Sound Seed Transmissions was a radio show I hosted as part of my residency at Nida Art Colony and was broadcast on the local radio station, Neringa FM: http://neringafm.lt/

The Sound Seed Transmissions show focused on sound and artists who work with unique and different contexts, drawing their inspiration from nature, natural materials, found objects, temporary installations and self-made instruments. The show was meant to be a type of “stories from the field”, presenting a mix of short interviews with artists and a selection of field recordings and/or compositions.

Below is the full archive, all 6 shows:

SST #1 – 16.11.2011 – Introductory show with Greek sound artist Yiorgis Sakellariou in dialogue with John Grzinich discussing their ideas and methods for field recording.

SST#1

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SST #2 – 23.11.2011 – The second radio show was entitled the “Secret Life of Wires” where I presented my long term fascination with resonant wires as instruments and objects in the landscape and played a number of recordings over the years.

SST#2

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SST #3 – 29.11.2011 – The third radio show we explored the idea of “Sonic Traces“, how physical processes not only leave marks but also reveal something in the sounds they make. The guest was visual artist Evelyn Müürsepp from Estonia. Evelyn and John talked about and played pieces from their collaborative sound and drawing project “Sonic Scratch Cycles”.

SST#3

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SST #4 – 7.12.2011 – The fourth radio show explored the idea of “Instruments of Place“, or making sound through the construction and manipulation of objects, materials and devices and other creative means. The guest was Maksims Shentelevs from Latvia. Max and John talked about and played pieces from their self-made instruments and sonic investigations of places.

SST#4

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SST #5 – 14.12.2011 – “The Sounds of Nida” was the title of the 5th show. My residency was coming to a close and this show reflected on my discoveries and experiences in Nida. Neringa FM host Linas Ramanauskas offered to interview me and we I played various recordings made during my residency.

SST#5

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SST #6 – 21.12.2011 – The 6th and final SST show was a special solstice edition entitled, “myths as public dreams, dreams as private myths“. The guest was Andrius Rugys from Vilnius. Andrius and John shared their recordings and discussed experiences from the field working with attentive ears.

SST#6

This entry contains a variety of material documenting my two month residency at the Nida Art Colony on the western shore of Lithuania. The colony was opened in spring of this year as a branch of the Vilnius Academy of Art, which purchased the original building in the early 1990s, but invested recently in a completely reconstructed facility. The new building houses five residency studios for visiting artists and an array of guest rooms, kitchens and conference rooms to accommodate a variety of events, workshops and symposia.

For the focus of my residency I have proposed the following:

sound – subject / object – site

This two month residency concentrates on sound and the signification resulting from the merging of material objects, affects the elements and positioning within the landscape. By listening in to this process we expand the connections to our environment by taking the role of wanderers, seekers, collectors and instigators. Daily field excursions around the Curonian Split involves phonographic studies, short sound actions and temporary installations that become the basic frames by which to listen and document. The collected materials will be edited and composed into an audio/visual film along with an exhibit containing the physical objects. Collaborations were welcome to open this working format into a continual creative dialogue between objects, spaces and the local environment.

gallery of objects and interventions

several colleagues came for short visits to collaborate, namely Yiorgis Sakellariou, Evelyn Müürsepp, Max Shentalevs, and Andrius Rugys.

From December 2-4 I gave a sound workshop for students from VMU in Kaunas. Thanks to Tautvydas and the Colony for coordinating this. The b&w photos are from Eglou Baltrušaičių.

Excerpts of 2 sound exercises:
exercise – open narrative exercise – open narrative

exercise – word association exercise – word association

This video is meant for the workshop students to illustrate how different type of microphones sound

Click here to view the embedded video.

changing seaside and lagoon of the Curonian Split

surrounding landscapes of the Curonian Split

In addition to all of this, I produced six episodes of a weekly radio show entitled the “Sound Seed Transmissions” on the local radio station Neringa FM. You can listen to all the shows here.

