video project and installation
presented at Westwerk Gallery, Hamburg Germany
December 12-17, 2002

‘tendencies of infinite expansion’ looks at the finer qualities of flow dynamics and of materials in the solid, liquid and gaseous states; observing transitional air and noise fields of slowly shifting layers and changing densities. For me, this experiment marked another phase in an ongoing audio/visual investigation of movement patterns in thermodynamic systems. Small particles of dry ice were placed in various temperatures of water to see what characteristics it took on within the rapid phase change.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s what I’ll be involved with the next week or so:

Monday, January 26, 21.00
*Electropera Act 1: Parahouse_12
self-evolving participatory environment
by Egon March Institute and partner productions
Studio Martina Schumacher & Joulia Strauss in Ullsteinhaus

the photo above is from my participatory installation “feed back”

Monday-Thursday, 26th – 29th of January
X-OP- Conference Berlin
„True Art / Truely Merchandise“
at ConcentArt

Friday, January 30th, 21:47
Das Kleine Field recordings Festival
with: Paulo Raposo, Baruch Gottlieb, Feedbacksociety, John Grzinich
loophole – boddinstrasse 61

coming up next, Bytom-Wroclaw Poland…

It’s winter and the temperatures are not friendly for recording outdoors. In Dresden, where I’m in residence for several weeks at 7.stock, it’s been around -5 – 0 C during the day (not including the wind). I mention the wind because I’ve been working on the 7th floor of a building. While the view is great, the chilling winds are not. Regardless, I’ve made some attempts to construct simple installations out of wires and found objects, for exposing to the elements. One element that’s difficult if not impossible to communicate through sound is temperature. Without my telling, the recordings below, might easily pass as being made in a desert. There is still enough inspiring conditions for me to experiment even if its for 20 minutes a day. An old satellite dish provides a great resonant surface from which to capture vibrations from the humble system of stretched wires and dangling objects. If it warms up, even just a bit, I hope to have more material to share. The rest depends on the weather.

animate structures #2a (3:34 160k mp3): download link

animate structures #2b (4:12 160k mp3): download link

In April of 2008 I spent a month at the Binauralmedia residency in Nodar, Portugal. My interest was to carry out a sonic and visual survey of the landscape around the local village through a series of site-specific recording sessions. In particular I compared and contrasted the geographic lines caused by the natural water flows towards the river at the bottom of the valley versus the man-made aqueduct that transverses the vertical lines horizontally and brings water into the village. Both of these phenomenon actually rely on natural forces yet one was created for a specific purpose for the local inhabitants.

Using this theme of natural flow lines, I constructed two distinct audio-visual “narratives” based on the two types of landscapes shaped by water and humans. The surveys included recording methods that stem from the types of flows, drawing inspiration from the behavior patterns of how these flows shape the landscape.

The base sound material relied on the use of ambient sounds, found objects, (natural and man-made materials), and human intervention (installation and improvisation). The visual material focused on documenting the various aspects of this location based activity. The sound and video documents were edited afterwards into a two part video work that reflects and shows the “flowlines” locations and process.

below are a number of images and sounds from the original recording sessions which include other sites I discovered along the way.

wire installation interacting with the water flow: mp3 file

water harp installation in the sonzo river: water harp installation in the sonzo river

mountain tower wires recorded with contact microphones: mp3 file

wire fence installation with spring shims: wire fence installation with spring shims

tube at the source of the Nodar aqueduct: tube at the source of the Nodar aqueduct

spring shims in the aqueduct: spring shims in the aqueduct

sound+video works DVD

During the spring and summer of 2006 a number of visiting artists came to take part in a residency or event at MoKS, an artist-run center in the rural south-eastern part of Estonia. My intention was to record the sounds as well as images of the events, collaborations and investigation which took place. For this, it is important to mention Hitoshi Kojo, Patrick McGinley, Fantomas, and the participants of PostsovkhoZ 6, for their participation and creative inspiration.

