cep prez

write, right, gotta script a performance presentation- some kind of make-sense of all this- problem is where to start?
Investigating context- tying all the elements of this together, multi layered, looping histories and contingencies shouldn't be too difficult, in the form of multi-layered performance lecture yes....?

a broadcast element- direct from Soundart Radio 102.5 FM
a live element, me, in a Falmouth studio-
complimentary arguing, overlaid expositions, examples of work, interactive feedback - 30 minutes of  ALL THIS....  
But where to start? The context of the specific station is tied directly to individuals  involved(initiators and participators), who are tied to 'community radio' (Ofcom definitions), which is tied to the rural landscape (Totnes town, Devonian practicalities), which is tied to avantgarde arts college (imagination and experiment), which is tied to legalities of the country (British Laws), which is tied to the world at large (global market place/human kind), which is tied to the idea of liberty (human rights), which is tied to expression (transmission), which is tied to art (reception), which is tied to the law (history of radio in rebellion), which is tied to mechanics (limits and uses), which is tied to commerciality (conformity and control), which is tied to resistance (small acts great acts), which is tied to interactions ( languages), which is tied to education (critical thinking), which is tied to media (communications and platforms), which is tied to participation (rights and responsibilities), which is tied to individuals and on and on and on....   and , this all happens to be 'my' experience, so some how i have to involve my own participation, without BORING MYSLEF... ahhhh Joan Retallack, do you know how happy the tiers of 'being' you share make me? Most likely, you doooooooo  n't

late night shopping

I am making record bowls out of charity shop reject vinyl, (hello Andy Williams) to sell at the Soundart Radio cafe on Christmas late night shopping festival...  We have the daycentre lounge and kitchen at Birdwood House beside the Civic square, and will be selling 2 types of mulled lovliness, spreading the word and providing info about the station and studio, and  using it as a warm base for volunteers who will be recording the festival for broadcast. Its going to be fun- The late night shopping is a annual Totnes winter festival- there are crafts stalls and delicious festive food, street performers ( Mamma Tolkus on the Plains and Burt Miller and the Animal Folk above the Animals in distress Charity shop- ace) and decorations, the high street is closed off to cars and most of the town pile out to get their wreaths, misteltoe, gifts and whatnot and enjoy the spectacle. 

The winter holidays play list is open for contributions- its the 'Jingle Hell'- a alternative alternative to the usual   festive fayre... I made a sound scape from my recordings of this night- listen to it through my Soundcloud link....

questionaire survey networking

 
I've  composed a survey to gather thoughts ideas and personal experience, a email to the membership, and also further afield, through the Internet to artists and friends and other interested parties . . .
there is a cap on the number of questions - ten questions sounds ample, but it is hard to chose what to leave out. Currently I am loving community (small/arts) radio and pretty over excited about its possibilities (radio is exciting! but maybe i should stop jumping on the furniture) - and it will be interesting to see how others relate to and use it- the verity of work suggests just as many different approaches.
- it is hard to compose questions that carry my interests in a accessible form- i would like the juice of the radio/producer/listener relationship, ...  :-) Maybe other peoples' opinions will validate my enquiry?-  it makes good sense to invite the 'community' on the to share ideas on broadcasting and community generally.So far it runs like this:

HERE IT IS : http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S9FWZQH

and I will answer it too- as I guess in the questions asked are the answers I'm after myself....

done it did it good

i recorded and broadcast the TTC meeting. felt good. sounded fine. flumped the out-tro-   felt a bit put out that i sounded shoddy(i couldn't locate the text out my the three bits of paper, froze, couldn't find the track I'd lined up to play doh er baaaa arg blurt...   Nell reassured me afterwards, " The longer you broadcast, the more experience you have presenting, the less you are bothered about those moments." good- a sense of professionalness is not in any way connected to a professional sounding show :-)

Dan Lander writing in 'Radio Castings: Musings on Radio and Art', in Radio Rethink, states that

"Literacy is a two way street in which reading (as in listening) and writing (as in producing) play equal roles in the development of expression and comprehension."