Dock e.V. (Berlin) and MoKS (Mooste) presents:

TUNED CITY TALLINN

Sonic Landmarks – a sonic path through Tallinn
official program of the European Cultural Capital Tallinn 2011

4th – 10th JULY 2011 / Tallinn Estonia

“Most people would probably say that architecture does not produce sound, it cannot be heard. But neither does it radiate light yet it can be seen. We see the light it reflects and thereby gain an impression of form and material. In the same way we hear the sounds it reflects and they, too, give us an impression of form and material”
(Steen Eiler Rasmussen – Experiencing Architecture (1959)

Hear Tallinn with new ears! Buildings and architecture are usually described in visual terms. But it is often our sense of hearing which assists us in experiencing and navigating through the spaces of urban cities.
There is no sound without space and no space without a sound. In every day life we are surrounded by the sounds of diverse nature and various origins. Language, sounds of nature and civilisation – sound as a carrier of information or as a factor of disturbance permanently encircles our consciousness.

Tuned City Tallinn will undertake an acoustic exploration of Tallinn. The goal will be to identify and explore the sonic landmarks of the city which define its identity, shape its communication and transform the perceptions of its visitors and inhabitants. A fascinating cross-section of international artists, performers, scientists and thinkers will be brought together to present their ideas about sound and space. In addition, the public will be invited to participate directly through a series of workshops and sound walks and experience diverse site-specific installations, performances and demonstrations.

[1] WORKSHOPS

[2] SPEAKING WITH SPACE – CONCERT PROGRAM

[3] SONORITY OF PLACE – CONFERENCE PROGRAM

[4] SITE SPECIFIC PROGRAM

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WORKSHOPS

In close collaboration with our partner Ptarmigan (http://ptarmigan.ee), we are offering a series of workshops short before and during the event in July. Invited artists will each share their individual tools for listening to the city, and offer both a deeper insight into their artistic practice and a chance for the participants to become actively involved in the program of the event. And whether those tools be telephones, acoustic tubes, electronic transducers, radio waves or physical movement, the participants in these workshops will never hear the city the same way again.

These workshops are open for registration right now:

City sounds concerts / June 28 – July 3 2011
with Ici-Même (Grenoble, F)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1881

Methaphones workshop / July 4 + 5 2011
with Unsworn Telecom (Stockholm, SE)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=1472

12-tone filter / July 4 – 10 2011 (during the event)
with eyland 07, René Rissland, Jürgen Lehmeier (Nürnberg, D)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1478

Tuning the City / July 5 – 10 2011 (during the event)
with Mads Bech Paluszewski (Copenhagen, DK)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1715

framework radio – documentation and production / July 7 – 10 2011 (during the event)
with Felicity Ford (UK) and Valeria Merlini (IT / D)
on behalf of Patrick McGinley, framework radio (US / EE)
http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1503

An overview can be found here: http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=950

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SPEAKING WITH SPACE – CONCERT PROGRAM

07.07.2011 20:00
Charles Curtis (US) – Naldjorlak (by Eliane Radigue)

08.07.2011 21:00
Charlemagne Palestine (BE) – Schlingen Blängen (organ performance)

Click here to view the embedded video.

09.07.2011 21:00
Thomas Ankersmit (NL/D) – Saxophone and Synthesizer Improvisation

10.07.2011 21:00
Maja S.K. Ratkje (NO) – Electro-acoustic Vocals

Traditional and classical music often treat the performance hall as a tabula rasa to be inscribed with sound, and even improvised music can overlook the site it is performed within as an important factor. So what happens when a musician decides to play a duo with space as the partner?

Tuned City has invited four vibrant, innovative and influential contemporary performers to address the topic of sound and space through four individual music performances. Each artist has developed a special relationship over their career with their chosen instrument–the cello, the organ, the saxophone and the voice–which becomes like a spoken idiom to them. Using this unique language, the performers will engage in dialog with a variety of spaces, from the warm, wooden intimacy of a 14th Century horse mill to the cold, concrete depth of Soviet-era industrial structures.