The Location Sound Film project has to do with a territory that falls somewhere between “performance”, “field recording” and “documentation”. It takes the usual idea of recording sound while adding the component of video. The following sounds and images were recorded simultaneously on a HD video camera. Little or no post-processing was involved other than the adjustment of equalization and sound levels. Various techniques were used to make recordings, some more clearly visible than others, depending on the type of sound captured. The main difference here being the use of a pair of stereo condenser microphones or piezo contact microphones.

Location filming has to do with observation and reflection on events in a recored space and time, looking at what induces and affects spontaneous interventions using sound and image as the evidence.

Location Sound Films have been shown at: Skolska28 (Prague), Eyeglass Shop (Portland), Võru Linnagalerii (Estonia), Tuned City (Berlin), La Pommerie (France), Full Pull (Malmö), Liquid Architecture (Melbourne)

List of works and times:

Baltic Ferry – contact microphones on a boat railing (03:15)

Ant Hill Activity – contact microphones in an ant hill ( 04:20)

Tree in Coastal Wind – contact microphones on a tree (02:38)

Jars and Fire – stereo microphones in glass jars (04:02)

Metal Door Tones – contact microphones on a metal door – with: Patrick McGinley, Hitoshi Kojo, Fantomas (08:44)

Bowed Piano Wires – stereo microphones – with Hitoshi Kojo (12:09)

Bowed Metal Objects – stereo microphones – with Hitoshi Kojo (04:33)

Bowed Metal Structures – stereo microphones – with: Patrick McGinley, Fantomas (07:37)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rusted Wheels – stereo microphones – with: Patrick McGinley, Hitoshi Kojo, Fantomas (05:24)

(Un)Stable Structure – stereo microphones (06:12)

Phone Tower Cables + 250% – contact mics on wires ( 12:28)

Phone Tower Cables 02 (05:22)

Phone Tower Cables 03 (05:40)

Sound Cellar: Directed – stereo microphones – with the participants of PS6 (06:10)

Sound Cellar: Non-Directed – stereo microphones – with the participants of PS6 (08:15)

Other videos on Youtube.

Resonance Ensemble is an exercise in physical interaction with material objects, challenging human perception of acoustic phenomenon and guiding peoples intuition of group dynamics. This type of sound action? is carried out in a workshop context with a group of 10-20 people. The participants of the ensemble take everyday common objects such as rocks, jars, bowls, leaves, bells, etc. and transform them into acoustic sound-making devices. When a set of uniform objects is “played”? by larger group of individuals the sound is multiplied and takes on new and unique qualities. The objects are shaken, moved or rubbed in a repetitive, sometimes rhythmic fashion, to bring out the acoustic properties of the objects. From the resulting sound, overtones, voices and patterns often form out of the “chaos”?. The overall sound fills the space and takes on the character of the group. The focus is not on the individual participant, but on the function of the group as a whole. Outside observers are discouraged. In this manner, the participants in the group are also the audience. In many cases a “sacred”? environment is created as the participants redirect their listening attention to the whole sound in the space instead of their individual actions. Several attempts of 10-20 minute sound actions for each particular object is usually necessary for people to focus their perception on listening and to achieve the “ego-less”? state of the group. The result is often an enriching and enjoyable experience for the participants. The only requirements are the spontaneity and open attention of the ensemble participants.

Resonance Ensemble installation. Stazione Topolo, Italy (7/99)
locally found objects like these ceramic roof tiles were used.

Resonance Ensemble has been held in Austin, Texas and at the Stazione Topolo’/ Postaja Topolove festival ’99 in Topolo’ Italy. Recordings of each action are archived and used in the studio for sound compositions.

A description of the Resonance Ensemble recording sessions this spring in Austin, getting to the mood of each gathering… by Seth Nehil (6.8.99)

Like a young child whose impressions are still forming, these sounds grasp at a sense of tactitlity and recognition, simultaneously eluding it. The crystalline iris-circles are open to deep emotional impressions, seeking out a new contact. These sounds carry their own weight – without the imposition of an internal progression. The processes proceed with their own momentum, moving us forward in time. Softening the skin of the inner ear, opening to the inner dynamics of wave-forms.