 Expression and comprehension...   yes please, in all ways, small ways, for us, on the street :-)

radio gaga radio googoo

The Totnes town council have requested that we hold off giving the local library copies of the recording until we have dealt with issues of

will the public be free to borrow these CD's?
there is a concern about the copyright

A local paper ran an article in which a councillor expressed worries that Soundart Radio would produce and sell CDs (good, lord, at a loss as who would want them?!?!?) and there seems to be a issue with the idea of there being a 'publicly available record', which is what the minutes should be anyway, and personal accountability, which is interesting form the point of public meetings and public speaking....so more meetings there for the sake of protocol.... and just to make sure we all agree on common sense :-)

Copyright, plagiarism and creative commons are all part of my investigation. the vulnerability i feel when publishing this blog can be seen as a result of this- I say I value transparency, but fear misrepresentation, I yearn for expression, but fret about being judged....  I have adjusted the settings to this blog so that it does not appear on search engines, (at one point, if you entered,"art is not a mirror its a fucking hammer" on google, i was the top 10 of the hit list ;-) and added a 'adult content' disclaimer before any readers could view it- these steps gave me a little more confidence. I saw that one reason i am attracted to radio is the (optional) unaccountability of producers- listeners do not need to know a producers' name, whereabouts, qualifications, family history etc and cannot interrupt or shout down the work- though of course if it is not to their liking, they are fully able to turn off or tune out. Broadcasting in Totnes has been very challenging- it has made me more aware of my ties to propriety, responsibility, my own ideologies, and how i wish to work- in what capacities, in what mode and where- . And for whom- I do not doubt that my work (audio outreach specifically) is not to every ones taste- but hope that it is enjoyed somewhere.
This is interesting to me - it seems the other side of individual arts practices is community activity- they are kind of indivisible- there is a responsibility for arts to be public, and to engage on a street level as well as a theoretical or conceptual level... if you wish to produce work 'for everyone' work that is public, approachable, open, anti-exclusive, is there a cut off point which art/radio should not pass, or should a producer honour there muse and make work that is not necessarily for everyones' taste??  what is the responsibility of the listener in this equation? ie,"I just listened to the whole of Kenny Rodgers' back catalogue and now feel sick, depressed and like committing a violence upon my teddy bear." Maybe you should have turned off when you first became discomforted? Kenny can't be blamed- he is just doing his thing, and as Bob says- "you can't please all the people all the time".
Outside of the academic environment criticism is often given unconstructively -squinteyes across a full room/a sneer/ a flippant comment made to insult - thrown to disarm, to hurt, but there lies my own chance to choose how to process it- maybe what challenges has the greatest worth. I am not given to agitation, but not prepared to shut up either.    :-)

      

REPRESENTATIONS, KAPPELER, PROCESSES

i have been on a very nice icy visit to Falmouth- the new home of my course. the main uni building is occupied with protesting students collecting signatures for a petition against the cuts- i have signed and made friends, but spent most of my time in the library, on the beach, in a boat and in a cottage eating chocolate and drinking wine celebrating new known writers with good friends...  Do you know Susanne Kappeler? 'The pornography of Respresention' is a very exciting book ranging over territory in a manner i am not used to- her argument for developing dialogue in community as a starting point for social remedy in quite persuasive. she is particularly passionate about the use of relationship between real people- and breaking the hold of mass media grip on social expression- the effect of transmitter -receiver when the transmitter is a representation of corporate or political agenda (radio voice, authorized personality) apposed to the real time conversation or open dialogic experience where equality is at least aspired for-(Brechts' radio as an Apparatus of Communication) of  the access to the media, a voice, a chance to respond, to be heard as well as to listen is more or less a fringes activity? 
In the chapter 'Communication', Kappeler writes in protest against medias' appropriation of art-
‘conciousness industry’  is a term coined by H. M. Enzenburger in 1970 to point up the ideological role of cultural industries such as the mass media.
All the students currently attending arts college, might suggest a more open, critical approach to media/art/the world as represented/our own place with that -photographers, creative writers, a masse of educated technology savvy creators- but Kappeler suggests the reference point of much artistic endeavor is caught in a subjectivity that is a reflection of bourgeoisie  ideology and dross society- contextual- and is without the self awareness required to break with its subjection to such allusive controls as sexism, racism and consumerism (the status quo is held by  the proliferation of stereotype reassurances).
Kappeler writes about the need to view works of art as a whole communicative process, suggesting art and 'communication' is isolated in an ascetic sanctuary; but should be seen to belong to a communicative context which is reality rather than fantasy.
"Representation means the reification of the message. The medium and message are foregrounded, at the expense of the communicators. Representation foregrounds content- the representation 'of'- and obscures the agent of representation." - which so often, is corporate or politically aligned(the warm advertisement voice extolling a product, the 'Dear' in a Bill from your electricity supplier, the use of friendly motifs, stolen from interpersonal communications and reworked to carry messages are rhetorical devices of persuasion rather than relationships of equals).
These ideas can be applied to models of radio- the difference between a refined and official station and a station which keeps it's door open and welcomes interesting occurrences not as news material but as a ground for a interactive reality.


