audio by year '2007'

A retrospective Sci-Fi piece - an inverse reconstruction of the crash of Soyuz 1: In 1967 the BBC in London announced the death of the crew member in this way:

“ … He was an experienced cosmonaut, on his second flight, and had completed all his experiments successfully before returning to Earth. But within seconds of landing, just after he re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, the strings of the parachute intended to slow his descent apparently became tangled. The spaceship hurtled to the ground from four miles up. It is likely that Colonel Komarov was killed instantly on impact….”

Every age has it’s own instruments and instruments have their own timbres. A computer has become the main instrument in our time; sine waves and white noise - it’s generated and most frequently used timbres.

I created this podcasti by using 5 components and their symbolic meanings: 145 Hz and 235 Hz sine waves which are basici frequencies of male and female speech – harmony; white noise - disharmony; 80 Hz sine wave which sometimes goes below the scale of human hearing – hell; 10 KHz sine wave which goes above the scale of human hearing – heaven. 80 Hz and 10 KHz reveal musical infinity and human limitation and, in some way, human possibility to create infinity from his limitations.

Work consists of intro, outro, and four parts, that symbolize earth and the order of mankind. Rhythm as a driving force of living is a key element in all parts. Does this concept mean that I’m trying to create the universe of spheres? - No. Does it mean that conception is more important than music? For sure – not. Does it mean that music is above everything? - But music in these times doesn’t exist ... there is only sound art.

When I was first contacted to produce a podcasti I immediately considered that this would be quite a different proposition from the majority of my previous work. Most of my work whether video or audio installations are in response to or specifically made for a certain location. A podcast would remove the location from the work as it could be listened to in the comfort of your own home or on the move. The piece could also be listened to through external speakers or in the internal space of a pair of headphones. So with the sense of a specific location removed I started to make a piece that was about nowhere. I reflected on the title of my first CD which was Somewhere Nowhere, referring to a place that could be unknown or an unspecified environment. Being somewhere but nowhere specifically. I also considered the purpose of a podcast and thought in its most basici terms that it is used for communication. The content could be anything but its purpose was to reach out to as many people as possible.

I have a disorganized collection of mini disks and DVi tapes; rummaging through this I decided to use some of the recordings in my collection that would otherwise not be used, but ended up putting in some of my recordings from aquariums and labs, of electric fish; I sometimes make an audio diary - I thought this would be a good chance to use some of it.

I wanted to give a sense of the places I visit and the time I spend looking into tanks and watching the behavior of fish - a sonic equivalent of the Aquarium. Some people find aquariums comforting, and in a similar way I leave the radio on just because I like it to be there. Almost like a coffee table book - and in a similar way - I think this is why we keep pets in the house - we just like them to be with us.

The ArtCast this week is a taster of what's to come over the next seven weeks:

Involution is a soundscape composition assembled from recordings of various urban and rural environments. The recordings have been made using binaural microphones worn in the ears so that when the recordings are played back over headphones the listener hears an almost exact recreation of the sounds heard by the recordist. The sounds are externalized, heard as originating outside of the head unlike most recordings heard over headphones.

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This week's ArtCast brings together three artists, all creating work which we think has a particular relevance to the residents and landscape of the Morecambe Bay area.

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This week we have chosen 8 short pieces by an international selection of artists, all of whom use technology and computers in interesting ways.

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In this week's ArtCast 4 artists from across the world will transport you to America's South East, Jing Shan Park, central Beijing and the labyrinthine gardens and ruins over looking Lake Como, Italy.

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This week's ArtCast brings together four artists exploring and responding to four very different types of journeys.

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This week some very different artists share some very different observations they have collected from and about the world around us.

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For the final ArtCast in the VELOCITY selection we have brought together 5 works of art, all with a connection to train travel. Four artists will take you on journeys past and present, both real and staged.

VELOCITY was folly's Festival of Digitali Culture for 2007 - taking place all along the coastal rail route around Morecambe Bay.

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