Last month I contributed to a project by a visual artist working in Zurich called Veronika Spierenburg. Spierenburg engaged sound recordists to undertake field recording in cities that were currently under various stages of “lockdown” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From Veronika’s briefing: Now, cities breathe for themselves. City pitches are reset; an extraordinary crisis … Read more Mass Files
The Wall of Sound is a large sampler/sequencer installation which has been set up for Katowice Street Art 2019: Urban Sound, in the south of Poland. Check it out: https://cdm.link/2020/02/sampler-sequencer-public-art
A few years ago musician greats Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock wrote an open letter to the next generation of artists for NestHQ. The letter is a beautiful piece sharing some key points of their philosophy including awakening to your humanity, embracing the road less travelled, and several others. It can be inspirational for artists. … Read more Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock Letter to Artists
I currently have a sound installation called Beneath the Surface at Enlighten Festival which runs each evening from 1 March until 10 March in Canberra. The festival is based around projections onto the national institutions based in the parliamentary triangle including the National Library of Australia, Questacon, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Australia and … Read more Beneath the Surface
CBC Radio from Canada released a nice radio interview with Hildegard Westerkamp last year which has some good insights into her philosophy. Westerkamp is an influential sound artist and acoustic ecologist, who is mainly known for her soundscape compositions. The piece touches on the importance of listening and being in the moment (much like mindfulness), … Read more Hildegard Westerkamp on the radio
I was listening to the Tonebenders podcast the other day, which is one of my favourite podcasts, and they discussed an Ira Glass quote which they love about the importance of perseverance when working in creative fields. It is a great one, especially for those just starting out or having doubts about their chosen path. … Read more Ira Glass on Perseverance
I came across a couple of great comics the other day – one that shows climate change over many millenia (http://xkcd.com/1732/) and another that I think is related, about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world (http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-life-changing-magic-of-decluttering-in-a-post-apocalyptic-world). I recommend them to people to check out for some info, and for a bit of fun.
Clapham Common Tube station in London has had all of it’s advertising spots taken up currently by The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service – a project undertaken to swap out the huge amounts of advertising with cute images of cats in order to reduce the effect of the ceaseless onslaught of advertising. Check out an article and … Read more The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service
“Solemnity, on the other hand… I don’t know what it’s for. I mean, what is the point of it?” – John Cleese There is a great talk by John Cleese on YouTube where he discusses creativity. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qby0ed4aVpo He suggests the main things we need for creativity are: Space Time Time Confidence … Read more John Cleese on Creativity
A US newspaper has posted up an article about Danish artist Jacob Kirkegaard’s piece “32 Degrees: The Art of Winter”, which is being exhibited at the Shelburne Museum. The work features a 32 minute looping sound work featuring hydrophone field recordings of glaciers “calving”. You can check out the article and an audio sample of … Read more 32 Degrees: The Art of Winter