Lucinda, a founding artist of the station was speaking about her fascination with looping today- not only in the studio as a sonic material, but looping within the community- a show might make ripples that feed back as response, whether in the moment as the first broadcast, or over weeks and years and decades with the people effected by what they heard. Radio can be used as a closed circuit- or as a situation of dialogue- between people.
As Lucinda also said, and says on her loop laden Soundart Radio show 'Swimming in the Stream', "if you think you can make radio come on up to Soundart Radio studio and have a go!" ( but in a nice way- this is a invitation to make radio, not a authoritative challenge).

is this the end? Awen asks, frost snow rain

december is here

what now

i have lost momentum slightly, but this might be due to the change of focus form practical involvement to a concentrated attempt on consolidation of ideas....

mapping and understanding context is a undertaking that grows with each new consideration- relationships spill out , merge, influence, rebound form each other- nothing can be seen as 'without reason', and trying to make a presentation which suggests a linear approach is difficult with elements that interrelate and chase each others tails, rather like worms of ouroboros :-)


Community  
set up (student project) and alignments (DCA), ethos, collaborators, steering committee, local and international networks of listeners and producers, Totnes, open door, membership, intuitive and responsive, welcoming, THE CUP OF TEA, volunteers : bell hooks, guatarri, joan reattack,

Radio   
audio as material, culturally defined uses, hard ware, listening environments, car, kitchen, work space, ipod, hills and valleys, history and contemporary issues such as analog into digital - sound quality/possibilities, the radio voice, the listening ear, historic broadcasts and diverse uses,interference  :whitehead, Kogawa, Weiss,

Art
commitments to dialogue, ambiguity, exposing new work, arts networks, speciality, away from academia, accessibility, social experimentation,poetic licence Bernstein, Galas, Cixous

Legalities
British language, institution, rent fund raising ofcom, commercial /Independence, self defining for use in official agreement control and management,political history, homogenization vs radicalism,subjective and objective approaches  Batchelard, Guatarri,

colation, digestion, some new avenue for digression

Today i have mostly been.... interviewing.
Winding up my CEP ready for a fierce spurt of presentation arrangement- I have the whole of December- but, get this, I'm a single parent mom, so in reality, i got around three weeks...   :-) mustn't grumble...
the plan :

Jennifer Wellwood   Writing (with sonic arts practices) BA      
CEP update:                                                                                  fri 25 Nov 2010
I have completed 10 weeks at Soundart radio- immersing myself in day to day running of the studio and as many projects as possible. I have produced and broadcast just over an hour of live original material, and spent near to 60 hours in the studio.
I am winding down my ‘station time’ from Monday 29th, and concentrating on completing these projects:
*Compiling responses to the surveys and questionnaires I have created, via Internet, telephone and in person (for staff and committee of the station, for the member ship, for artists i have worked with over the last 2 months)
*Totnes town council meeting recordings and broadcasts, and supporting material/PR
*Bound For Glory (last 24hr sslloowwssuunnddaayy of 2010) for the 19th December,for which I hope to compose 2 x 10 minute works from recordings already made in London, and at the DCA class of 2010 graduation.) THIS IS THE VERY EXCITING ONE!!!
*I am also still organizing ssllooww ssuunnddaayy programme through till December 12th- but this is a small amount of deskwork as the artists have provided the work ready for broadcast


Regarding my CEP presentation in early January 2011, I will be working on a script covering:
(4 minutes intro and conclusion, 6 mins each the other 4, = 30 minutes)

Introduction
Community    inclusion/ locale/ international      
UNSANE RHAPSODY
Radio     medium’s qualities/possibilities             
SLOW SUNDAY
Art/ experiment/ expression/dialogue                 
AUDIO OUTREACH
Legality/ authority/ official/ self regulation          
TOWN COUNCIL BROADCASTS
Conclusion


