Sound | Place, 2015
Sound, as physical energy, reflecting and absorbing into the materiality around us, … provides a rich platform for understanding place and emplacement. (Brandon LaBelle, 2014)
“SOUND | PLACE” revisits the notion of Place, as a creative canvas and a platform for interdisciplinary collaborative and critical exchange. The show utilises the nonlinear, boundless, and “leaky” nature of sound, as the starting point for exploring how to share sound works in one acoustic space. The St James Hatcham gallery space has been selected, as an ideal location for the show; it is an interdepartmental building, which also involves unique architectural and acoustic attributes. Contextually the building is also intriguing, as it is in the process of undergoing a structural shift, from a church building, into gallery and an academic building.
12 Selected sound and audiovisual artists were invited to work together in the building in the period leading to the exhibition. Together, they questioned, and re-evaluated this unique exhibition setup, where no acoustic or visual barriers separate works, and where the “leaky” collaborative acoustic environment required the sounds of different works to intermix and inter-breed. The interwoven composition was then carefully balanced in the days leading to the exhibition, in a process of negotiations carried out at the exhibition space, presenting the viewer with a composition that is diffused in space as a result of this collaborative process.
Participating Artists: Wayne Binitie, Alexander Bridgen, Ryann Donnelly, Ryo Ikeshiro, Sandra Ka, Helene Kazan, Hardi Kurda, Roberto Mozzachiodi, Kuldip Powar, Emily Rosamond, Susan Schuppli.
“SOUND | PLACE” LISTENING BOX
A curated programme of mono / stereo / multichannel audio works and live performances took place throughout the exhibition period, exploring the immersive potential of the audio setup in the black box space. Performing artists included John Wall, Tom Mudd, Yiorgis Sakellario, Phil Julian, Lee Fraser and Erik Nystrom.