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The Mire

"High"

American artist and musician (and bandmate with Mike Kelley in The Poetics) Tony Oursler recently opened an exhibition at the Lisson Gallery in London. The show, which runs until October 3rd, features a mixture of his work from the 90's along with new work from this year, if you're familiar with Oursler's art then there won't be many surprises for you, but it's still well worth a visit. Using sculpture, painting, video projection and sound, Oursler combines a hand-made DIY aesthetic with images of obsessive habits such as chain smoking, internet addiction and compulsive gambling along with the sound of indistinct mumblings and sharp angry whispers. Wandering through the darkened galleries as the emanations from each work overlap with one another creates a sense of being in a space of conflict and psychological violence; as if caught up in an argument between a roomful of tatty puppets, disembodied heads...

The Mire

Videos From Sónar 2008

Check out three video clips from The Wire's visit to Sónar 2008: The final performance of the Yellow Swans , a Mark Fell (of .snd) installation and a work by the Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena (both exhibited at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica) Yellow Swans 20 June 2008: Mark Fell Installation: Pablo Valbuena Installation: There's higher resolution versions of this through The Wire's main site here .

The Mire

'It's not your imagination ... who's there?'

Steve Goodman's presentation at the excellent hauntology event last week focused on the phenomenon of 'audio spotlights', which deploy ultrasound to precisely target sonic messages at individuals. Predictably, the use of this Philip K Dick-like 'holosonic' technology - explained in the YouTube clip above - is being pioneered by advertisers to cut through the urban cacophony to reach consumers as they pass billboards. It's interesting that the 'related videos' on YouTube are predominantly not about technological developments but the paranormal - not surprising when you watch the clip below, which shows how advertisers have insinuated an insistent voice saying 'It's not your imagination ... who's there?' into the heads of passersby. (I'm reminded of Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness , in which technicians transmit a message into the sleeping mind of the receiving subjects, saying 'This is not a dream'.) It as if the voice flips...

The Mire

'Other People Went To University...'

I didn't mind being on the dole. I had a lot of time on my hands as a result. Other people went to university, but I read books, smoked cigs and looked around most days. It's good to have a period like that in your life, when you're not being forced to think like others. Don't get me wrong: I had my fair share of dull days and my diet wasn't the most healthy, but I read a lot of good books and wrote a lot, most of which found its way on to our first LP. I didn't think of it like that when I was writing, though. I just felt an urge to write. If you're a cod-psychologist, I guess you could trace most of the Fall's output back...

The Mire

UNINSTAL

Sound poet Christian Bök performing at Flarf vs. Conceptual at NYCs Whitney Museum, 2009 A precursor to the INSTAL festival of new and experimental music and sound (scheduled for November), UNINSTAL , kicks off 9 May with the first part of a walk/screening event, In The Shadow Of Shadow , led by artists organisations The Strickland Distribution & Ultra-red . The walk focuses on the gentrification of Glasgow. Following this, field recordist Eric La Casa and musician Jean-Luc Guionnet present House , one-shot subjective sonic portraits of four houses, their inhabitants and their relationship through sound, 13 May. On 14 May, philosopher Ray Brassier, Jean-Luc Guionnet and percussionist Seijiro Murayama present Used Sound 15 May hears Loïc Blairon's, It Doesn’t Say What It Says , followed...

The Mire

The Wire Salon, Enigma Machines: How To Decode Graphic Scores

The Wire ’s monthly series of salon events continues with an evening dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of graphic scores and other revolutionary approaches to musical notation. A panel made up of The Wire ’s Philip Clark, composer Claudia Molitor and pianist Ian Pace will discuss how graphic scores can be used to access entire new dimensions in sound. The night will also feature screenings of Claudia Molitor’s 3D graphic scores (3D glasses will be provided), and a special audience participation graphic scores Invisible Jukebox session. London Cafe Oto, 3 June, 8pm, £4. Check out some online content in anticipation of the evening: • Notations 21, website for the book on contemporary musical notation and graphic scores, written by Theresa Sauer. Check out her blog here . • A transcript of a discussion between composers Morton Feldman and Earle Brown with the German...