The  caps lock names are shows that I have been involved with that I can to illustrate my discoveries.
I hope to broadcast the audio aspect of my presentation over radio live from Soundwave radio in Falmouth, to be received  in my tutor's car- a mix down of radio work, interview, white noise, music, over which I can ‘jam’ live speech and pre-recordings broadcasting out of Soundwave. (this choice of venue is pertinent to the presentation- a radio listening environment much more natural than a studio in the Falmouth Uni performance centre- which highlights interesting aspects of RADIO USE)

political radio, grass roots, radio as local hot media

regarding the recording and broadcasting of the Totnes Town Council public meeting due on the first monday of each month- why would you want to broadcast the monthly meeting of your town council? How come I am the first to suggest it / actualize it (lets see how the meeting goes out first yah!)? Who is gonna listen to that kind of show- "if they wanted to be involved why don't they go to it live?" What does the local paper media think of it? How does rhetoric serve our community?  How will individual personality translate onto radio? What about information as power? What about official guidelines? Whats fair? How to ensure the right to be heard? What about if you don't like public speaking/speaking in public? Won't it just be the same blah blah blah civic meadow traffic drunk kids street furniture placement? What is democracy? What is participation? What is power rules rights authority? RADIO AS A TOOL making change RADIO AS A PUBLIC ADDRESSER promoting equality RADIO AS A FOGHORN spreading awareness RADIO AS A INTERFACE AND HIGH LIGHTER a social service RADIO AS A REASSURANCE THAT WE ARE BEING HEARD/ hear yourself LISTENED TOO hear answers/ AND THAT THERE IS A REGISTERED RESPONSE say what you mean mean what you say  AND IT OPENS A OPPORTUNITY FOR THE TRANSPARENCY WE ALL HOLD SO DEAR....what exactly did you mean by that?

I will work on- a page for this project for our website, to be also a poster for notice boards in the town... and speak to the Totnes library about my idea of providing them with CD's of the recordings for the town's use...

From Hitler to Irish Pirate Woman's radio, broadcasting has always been political-( what you play is as important as what you don't).

sslloowwssuunnddaayy. . .

yes , ssllooww ssuunnddaayy. This has been a very interesting part of my CEP, more in what i have learned about organizing and commitment and time management.....

I simplify: mistakes not to make again- how come so much learning has to happen like this? Its rather frustrating....
~always notify artists as to exactly when their work is going on because that's respectful
~thank artists the Monday after their work has been broadcast because that's polite
~be available for tweaking/on hand should I be needed- because, hell, that's what i should be available for if necessary...  oh my ears!

audio outreach over and out till.... ( next season)

working backwards, lost in time
I have moved my Audio outreach project off air for a little while- although i have been enjoying the process of scripting, performing, producing, i am not confident the placement of the show was best suited to 'what it is' (The Baron received the only piece of feedback i have heard "It doesn't really fit, I'm just getting into a psychedelic rock space and this woman starts reading nursery rhymes.") That's cool, the idea for me was to to make a show for the end of the day, then the Baron decided to extend his show around the new time of my work, and so I became his 'guest'. Which i never was(a guest is invited, i was imposed, a guest is made tea, i bring my own beverage etc etc). His show is great- original, great music, but my stuff don't sit pretty in there....... So good luck to The Baron, I'll listen ]]] you should too....
///////and audio outreach has to transFORM INTO.... something other..... 'other' is a favorite word of artists such as Helene Cixous and Joan Retallack- it is the respectful title for work/actions/approaches/anyone/thing that can't sit inside the status quo or dominant(any) power play. Often used to describe patriarchy's non-understanding/blind approach to 'woman' by early feminists, I use the word to outline projects and work that emerge from subconscious or a labours of love/ambiguity. (not setting up the Baron as Patriarchy here!!! Just giving some background to my choice of direction) So, Ill sleep on it, and see what aural visions force themselves, with loving determination, to the forefront of my imagination. And find somewhere comfy to vomit them out :-)

Audio outreach *3

This came out adhoc- the pre-organized introduction crashed and burned- my musical files refused to play, and i had to launch straight into the spoken work because I hadn't loaded my tracks onto the play out computer properly...