(2.21.99 evening)

We gathered in the empty lecture-hall of an uninhabited school building, the crisp echo of the room muted slightly by the presence of our bodies. The rows of empty chairs staggered upwards at a sharp angle – an implied audience. We passed out the plastic reeds and affixed large paper cones to them. We placed the four microphones in a rectangular fashion and distributed ourselves at varying distances. The wavering tones of the reeds pierced through the space like bleating animals or unquiet birds. Playing with vague rhythms, we overlapped and intersected the lines of wavering tones.

We are moving from an interest in specific materials and manipulations towards an interest in organization and acousticality. Organization is a self-producing, evolutionary structure, not an imposed hierarchy. Fields of intelligence and communication between people or sounds occur on a moment-to-moment basis. Influence builds, reaching a catastrophe point and giving way to a new trend which was implied by the one proceeding. Representations of natural processes are also the processes themselves in operation.

Each finding a container of various material – metal, plastic, cardboard, glass – we filled them with handfuls of bean. Tipping the containers created a wave of hushing pink noise. Dropping the beans from a height created pointillistic interspersions. We each travelled throughout the space, moving in relation to the microphones, in and out of proximity.

(3.14.99 evening)

We gathered at the house because of its quietude. The approximately square, unfurnished living-room led into a dining area with a low table, and a kitchen where food simmered. Closing the windows, we gathered in a circle, the microphones among and above us. Humming with closed lips, we started slowly and spontaneously reached a tone that resonated within the dry acoustics of the sparse room. Rumbling through the chest cavity and down through the limbs, up into the nasal cavity and vibrating the head, closed into the body by tight lips, yet resonating within the space of the room, passing through the air to interact with it. Cycles of silence and activity, inhalation and exhalation.

The concepts of consonance or dissonance have been abandoned, yet adjustment of pitch becomes an important element in the final stages of mixing – a fine tuning of the interactions of layers. Pitch has an active role in the defining the quality of moods, interlocking sound bodies into an embrace. Drops of dew in the sweetness of a kiss, as sound bodies merge into a revolving whole, take on mass and weight, begin to breathe…

see also the Sound Cellar Project

Jacob Kirkegaard – AION
John Grzinich - Location Sound Films

Friday, Feb 16th: Opening of sound/video installations at Skolska28
Saturday, Feb 17th: collaborative presentation/workshop at FAMU

Friday Feb 16th was the opening of the ‘In the Landscape’ exhibition at the Skolska28 gallery. The two works exhibited were my Location Sound Films installation and Jacob Kirkegaard’s video and sound work AION. For me this installation was an experiment to see how well my collection of films and sounds blended together while playing randomly. I divided the material over 3 DVDs which also included black silent tracks for dynamics (an equal chance to see/hear nothing and something). For the most part it worked, especially having sounds come from various speakers placed throughout the space. The opening went well and started off with a meditadive atmosphere as people drifted in and and sat quietly for over an hour watching and listening to both the works. This was followed by yet another intensive period of attention as Jacob and myself each performed live. As usual, I’m never sure how to generate this kind of attention by public audience, but its a pleasure when it happens.

The next day Jacob and I offered a lecture and colleborative sound workshop at FAMU. A number of Czech and international students showed up for this. The lectures gave a general introduction to our work along with an overview of our current projects. We were fortunate to see some Jacob’s trip into the zone of radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. That afternoon we took advantage of the good weather and made a short excursion with the students to collect sounds. We decided to focus on different methods and devices used to record sound including; MiniDisc recorders, an ultrasound detector, an accelerometer and a few voice recorders. Its rare to have such a range of hi-fi and lo-fi devices to play with. The students seemed equally interested in testing all of them. One unique discovery included some mysterious sounds from the earth above some graves in the cemetary in Vysehrad. Its always nice to watch people find new experiences in listening to the world. Afterwards we returned to the sound studio to analyze some of the recordings. I should thank Milos Vojtechovsky of FAMU and the Skolska28 crew for their generous oganizational efforts.