Read more: http://www.tunedcity.net/?lp_lang_pref=en&page_id=1268

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SONORITY OF PLACE – CONFERENCE PROGRAM

This series aims at drawing correspondences between ‚architecture‘ and ‚sound‘ to a more primary relation between notions of ‚place‘ and ‚practices of listening‘. In other words to underscore an interplay between the sense of being ‚situated‘ and the intentionality of what is being ‚heard‘. It is from within this primary level of interactions that a sense of ‚sound‘ as well as a notion of ‚site‘, and by extension ‚architecture‘, are derived in the first place. For the current constellation of talks and presentations a particular emphasis is placed on an understanding of listening, not a biological constant, but rather a ‚practice‘ that both shapes and is shaped by various contexts. In this sense every mode of hearing is understood to be distributed across a diversity of practices and disciplines.

Talks and presentations as well as pertinent artist projects and presentations included in this Tuned City event draw upon recent developments in such diverse fields as urbanism, art and architecture history and theory, philosophy, sensory history, sensory ethnography, archaeoacoustics and musicology, getting closer to what may be at stake in auditory models of ‚situated-ness‘. One common approach, shared by the various practitioners, understands the ‚sonic imagination‘ to be an operative mode of thinking. It is this mode of thinking that potentially engages the social, aesthetic and even ethical, political implications of an attentiveness to the sonority of place. Please have a closer look:

http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1378

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SITE-SPECIFIC PROGRAM

To properly explore the sonic effects possible within the cityscape, it is often necessary to move beyond the traditional model of the seated conference- or performance-audience. For Tallinn 2011, we aspire to present a selection of innovative and fresh sound experiences across several specially-selected locations in the city.

Taking place each afternoon, the Site Specific Projects are a modular series of parallel programs featuring soundwalks, performances, installations and interventions. These projects involve the audience in a new way of experiencing sound and space through the use of sculptural, graphical, musical and sonic means. Some of the projects are designed for a small group of people, keeping the experience of the project both participatory and intimate. Such projects may be offered several times during the Tuned City event. Other projects may only be offered once within the context of the conference program, and some may require registration to keep the audience within a certain size. Please check the project descriptions at our website for more information:

http://www.tunedcity.net/?page_id=1446

Gallery #1

Gallery #2

Sponsors

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Simon Whetham: Active Crossover
Arnolfini Dark Studio
16 Narrow Quay
Bristol
BS1 4QA

Thursday 1st – Sunday 18th, October 2009
Open 10.00am – 6.00pm Tuesday – Sunday

A sound installation utilizing two sonic chambers, but allowing for controlled sound-bleed between spaces, it features an immersive composition created while Simon was artist-in-residence at the Polymer Factory Culturehouse (in Tallinn, Estonia) juxtaposed with pieces by artists Simon collaborated, performed and worked with during the residency.

The opening night of the exhibition will feature performances from John Grzinich (EE), Maksims Shentelevs (LV), Jez Riley French (UK) and Simon himself. The closing night will also feature performances, where Simon will be joined by Douglas Benford and Iris Garrelfs of Sprawl, and a number of invited local artists.

To coincide with the exhibition John and Simon will also run listening and recording workshops from the 26th September 2009.

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Seeds and Bridges: Event One

John Grzinich (USA / Estonia)
Max Shentelevs (Latvia)
Simon Whetham (UK)

Saturday October 3rd @ RED Gallery, Ossbourne Street, Hull (behind Primark)

7pm – FREE to all !

special sound performance event at the Goija tea room in Riga featuring:

Jez riley French [UK] – jezrileyfrench.blogspot.com
John Grzinich [US/EST]
Simon Whetham [UK] – simonwhetham.co.uk
Maksims Šenteļevs [LV] – bernurits.com
Kaspars Kalniņš [LV] – bernurits.com
Sound Meccano [LV] – myspace.com/soundmeccano
Evgeniy Droomoff [LV]