I was planning on dropping in 20 seconds on odd parts of these tracks-

Earlier I had been feeling very alarmed- i have committed to do a show- I leap at the opportunity, i am grateful for the chance to perform my own work, learn to run the desk, speak my mind.... and find, come Tuesday night 630, I have no script/performance/anything ready to roll.... where have i been all week?!!! (this flags questions of responsibility and privilege, re Simone Bourgeois, sentiment: Art is a privilege, a blessing, a relief/ the whole art mechanism is the result of many privileges/ The privilege was access to the unconscious ) This week i have been- up, down, a good mum, a bad girl, causing trouble, sticking my nose in where it wasn't welcome, hanging out with dear friends, cooking for loved ones, to Torquay to pass my driving theory test, to the last ever graduation at DCA, and the ensuing party, to the allotment, to the cafe to read and .... Ah! To the Cafe to Read!!! I have been absorbed in life, and in plenty of texts too, on behalf of my studies, on behalf/with my kid .

I arranged a mix, a splice of texts that have been used in studies and bedtime readings this week- works that inspired me, made me laugh, confused me, reminded me of my childhood, works i am desperate to share, to discuss, to imbibe.... I got to pay homage to William Boroughs, Grand Master of the Cut-Up- through this piece- who wrote, as Mr Martin " Human activity is drearily predictable. It should now be considered that what you considered a reality is the result of precisely predictable because prerecorded human activity. Now, what can louse up a prerecorded biological recording?" Indeed! Through it all down and see what comes up.

Unfortunately the accompanying sounds not working (my fault) resulted in listeners missing out on the wonders of one of Boroughs' works, and others by Gregory whitehead and Christof Migone... being flustered without the hiding place of minute of track-respite, i also forgot to read off my list of sources.... naughty- - funny to be so keen to push those authors that mean so much to me, and forget to give them credit on air for reading their works-

It was strange to see reoccurring interests laid out-subjectivity, intelligibility, intuition, imagination, collage, voice,- the excerpts were photocopies and arranged in a loose heap on the floor, so the selection process was incidental- reach out and select at random- though as so often is the case with such processes a thread of a theme tied the subjects together.

Scrolling through radio bandwidths reveals interesting connections- I felt I could mirror this effect by creating a montage of literature as a script. I have experimented with radio 'as orracle' a device of personal address- ask a question, scroll through the bandwidth, listen to relevant/pick up on unexpected responses to your question...

Following Ferdinand De Saussure, ‘Language is not a function of the speaker; it is a product that is passively assimilated by the individual’, we can recognise that culture is the agent of this assimilation, and that a individual learns the basic patterning of their native conditioning- we learn concepts and contexts as we learn ways of hearing, seeing, communicating. the reading that i am using in this piece is a form of input- I am an assemblage of this work (and innumerable other works and experiences ;-) Input that informs us informs our output. I wanted to make a work that showed some of the input I had been working with- ideas, narratives, manuals- socially acquired information in paper text form, in through my eyes, then out through my mouth, into the ears of others ( via the mic). ‘It is the social side of speech, outside the individual who can never create or modify it by himself; it exists only by virtue of a sort of contract signed by the members of a community.’ Ferdinand De Saussure, Course in general Linguistics, 1916 assembled form class notes, p 59, Literary theory: An Anthology, ed Julie Rivkin and M Ryan1998, Singapore, Blackwell Publishing.  These works fulfil a desire in me- I was hoping to honour them (particularly the theoretical works calling for ambiguity and practices of dislocation) by making a radio piece that playfully made them further available- if listeners wished to enter into 'contrac't with my work and listen.

The failing of this work was the reading- some of the works were particularly theoretical, and the enunciation and lilt of the voice was not necessarily in keeping with the information- a shame that content was compromised by my inarticulation of certain phrases, where a more measured reading might have kept the themes more alive. I have read that because of radio's ephemeral nature, information needs to be stripped back to basics, for the 99% of listeners that are not solely concentrating of the program they are listening to, but also because the continuum needs to be simple to be 'kept up with'. I do not agree this-  my skills as a orator are still undeveloped- but i think work heard can be just as influential as work read.  Poetry might highlight this better than anything else- speech brings language to life...

(see page: 'audio outreach story time' for the script).

