Neil Webb - Radio Stars
- Play:
- Artist: Neil Webb
- Title: Radio Stars
- Album: OWN [SOUND] ART
- Track: 3
- Genre: Sound Art
- Year: 2007
- Length: 31:23 minutes (35.91 MB)
- Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)
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 made a piece that can be seen as three units that fit together under the themes of communication, drifting and the void. The units are divided by the sound of the turning of a dial on a radio searching for transmissions. The piece develops with willfully retro communication sounds referring back to the possibilities and imaginary worlds that radio provided in its infancy. The podcast now offers another revolution in broadcasting that can be exploited by the masses. The piece then moves through its drift and void sequences. These territories are unspecific moving towards a blank space waiting to be filled.The void can remain empty or can be occupied. The piece has no specific location in mind but sets up parameters in which the listener can either arrive and find their own location or just go along for the ride.
I would like to thank Tim Lambert and Ron Wright.
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Neil Webb is a practicing artist based in Sheffield working predominantly with sound. His practice has moved from painting to include sound installation, video, performance, curation and CD releases under the name bocman.
2003 saw performances by bocman at Sheffield Hallam University, The MAXIS Festival , Leeds, the annual Sonic Artists Networki Conference in Sheffield and the release of the CD Somewhere Nowhere. He also curated the events Sounds Recorded for an Empty Nightclub as part of Sheffield 03 and Host 4 : Cinema in 2004. In 2004 Webb's work continued to develop through collaboration including his work with Host Artists Group. He has produced a range of audio and audio-visual installations, including Scramble, a collaboration with artist Michael Day.
In 2005 Webb undertook a residency at Hull Time Based Arts creating the installation and CD, The Inside Underneath. He also completed a long standing project, Solaristics inspired by Stanislaw Lem's book and Andrei Tarkovsky's film Solaris.
Webb was selected for an artists residency, Signal-to-Noise Ratio at the Tower Atelier in Neuhausen Germany. During the residency Webb created two new works, a multi-channel sound installation titled Across the Field and a video installation titled Heaven up Here.
During 2006 Webb has created a new sound installation Invisible Resonance 2 for the Consortium Gallery in Amsterdam, screened two video works, Slow Motion Static and Tide Time at the Sound Practice conference at Goldsmith's University London. The video work Enter the Underworld has also been screened in Liverpool as part of the 37 Seconds BBC big screen project.
The bocman project has continued with performances in Holland and England and the release of the CD Motion Static.
He has recently recorded and edited the audio tracks for the installation Doodah by Carl von Weiler for the Storey Gallery in Lancaster.Future projects for 2007 include making a multi-channel audio visual installation in collaboration with Ron Wright and making the multi-channel sound installation The Stars in Us All for Bloc Space in Sheffield.
