RADIO and SOUND ART
My current sound art projects are directed towards radiophonic practice. Here I'm interested in acts of listening, the uncertainties of language, the instabilities of the voice and speech, sociolinguistics and wider issues around ecology, ethnography and anthropology. I'm drawn especially to the elements of dislocation, transmission and disarticulation, fundamental elements in the history of experimental radiophonic practice.
Behind all my recent work is a theoretical consideration of recorded sound as sympathetic magic and listening as magical realism. I hold to the notion that the
recording chain, from microphone to loudspeaker, is in fact a form of contagion, of sympathetic magic, as analysed and described in Marcel Mauss’ seminal study
‘A General Theory of Magic.’ Such a theoretical position takes account of the anthropological foundations of our emotional and socially constructed responses to audio recordings.
Electroacoustic musical composition and radio art not only share a common ancestry but thrive on metamorphosis and mutation. However I look at the one as essentially a process of abstraction and the other as offering a vehicle for the examination of themes, topics and concepts. Each requires its own methodology.
My current sound art projects are directed towards radiophonic practice. Here I'm interested in acts of listening, the uncertainties of language, the instabilities of the voice and speech, sociolinguistics and wider issues around ecology, ethnography and anthropology. I'm drawn especially to the elements of dislocation, transmission and disarticulation, fundamental elements in the history of experimental radiophonic practice.
Behind all my recent work is a theoretical consideration of recorded sound as sympathetic magic and listening as magical realism. I hold to the notion that the
recording chain, from microphone to loudspeaker, is in fact a form of contagion, of sympathetic magic, as analysed and described in Marcel Mauss’ seminal study
‘A General Theory of Magic.’ Such a theoretical position takes account of the anthropological foundations of our emotional and socially constructed responses to audio recordings.
Electroacoustic musical composition and radio art not only share a common ancestry but thrive on metamorphosis and mutation. However I look at the one as essentially a process of abstraction and the other as offering a vehicle for the examination of themes, topics and concepts. Each requires its own methodology.
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Radiophonics 1
Phonophobia (2017) [23:42] The Rubbish Man (2017) [10:07] man, soldier, girl, boy, woman (2007) [4:06] Help Children if Necessary (2006) [13:37] text (pdf) stream and buy digital on Bandcamp interested labels please get in touch Forthcoming Ethnosonics (2020) [12:20] In Progress La Vergonha a new work about mother tongue shaming, based on an elocution lesson I had to endure as a primary school pupil in Aberdeen. The Earth Appeared (remix from 2018) A Grimoire of Silence (remix from 2017) |
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