COFFEE INDUCED TANGENT

what about tonight? I NEED AN AUDIO OUTREACH.... nothing is ready to roll- hundreds of ideas, boiling away, waiting for the rich reduction, but new ingredients keep going in, and life seems like water- diluting focus (but maybe keeping reality hydrated...) I make the fire in my favorite cafe up, coal blackened fingers type and raise the coffee to my lips- its not a bad life, this, adrift, crashing into knowledge, i am looking forward to being 40, when Awen is 19, and maybe.... i can go loose myself totally in 'it', become absorbed (imagine that!) to saturation, instead of feeling like only one eye can focus on these 'other' things, as the other has responsibility to maintaining healthful standards for another wondering child---- I thought parenting would be that easy- feed, clean occasionally, provide a few coordinates for morals and entertainment, and actually, find, when i find something i want to dive into, there is only 45% of me free to go, free for myself.... the rest is engaged, complicatedly, with a 9 year old. :-). What is this with learning, - aware there is always more- learning is a curve spiraling a helterskelter peeping over just the edge the world moves through a kaleidoscope changing views and jeweled approaches all the way down you gather speed to bump and jump up at the bottom and demand more more more why should it ever end, its not just a a game but it is seriously enjoyable- another turn another text another go another film another turn another track another go another approach to understanding another turn another side to the story of human endeavors to create and maintain the balance of becoming and being another go- its dizzying- but the views are amazing and the act maybe in some way a practice that readies one for dodging bullets or other repressive aggressive attempts at devaluing life?
The fire blazes now, cold weather is just outside the window.

I HEART FELIX GUATTARI

I have been thoroughly enjoying Guattari's 'The Three Ecologies'.Guattari, F. first published France 1989, first english translation 2000, this edition, 2008, trans Ian Pindar and Paul Sutton, Great Britain
Gauttari states that we are "being mentally manipulated through the production of a collective, mass media subjectivity" and uses this text to forward his idea of a ecology that works on three levels- the subjective, the social and the environmental- all three being indivisible for healthy human life and all at risk in the current environment of capitalist/consumerist/rat race/ecoside. His prose is beautiful- reading his work is like being soothed by someone who sees deeply and on many levels and is not phased by the challenges ahead but is able to articulate reasoned passionate responses ....

I want to translate his ideas into CEP speak, or ways that i see his non-limiting definition of holistic community applying to soundart radio. (is it wrong to try to fit Guattari's 'model' over the subject of my study? Is this just a attempt to label something through associating it with ideas that i am choosing from a book randomly? Is this all just the contours of my own desire and enthusiasm? Can i really have been so lucky as to find a model and a practice that fit together like fish in water?)

I recognise through seeing both how soundart radio works [and my meeting with Ed Baxter from Resonance FM too], that the practicalities of running a radio station demand much on a very practical and ‘non theoretical’ level, but there is a approach to radio  which can be applied to the stations’ work/ethos that lifts it above being a genre of radio  ('art') station providing another product for the market. It is not just the playlist, it is an attitude and application, and how it offers itself as a opportunity for ‘others’- people, strangers, to come together- "their objective being to processually activate isolated and repressed singularities that are just turning in circles" p34.) in other words, radio stations can behave as community spaces that offer a environment giving diverse individuals opportunity to explore thier own singularity(Guttari calls human subjectiveness ‘singularity’), and he states that it as endangered as any other rare species on this planet. 
A space to meet, share and work together creatively, with rules in place that support a  wholesome subjectification- respecting eachothers' independent voices/work ,and efforts towards exchange and empowerment. On a professional level this results in diverse and original content for broadcast, but also a place where dialogue flourishes, creative work is generated and without many limits and one can
"work on oneself in as much as one is a collective singularity; construct and in a permanent way re-construct this collectivity in a multivalent liberation project. Not in reference to a directing ideology, but within the articulations of the Real. Perpetually recomposing subjectivity and praxis is only concievable in the totally free movement of each of its components, and in absolute respect of their own times- time for comprehending or refusing to comprehend, time to be unified or autonomous, time of identification or of the most exacerbated differences." (Guttari and Negri, 1990: 120)


"It is up to us to resist this mass-media homogenization, which is both desingularizing and infantilizing, and instead invent new ways to achieve the resingularization of existence." (Ian Pindar, Paul Sutton, intorduction, three ecologies)
We resist homogenization as listeners by seeking out work that demands deep listening and offers 'satisfaction by engagement'- conceptually as well as sonically, interacting with work that exercises our intelligence and suggests many modes of being, and also by rejecting work that is supplied as mass media, commercial and repressive. When we are supported by work that challenges and enriches, our imaginations are stretched and that gives us 'permission' to experiment ourselves.

