondsey near the Agency Gallery. Data from the power output of the plant and power consumption of the gallery will be used to inform the resultant audio of the work at any given time. As such the work is a sonic representation of the energy consumed by the works in the show throughout its duration.
As part of our participation at Agency, we will give an artist talk and workshop on June 14th exploring environmental thinking, composition and media ecology. We will focus on local sound issues and data sonification with special emphasis on multi-channel diffusion. Using the work as a discursive object, participants will think about strategies for creating an audio installation using field recordings, exploring aleatoric, process and generative compositional techniques.
The workshop will begin with a visit to the show at Agency Gallery. It is open to everyone including those interested in acoustic ecology, generative composition, environmental art and sound art.
Participants should bring their own laptops. If participants own recording devices, these should be brought as well. Please see the Code of Contingency website for further information on booking a place at our workshop. Other artists participating at Agency include Lucky Dragons, Tom Richards and Tomutonttu.
Netaudio London, Roundhouse, 15th May
Call & Response will be presenting a running programme of immersive audio works as part of Netaudio Festival. The programme will include works by Sarah Boothroyd, Tom Slater, Robert Van Heumen, Jeremy Keenan, Matt Lewis, Kaffe Matthews, Ralph Steinbruchel, Eric La Casa, and Jacob Kirkegaard.
Converging Objects: Live Electronics Workshops, 11th/12th Feb
Call & Response present Converging Objects, a set of workshops for musicians who improvise and use live electronics, with Robert van Heumen & Anne La Berge.
Converging Objects
11th & 12th February, 10am-5pm
Venue: 113 Dalston Lane, London E8 1NH [map]
Cost: £120
Converging Objects is a hands-on workshop aimed at acoustic musicians who improvise and use live electronics, those who play with other musicians using electronics, or musicians and programmers who improvise and work with acoustic players.
Participants will explore ways to use technology as an intimate and/or integrated partner for acoustic instruments, designing hybrid or purely electronic instruments and ways in which to engage and integrate performers bodies as real-time creative forces. The focus will be on improvising skills as well as developing approaches to using live electronics. It is anticipated that the range of participants using electronics will encompass those just simply amplifying themselves to those using sophisticated computer programs. Software explored will include Abelton Live, Max/MSP, LiSa and, Supercollider.
No previous experience of coding or use of programming environments is necessary.
The course will conclude with a performance by participants and Anne and Robert.
Bookings
Please e-mail to hello@callandresponse.org.uk to reserve a place. We will then e-mail you payment instructions.
Please note places are limited to 15 and should be booked well in advance. Participants should bring their own laptops and instruments.
Information about the artists
Robert van Heumen uses the laptop combined with various controllers to create sound worlds. As musician he uses STEIM's live sampling software LiSa and realtime audio-syntheses software SuperCollider controlled by MIDI controllers and a joystick. Van Heumen is performing regularly with Shackle (with electro-flutist Anne LaBerge), ABATTOIR (with cellist/vocalist Audrey Chen), the audio-visual trio SKIF++ (with Jeff Carey & Bas van Koolwijk) and Davis/VanHeumen (with bass clarinetist Gareth Davis). He worked for 9 years at the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam as project manager, curator of the Local Stop concert series and member of the artistic committee.
Anne La Berge's career as flutist/improviser/composer stretches across international and stylistic boundaries. Her most recent performances bring together the elements on which her international reputation is based: a ferocious and far-reaching virtuosity, a penchant for improvising delicately spun microtonal textures and melodies, and her wholly unique array of powerfully percussive flute effects, all combined with electronic processing.
C&R Curator & Artist Talk, Sat 6th Nov
In conjunction with the exhibition and performances, Call & Response is proud to present a talk around the act of listening, particularly locating sound as a spatial concern and contesting its power of representation in contemporary society. Joining us in the discussion are curator Cecilia Wee, and three of the exhibiting artists — Lawrence Upton, Dawn Scarfe and Tom Slater. The title of the talk, Sound is Promiscuous, is taken from Brandon Labelle's analysis of auditory life and sound culture in Acoustic Territories.