The Mire

Blow Up: Exploding Sound and Noise (London - Brighton 1959-1969)

An exhibition curated by The Wire ’s David Toop and Tony Herrington that investigates the links between artists from different disciplines who were active in London and Brighton in the 1960s, as well as the simultaneous emergence of a shared ‘Noise’ aesthetic. [caption id="attachment_495" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Still from Jeff Keen's Marvo (1967)"] [/caption] The exhibition features material on a host of Swinging London’s counterculture figures including artists John Latham and Gustav Metzger , jazz musicians Joe Harriott and Coleridge Goode , Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, improvisors John Stevens and AMM, composer Annea Lockwood , film maker Jeff Keen , and sound/text poet Bob Cobbing . London Flat Time House , 24 June–25 July. John Latham's Encyclopedia Britannica (1971)

The Mire

Swamp Thing at Sonar 2010

Ah, Sonar. We love your beautiful home city of Barcelona – full of gorgeous people, delicious food and sunshine. We love the excellence of your stages' sound systems and the way you refute the notion that the clubbing/raving experience is necessarily depraved and dirty. We relish your stellar organisation and helpful, civilised staff. And even though – after 17 years of programming – there are now many hours of bland beats blanketing a few acts of interest, we still love to go to Sonar. Ah, Hyperdub. We were surprised that your party was off-Sonar, but frankly all of the parties surrounding Sonar, not officially included with Sonar, are part of what make it such a great festival to go to. If you don't like the main course, you can fill up on appetisers and desserts and this party was one of the best things on the menu, even for tired old Londoners like ourselves. We were a little overwhelmed by the...

The Mire

Radio Joy: The Strangeness Of Existence

The Wire 's Biba Kopf has curated a show for Band Of Holy Joy front man Johny Brown's internet radio station, Radio Joy. The episode, which was originally broadcast on 27 June, includes music from Robert Piotrowicz, Male Instrumenty, Za Siodma Gora, Rongwrong, Scianka and more as featured in Kopf's article "Poland's Hidden Reverse" about the contemporary Polish experimental underground ( The Wire July 2010). The Strangeness Of Existence: Polish Visions In Sound From Witkacy To Scianka is now available online as a podcast along with previous Radio Joy shows, here .

The Mire

Area10: Call For Support

[caption id="attachment_563" align="aligncenter" width="407" caption="Image by atty"] [/caption] Experimental arts space Area10 is calling out for support to secure a longer term lease on their premises at Eagle Wharf in Peckham, South East London. Their lease is set to run out on 15 July. Area10 have been in the warehouse space behind Peckham Library for the past eight years. Along with studio and rehearsal space for artists, they host and organise a wide variety of international art exhibitions, workshops, performances, and Audiovisual Art Lab , and other collaborative events. They're currently working with the local council, Southwark, to gain a longer term lease so as to keep – and increase – their activities: They're asking their supporters for help and to sign a petition, along with a testimonial http://www.savearea10.org/ Area10 Area10 event archive A10 Art Lab...

The Mire

Carlos Casas: unedited interview transcript

Here's the full transcript, plus links and film clips, of the interview with the Catalan audio-visual artist Carlos Casas that forms the basis for the Cross Platform article on Carlos in the new June issue of The Wire . Can you say something about the relationship between recorded sound and filmed image in your work, how they work together, inform or influence each other, or contradict. Actually, sound is a direct extension of the film. I have started to develop in my last three films a much more organic way of working with sound and soundtrack. All sounds that appear in the film are tightly related to the film, the subject I am filming or the place. All the layers of information float in the soundtrack as an integral part of it, it provides the z axis, the third dimension, so to speak, it enhances the image, it is the sound that provides...

The Mire

D30, D60, D90 Go

Myself and Nick Richardson will be hosting a tape-only extravaganza on the Adventures In Modern Music show tonight, with music new and old culled from the cassette archives at The Wire office and various other sources, to celebrate the thriving cassette music underground in the US, UK and beyond. You might ask... why? And why now? Over the last year or so the number of tapes coming into The Wire office have increased steadily. It started with Noise heads, but electroacoustic musicians and field recordists have followed down the same route, and Hypnagogic Pop has taken to the cassette form like The Skaters to the music racks at your local charity shop. Record labels have even used them for promo purposes (to avoid pre-releases getting ripped and spread on the internet). We were musing as to what's the appeal of the format. First off, fidelity: cassettes hiss like hell,...