sound world

A collaboration with Joni Brown (choreographer)-Jonis' research is on the value of dance in nature and how the natural world revitalizes movement practices and educates an approach to a more holistic automation . She was doing a week long site residency at Haldon Forest, under the umbrella of the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World @ www.ccanw.co.uk, and invited me to spend a day in the woods with her, doing a set of exercises and engaging in a dialogue around ideas of non-visual perception. The other users of the forest area we were in were happy to be enjoying the forest in their own fashions- bird watching, hiking, rambling, mountain biking, picnicking,using the play facilities, having leaf fights...


We began a series of exercises Joni devised as specifically non-visual. We both felt the senses of hearing, touch and smell became more sensitive and aligned closer together than sight would usually 'allow'- the natural world blossomed around us - autumnal crunch, crisp rustle and rot, slime and must, became pleasant again once the blindfold of assigning value to objects had been replaced with the immediacy and slow delicacy of investigating an environment as textural, without a desire above feeling our bodies align with that space to corrupt our adventuring.
We guided each other- turn and turn about, from a respectful distance, creating a area of non interference where serious danger issues such as deep crevices or unstable trees could be negotiated without risk.- flora and fauna became others, equals even, in the space, instead of items to classify from a removed view point.

Lying on my back on the forest floor, i became aware of the stereophonic aspect of the wind in the branches high above- using my hands i responded to the urge to conduct the wind, letting noise like interference, like waves, but twisting directional, playful, irrepressible. who was moving who? Friends who practice Ai Keido had taught me Ki exercises, and this was a experience not dissimilar- I felt so comfortable and poised on the knife edge of sensation, like the environment was pushing back responsive against my skin, playing me....

with eyes closed, though the forest around the centre is busy with cyclists, hikers, children and families, we felt hidden, safe to investigate and move freely, released from awareness of the gaze to enjoy more innocent pleasures - mushroom funk, flaking scales of bark, tacky resin under the fingernails, 1 inch high baby firs against the skin of your cheek,biurd song filling your nose and rich petey earth your ears, back pressed hard into a tree, supported in the slide round all limbs held loosely, then slowly tightly pressurizing to test to know to enjoy the weight and the unexpected encounter of something new to feel- less A - B , more, be here now.

I recorded our blind explorations- and we documented with film in the days' final performances. The audio recordings act as a sensual score-though the dances cannot be repeated (the generation of noises using materials disintegrating cannot really be reproduced, the work is a suggestion of movement rather than a reproducable recipe) the recordings do suggest exploration and free play...

My own interest lay in sonic scores from environmental sources. After broadcasting the work of artist Ricardo Reiss on a sslloowwssuunnddaayy, particularly 'You Go Where You Should Go', which flagged up listening, generating sound, and responding to noise in the environment. His work was generated for a dance performance and composed of urban sound elements, i found it simple and moving, and i wanted to expand upon ideas of the 'permissions to move' that hearing allows- ie to respond to sound physically in a creative way is called 'dance'. Culturally segregated areas with imported noises need not replace the natural environment as a venue and material with which to work.
To be culturally excepted a person must qualify as a dancer, the environment must become a stage, the audio of life must be recognised as a soundtrack. Which leaves responding physically in the woods or street to encountered aural phenomena the domain of... extremely rewarding challenging behavior :-)

residue of a city

i liked the bright lights and the city wide spew, the hustle and the feeling of not fitting in but thats ok, who does, its a mash up a synchronized chaos of colour (mostly gray) and sound (mostly traffic). I made it through the underground worming my way through crushes, like a eel up the escalator to emerge into a hubbub, not necessarily where i wished to appear but so goddam happy to be there anyway, lugging bags and squinting into the wan autumn light at the crumpled underground map. Something about it- the mix, its devastating undeniability - big large massive solid grind mostly undecipherable or folks in their thousands just rubbing along together or not, barging past head down... Works of art balance roadworks and improvements lost in face value presentation, grand gestures of architecture belonging to the state, the history of a few impacting from all sides 200 stories high. I smile along with a multiplicity of children, newer Londoners, a guest in their city of bright lights and attractions and crazy paving. House sized demanding bill boarding covers over windows on other people's lives like every ones so busy, and i am too, but i'd so like to stand and stare because its still amazing the colour -fireworks over primrose hill- and the sound- a thousand languages just babbling, making their worlds go round

