I am beginning to remaster all my material. With the changing nature of technology and the way people access web based content I am reassessing my working practice and am aiming to make the creative process more accessible to those who are interested. Some of the content that constitutes elements of my completed works will now be available to listen, view and/or disseminate independently from the finished piece. I am also exploring the idea of sharing my more exploratory works at an earlier stage, so that proposed pieces, whether they are completed, evolve into something else or are abandoned are not kept in my little yellow notebook or lost inside my head. As an artist I feel that I am always learning and it is only right that I should share things in the same way artists who continue to inspire me do.

I will begin the process by producing and releasing an acousmatic stereophonic mixdown of 'Freddy's Story'. Each Scene from the installation will be treated and rendered down chronologically and the stereo results will be available to listen to online and if all goes well on a soon to be released C.D. I have started drawing again and experimenting with modelling and small scale sculpture in an effort to produce material that will compliment and juxtapose itself in relation to the more sound based installation and sound art which has made up most of my portfolio until now. The website is currently undergoing a complete overhaul with all it's content hosted elsewhere in order to maximise it's accessibility and flexibility for myself and those who wish to collaborate or explore my work.

I have been unwell but believe that I am now well on the way to recovery and entering a new phase for my life and work. I hope you will join me in this rapidly unfurling auditory adventure and wish all my friends involved in art the best as I jump back in feet first and get back in to once again, sounding off.

I have been away a long time due to illness but will return soon as part of my recovery program. Peace to all ...listen to this space

Freddy's Story wins best Installation at 2009 Media Innovation Awards

The interactive audio/video/installation piece "Freddy's Story" has won the 2009 Media Innovation Award for best installation/Exhibition. The Awards were held on March 12th at Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol and the award was for the Installation's showing at the 2008 Sonic Arts Network Expo held in the Lighthouse arts centre in Brighton. It is great that a sonic art piece has now won in this category for two years running and hopefully signifies the start of the artforms re-invention as a truly accessible experience for everyone, from contemporary art fans, and those more familiar with traditional visual work to older patrons and children. It was also heartening as an individual artist to be able to compete with companies and organisations with much greater financial and human resources. Thanks of course to Freddy who is currently recovering from an eye operation (Get well soon), and all the cast who helped recreate a remarkable life.

Mayan Aural Adventure

Just returned from the Yucutan Peninsula in Mexico after visiting many ancient Mayan sites. Was overwhelmed by Chichen Itza and taken aback by the acoustic phenomenom present at most sites. Made some binaural recordings but forgot to pack headphones( so couldn't monitor) and spare hi-MDiscs so didn't have much useable footage, enough though for a short sonic response to these magical sites. On returning found, as i thought, that road noise was a clearly audible presence but have decided against trying to remove it..after all it was there and i do not feel it is my job to hide noise pollution. R. Murray Schaefer's "Tuning of the world" came to mind. I feel ignorant that i was not aware that Mayan as a language was still widely spoken but our guide Antonio Gonzalez was a proud Mayan with an encyclopedic knowledge of each site, ancient customs, symbols and the multitude of flora and fauna of this beautiful part of the world.

Freddy's Story nominated for Installation category in 2009 Media Innovation Awards

"Freddy's Story" has been nominated in the Installation Category for this years Media Innovation Awards. I am up against some tough competition but I hope for Freddy's sake that we can win. Freddy is getting very old now and it would be a real vindication for him having the courage to tell me his completely un-selfcensored life story. His frank and disarming manner seems to draw people of all ages and backgrounds into the installation and his astonishing memory and good humour make the interactive elements possible and ensure that the piece is lifted out of being merely an oral history. The constant reference throughout to existing sonic art classics would also not have been possible were it not for the exposure to luminaries like Steve Reich, Pierre Schaffer and Francis Dhomont, a fact for which i owe a debt of gratitude to Phinneas de Thornley-Head, Nick Trussler and Neil Rose among others. So thanks everyone and here's to March 12th at Ashton Gate, home of Bristol City (BOOO). I shall be proudly wearing my Plymouth Argyle scarf on top of my suit!

Performance at Cafe Concrete

Well we finally did it. Myself and long time collaborator Soundcube performed at last nights Cafe Concrete. Was a good night after a few problems with the laptops soundcard but all went well in the end. We had not practised or formally rehearsed but had a few discussions on how we were going to proceed. Soundcube used a patch he had created with max/msp and some ambisonic recordings of ominous clips he had captured around the city. I used a minidisc loaded with samples and sonic art pieces that i had created, and plugged a microphone into my MS2000. Throughout the performance i switched between the inputs on my MS2000 to use the onboard delay and modulation to control my minidisc recordings and any sounds i made into the mic (supplemented with a theramin, a plastic whirly tube, tibetan singing bowl and various other thing-a -me-jigs). We both enjoyed ourselves immensley and were proud that we did not once resort to using anything approaching the musical to take the audience on a surreal and disturbing sonic journey through a shared aural soundscape.

Expo 08 Report

Just returned from exhibiting Freddy's Story in the Installation Zone at this years Sonic Arts Network annual Expo held in Brighton. The highlight of the festival for me was "Horatio Oratorio" -A concert & sound installation by Aleksander Kolkowskiaka & Recording Angels held in Brighton's Jubilee Library. The work comprising of specially made wax cylinder and disc recordings, including recreations of some of the earliest speech and music transcriptions, played back over antique Graphaphone, Phonograph and Gramophone players was exceptional. Without wanting to sound trite I experienced something like an emotional epiphany as these rare audio gems crackled back to life through a forest of vintage horns, restoring the art of recorded sound back to its true elevated state, as a treasure trove of remnance in a world dominated by visual art. Also worthy of a mention was Dawn Scarfe's "Lenses" another sonic gem from the Darlington born Goldsmiths graduate that explored pitch and resonance using different sized glasses, each with their own speaker to propagate the same sound at their own unique frequency, acting as sonic lenses.

HORATIO ORATORIO



DAWN SCARFE'S "LENSES"