Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Live Performance At Just Listening

Just Listening Poster
The running order is set for Just Listening, this Saturday 30 April in Limerick. Please come down to the beautiful Limerick School of Art & Design Gallery on Clare Street where you will be treated to an ear-opening experience: 15 performances by the most innovative sonic artists in Ireland. I am proud to be in such a line-up, taking the stage at 3pm or thereabouts.
Thursday, April 21, 2011

Strange Attractor With Robin Parmar

installation view
Yesterday Susannah took some photos of my performance with Danny Mc Carthy and Mick O'Shea, which I would like to share with you here. As mentioned previously, this improvisation was part of the Strange Attractor series, which is continuing for another week. So if you are free for some lunch-time music (1-2pm), get down to the Crawford Art Gallery in the heart of Cork, Ireland. Each day there is a different guest artist.

I found the space most conducive to a creative approach. The first floor gallery is beautifully open, non-rectilinear in shape and naturally lit. Not only that, it is quiet, so it is easy to hear not only the other performers but sounds from the audience and environs, all of which are important to me. The sculptural installations by Irene Murphy are endlessly fascinating, bringing to mind not only architectural plans and shapes but systems of classification, models of the natural world and attempts at codification and understanding. Her contribution to Strange Attractor 6 was vital. I love the first photo, above, where I am situated in relationship to some of these structures, almost as though I was embedded within them.
Thursday, April 21, 2011

RIP Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros

Last night every photo blog I subscribe to had exactly the same news, and here I quote the British Journal of Photography: "Photojournalist Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros have been killed in a mortar attack in Misurata, Libya, while two other photographers - Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown - were injured." This demonstrates the very real risk taken by such people in order to bring us information -- facts needed to make connections between events, formulate geopolitical policies and simply realise how we are all related.

Hetherington's photos had always stood out for me. He had an incredible eye for perspective, contrast, detail, colour... every technical aspect of a good photo. Not only that, he had obvious passion that went beyond the norm. His approach was a humane one that required a deep commitment and attempt at understanding apparently alien situations. And it was this insight his photos communicated to us.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Group Improvisation Wednesday in Cork

Irene Murphy projection
I will be playing as part of the Strange Attractor project this Wednesday from 1-2pm in Cork. The location is the beautiful first floor of the Crawford Art Gallery. I will be improvising with Danny Mc Carthy, Irene Murphy and Mick O'Shea, who played as part of a larger configuration on 2 April. I was very taken by their work on that occasion and am thrilled that I get to create with them!
Friday, April 15, 2011

Just Listen festival launch tonight

microphones
The National Sculpture Factory in Cork is launching the Just Listen festival tonight, continuing through to 30 April. Two weeks of sound artist installations, performances, sound walks, etc. will spill out into the streets of Cork and Limerick. I will be in Cork for the opening tonight (Friday) and the day-long seminar on Saturday. I will also be performing twice in the festival, about which I will write more later.
Friday, April 15, 2011

Free Ai Weiwei

Release Ai WeiweiAfter visiting the Tate, I have been motivated to send the following email to press@chinese-embassy.org.uk. I urge you to do something similar, if you in any way believe in individual freedom.

Dear Ambassador Liu,

I am writing to urge you to do everything within your power to guarantee the immediate and unconditional release of Ai Weiwei, unless the Chinese authorities can show reasonable grounds for suspecting him of having committed an internationally recognisable criminal offence.
Monday, April 04, 2011

"Strange Attractor 6" in Cork

Crawford Art gallery in the springLast Saturday, 2 April 2011, Crawford Art Gallery in Cork played host to another in a continuing series of performances that tie in with their group installation Strange Attractor. The gallery and curator Dawn Williams should be congratulated on this dynamic intermedia project, which has been running since November 2010 and now takes the form of a residency in the first floor gallery space. As you can see from my photos, this is a lovely environment of wood and light, decked out on the occasion with sound sculptures, wall installations, a reading and listening library and more.

The exhibition continues at the gallery and will be joined by events around the city for the Just Listen festival, about which more later. In addition I have been invited to take part in a series of impromptu performances at the gallery some time later in April.

Strange Attractor 6 included the participation of Steve Roden, Anthony Kelly, David Stalling, Danny McCarthy, Irene Murphy and Mick O'Shea. Photos of each artist follow. As always you can click through to get larger on Flickr.

installation view 1
Friday, April 01, 2011

Out of Silence CD Release

I am pleased to announce the release of the Out Of Silence CD compilation, containing my track "Snowblind and Falling". This double disk set is the work of Wolfgang Peter Menzel, who compiled the fifteen sonic interpretations of Samuel Beckett's work. There is a great deal of variety on hand over the ninety-nine minutes. Head on over to Spanish net label modisti to read more and have a listen. If you like what you hear, please place an order to support the sonic arts!