town mouse

I am returned from Laaaaaaandaaaaaan, slightly exhausted, very happy.
radio related activities:
-attended launch and 3 evenings of concert festival 'Cut and Splice' hosted by Sound and Music, which this year focused on 'transmission', at the beautifully derelict Wilton's Hall. Highlights- Tetsuo Kogawa simple and intimate crafting of frequency modulators form wire and glasses ( his writing on radio is pretty amazing too), Jaap Blonk's performance of Antonin Artaud's 'To Be Done With The Judgement of God' - which was interesting- sane guy does insane gay? Still, brave and noisy...
-visited Resonance Fm- studio of greater London's art community radio, had a quick chat with Ed Baxter
-gave a soundartradio car sticker to my dear friend Grace, with whom i visited the Tate Modern, where the amazing Poetry and Dream presentation reminded me what power 'works of art' and 'master pieces' have when viewed free and present- often the pencil draft sketchings are still visible beneath the final work :-).
-went on a recording foray with artist Tessa Gleeson and Francesca Panetta, who produces the Hackney Podcast, which recently won the Gold award for General programming in the New York Festivals International Radio Awards. They were collecting interviews and audio for a podcast on 'walking in Hackney' and we rambled along the canal towards the marshes...
-recorded a few bits and pieces for myself.... mainly, traffic, trains, a street poet, a street jam, leaves being blown about on Primrose hill....

the problem with blogs

I write produce, create, reflect, process, and find i have moved through over a week extremely busy but without documenting a thing! So blogger, again a commitment- any shyness or reluctance to commit to unfinished thoughts must be overcome.... the issue may be that this CEP and soundartradio invite a much more physically active participation than i was expecting- less speculation, more person present and doing ( must make time to get to a computer more often!!). Right here and now, I am sat in a Internet cafe in Borough High street, London, having just met Ed Baxter, the joint-founding director of Resonance FM. His technician Dragos, and volunteer Louise, get a mention here too- friendly people, very happy to be working in radio, their enthusiasm for the station and medium evident. The painful fact that the other volunteer did not offer my a cup of tea, yet served everyone else also stands out! its no hard task to be welcoming...? Ed was kind enough to put up with my meandering conversation for 25 minutes- the difference between soundarts gentle flow and Resonances' very structured high power delivery was apparent- the open plan office received 6 phone calls whilst i was there, Ed dealt with emails, tech issues, performance prep, etc etc. (he said he had not been out for a informal lunch in 7 years). I am a small town country girl (woman? girliness has i fear past :-) and the bustle and focus of this major art radio station was exciting, but not seductive. Ed is not only an artist but a facilitator of the contributing artists, volunteers and all others involved (city scale rather than rural) seeing him juggle inputs and outgoings was quite intense.

- key points

*the building creates community- station as gathering place, meeting point

*£9000, (and a fine piano) raised by weekend of canvassing for donations

*still not enough zooms to go round :-)

*clear spot / open door

x x x

audio outreach *2

audio outreach *2
This work consisted of 2 tracks before and 2 tracks after a reading of a script. All related to place/home/community/physicality.... Ah the splendor of site specific work- it felt good to expose this writing to the airwaves- I used this show as a chance to broadcast over the environs a work which related to its physical Fm reach- something shared, a speech written around and in response to Totnes town and valley, and the on/ off love /hate relationship with a locality I've known since moving here aged 4. The script refers to landmarks both physical and metaphorical, rights of passage, ideas of belonging and ownership, reflecting on the generation of 'self' through geographical placement, and exploring ego through territoriality's.
In the introduction to the script, i refer to the works' sliding tenses- I/me/we/you/our/my/yours- the point of reference is always transforming, as the relationship to place also changes- my needs of 'it', its's demands of me, memories form the past skip along side recent more measured modern perspectives.
I wanted to broadcast something that might locals would be able to relate to directly, and any listeners form further a field might be able to translate to their own experience, or not- this work could be a answer to the age old first question to a stranger- "Where do you come from?"

Once again, it was just me, a microphone, and a couple of tracks on the playout computer- I may end up holding to this model till the end of this CEP- editing audio software still scares me a little- the only instrument i play is railings with a stick.... and i can kinda taste the formings of a dissertation investigating the history of the voice on radio....