]]> http://maaheli.ee/main/archives/810/feed 0 http://maaheli.ee/main/archives/552 http://maaheli.ee/main/archives/552#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:01:20 +0000 john grzinich http://maaheli.ee/main/?p=552

Extended greetings and creativity to all in the coming year. I passed the turning tide with a great group of old and new friends, in and out of doors. This recording was made on the first of a three day NoYears event held at MoKS. While drifting into the empty oil tanks in Mooste, Maksims Shentelevs played a jew’s harp while I bowed a long metal saw. Special thanks to Mr Holzer for the use of his Core Sound modded DPA mini mics.

harp, saw, ice (6:10): download link

video of a revenant sound action made in the hollow metal shell of an electrical substation on lake peipsi near the russian border. the participants are eamon sprod (tarab), maksims shentelevs, kaspars kalnins and myself.

recorded november 16, 2008. note the sound of ducks flying overhead towards the end.

revenant : põdra has been released as a free MP3 by Compost and Height and involved Yannick Dauby,  Maksims Shentelevs and myself. This live unedited recording was made on the evening of June 13th, 2007 in southeastern Estonia.

revenant : pődra (13:33, 192k mp3): revenant : pődra

What is revenant?

‘revenant’ is an ongoing project with open membership that focuses on site-specific acoustic actions. all sounds originate from materials found in-situ, and from interactions with the space itself.

The sound works of four past resident artists of Binaural Media in Nodar will be exhibited at the
Teatro Viriato in the nearby city of Viseu, Portugal. The artistic projects include:

Aaron Ximm : As Paredes têm Ouvidos
John Grzinich : Nodar Flowlines
Maksims Shentelevs : Nodar Soundscape Mapping
Pali Meursault : Walk[s]

Each audio installation represents an individual exploration of the sonic environment around Nodar through field recordings and site-specific activity and resulted in a small project at the end of the residency. More information about the other works can be found on the artists websites and the Binaural Media website. These audio installations will be on display in of the foyer of the theater from now until December 14th. Special thanks to Luis and the others at Binaural for setting this up.

This is a question I’ve been asking myself ever since I realized that “field recording” was something of a viable genre for many working with sound. Before hearing the term “field recording” (and I’ll throw in Phonography), I never thought much in making a distinction between working in or out in the field. I recorded what I wanted and where I wanted (and still do).

While some view it as a recording technique for any place other than the studio, others seem dedicated to the cause and strive to reach new levels of purity. The spectrum of approaches is wide from scientific ‘nature recording’, and commercial ‘relaxation environments’ (some may know the interesting ‘environments’ series from the 70s) to weekend hobbyists who simply like to get our and record sounds they like.

Like any term, the definition is open to interpretation. The artist Jez Riley French has opened up the discussion with his ‘four questions’ series regarding sound artists/musicians and their use of “field recording” in their work. Below is the current list of artists Jez has included in his survey which I feel is more than worthy to help promote. I’m sure more are on the way, but this should be more than enough to start with:

• Andreas Bick
• Cedric Peyronnet / toy.bizarre
• Eric Cordier
• Goh Lee Kwang
• Jean Francois Cavro
• Jez riley French
• Jez riley French interviewed by John Grzinich
• John Grzinich
• Kiyoshi Mizutani
• Lawrence English
• Maksims Shentelevs
• Marc Namblard
• Matt Davis
• noid (Arnold Haberl)
• Patrick Farmer
• Rob Curgenven
• Simon Whetham
• Thomas Tilly
• Zoe Irvine

Yannick Dauby makes and important point  in his description of “Field recording and phonography” as to why we who record sounds in the field are shaping the sound as much as we are simply capturing it:

“The couple microphone/headphone acts as a filter and an enhancer for perception. The use of these tools is absolutely not neutral : the choices of the place and the moment, the gestures, the technical limitations and the zoom/macro effects of the microphone affect the result of the recording. The recordist makes a series of decisions in his practice, and these decisions are related to his own subjectivity.”