The talk takes place at the James Taylor Gallery at 4:30pm on Saturday the 6th November (map).
C&R Residency, 4th-7th Nov - Full Programme
Our multi-channel programme is now confirmed. The programme includes Jacob Kirkegaard's Icelandic volcanic recording project, Eldfjall, as well as Eric La Casa's 8-channel piece, Zone Sensible, a frenetic microcosm composed solely of beehive sounds recorded in Saint-Denis, Paris. Other works include a multi-channel piece by Kaffe Matthews and Robert Van Heumen's Fury, a work exploring the "emergence of suppressed rage" in the Dust Bowl period of the USA. Steinbrüchel's Opaque and Jo Thomas' sound world Angel also feature. Works by Dawn Scarfe, John Levack Drever & Lawrence Upton, Tom Slater and Jeremy Keenan complete the bill. All the works are presented using an immersive 8.1 sound system. You can download the full programme notes (pdf).
The works are on rotation from 4th-7th Nov, 12-6pm (Free Entry) at the James Taylor Gallery (map).
C&R Residency, 4th-7th Nov - Full Lineup
We are proud to announce that we will be presenting multi-channel works by Kaffe Matthews (Annette Works), Robert Van Heumen (STEIM), Jacob Kirkegaard (Touch), Jo Thomas (Entr'acte), Tom Slater, John Levack Drever and Lawrence Upton (EMS), steinbrüchel (Room40), Eric La Casa (Room40), Jeremy Keenan, Mick Grierson (EMS) and Dawn Scarfe. These will be on rotation from 12-6pm, 4th-7th November, at the James Taylor Gallery, and entry is free throughout. Full details of the works in the programme will be available shortly.
C&R Residency, Live Performances 5th Nov
We will be presenting an evening of international performers utilising our 8.1 surround sound system at the James Taylor Gallery on Friday 5th November, 7-11pm. A-R-A-R (PT/UK) are homemade electronics duo Vasco Alves and Louie Rice, on AM/FM Keyboard 6 and Tone Generator. Andre Avelas (DNK Amsterdam) will present a performless solo generated by musical automata. Brian Mckenna (CA) will perform an audiovisual work using feedback and harmonic distortion. Adam Asnan (UK) will present a 12 channel work utilising mobile cassette players, and Kaffe Matthews (UK) will perform a live multi-channel work.
Limited entry. Tickets: £6/£4 [ BOOK NOW ]
Confirmed for JTP10: Jo Thomas, Jacob Kirkegaard, Kaffe Matthews, Robert Van Heumen
We're excited to announce Jacob Kirkegaard (Touch), Jo Thomas (Entr'acte), Kaffe Matthews (Annette Works) and Robert Van Heumen (STEIM) will all be presenting multi-channel works for C&R at the James Taylor Gallery, 4th-7th November. This rolling programme of works will be presented on an immersive 8.1 system and be free to visit 12-6pm daily. A number of other artists will be confirmed over the coming days.
JTP 10, Private View 15th October 2010
Join us for the private view listen of JTP 10 at the James Taylor Gallery, located near Well St in Hackney, on Friday 15th October. We'll have a live performance from Tom Richards operating homemade analog sequencers (video). You'll find us on the top floor of this Victorian factory building. Free entry 7-11pm.
JTP 10, 4th-7th November 2010
We are currently working on our launch programme for November 2010, which forms part of JT Project 10 at the James Taylor Gallery, Hackney. As part of the 2010 Projects series, C&R will be presenting a four day programme of sonic events in this expansive Victorian factory from 4th-7th November.
For C&R's inaugural project we will present a running program of 8-channel audio works by invited artists responding to the theme Call and Response. Alongside the event will be evening performances, installations and a discussion panel comprised of artists, curators and theorists.