Numerous other in depth perspectives on the practice have emerged in recent years, I suspect due to the availability and ease of use of digital technology. People like Aaron Ximm (Quiet American) and Patrick McGinley (murmer/framework) have been long term proponents of creative uses of filed recordings and seem to have inspied many through their output. As the “field recording” bug spreads I suspect we may see ever more variations and mutations on what this is about. As for listening to field recordings it’s a fertile matter for another post.

This workshop focused on sound as transmitter of nonverbal information, whether as a tool for communication or as a description of physical or imaginary space. We focused on sound’s ability to define/describe space, and on our ability to resonate, alter or create space by using sound. We also explored animal communication and group activity using simple everyday objects. A strong focus was placed on environmental listening, and the development of the ear towards detailed sonic perception. Using small acoustic objects and the space itself, we experimented with methods of group nonverbal sonic communication, with giving our location a voice, and with creating new spaces towards an understanding of sonic scenography. The workshop opened with an extended listening session, after which the participants  worked through a series of sonic games and were asked to bring objects to use in the later stages. -patrick mcginley

Tampere Finland

This was a 3 day revenant workshop organized by Rajataide artists association of Tampere. We would like to thank our hosts for their efforts and the participants for their time and energy. The group was small but diverse and included students of various disciplines, artists, a teacher and a journalist. Apart from the excersises, some important topics were raised in many discussions we had, including; recognition of sound sources, analysis and rationalization in listening, imaginary vs real spaces, sound aesthetics, meaningful soundscapes, awareness and sharpening of senses, the role of technology, sound perception in different cultural contexts, rules of agreement in groups, sonic power vs group power, sound as emotional, textural and gestural signs, “primitive” and “tribal” feelings, sound as non-verbal information and much more.

Bytom / Wrocław Poland

HELL OF THINGS

2 performances and a sound workshop with murmer (patrick mcginley)

jgrzinich/murmer – opening concert:
19:00, saturday, 7th february

revenant : bytom – sound workshop:
friday and saturday, 13-14th of february

opening performance
murmer/jgrzinich live at Kronika gallery (excerpt recorded by patrick mcginley): download link
rynek 26, bytom, poland

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plus: Galleria Entropia

jgrzinich/murmer live in Wrolcaw

18:00, free
zeźnicza 4, wrocław

Special thanks to Krzysztof Gutfrański for helping organize all this and for taking photos!

Here is a video about the performance in Wroclaw. It was billed as “Revenant Sound” which is not entirely accurate. While we do use many elements of the space and participation of those who are present, there are many added elements and aided sounds as well. Anyway its good to see how people interpret this…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Riga / Pedvale Latvia

This sound workshop was given from August 29 – September 7 2008 in Latvia. The first part was in Riga and the second at the Pedvale open air museum. The workshop was a collaborative effort between Patrick McGinley, Max Shentelevs and myself. Several locations will be included with a live performance event at NOASS on 7.9 with:

- PB8 (LT)
- soundmeccano (LV)
- Patrick McGinley (US/FR)
- bērnu rīts / elffriede / joy laav (LV/AT/FIN)

Listen to an excerpt of the “soundwalk” group sound action: mp3_file

It was a pleasure to work more with old friends and meet new people. Special thanks to all those who gave their time and energy to this workshop.

Full details about this workshop can be found on the Sound as Space, Sound as Language website.

Announcing the Dérives compilation CD on Universinternational. This contains a collaborative track from myself and Patrick McGinley (murmer) among other fine artists.

Special thanks to Pali for putting this together. The cover design really fits the concept and is silkscreen printed. Here is the info from the press release:

First, there was the desire of an ambitious record, then to work with these artists, to bring them together. Unavoidably, a rule had to be set, and everybody had enough taste to bend it somewhat.

Francisco López, jgrzinich+murmer, Rui Costa, Pali Meursault, Tô, Maksims Shentelevs and Helena Gough have given us pieces built from an active listening of their own environment.

Beyond a gallery of subjective pictures of the sound landscape, something different emerged: maybe the very specific way an ear plugs to the world, and makes the energy flow between the outside and the inside.