My Degree Show, Sunderland 1998

an installation shot of my degree show at the university of sunderland 1998. all the things visible on the walls and surfaces, in drawers and files etc were pieces. the plant, the kettle and beverages selection, telephone and lamp were just furnishings. Nic and i built and decorated the room. many, many, in fact too many people thought it was a real office and left hurriedly..' oh, sorry...'

hi jinks in grimsby, mid 90's

sarah and nic make the most of waiting for a train

Industrial Soundscape Installation Performance. Riverside Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1998

In 1998, with the help of John Tilley I set out to mic up and amplify the building area and contents of the top floor of the Riverside in Newcastle. Riverside, an ex printworks was Newscastle's prime 'alternative' club. The top floor of the buildong was a huge open space with a cast iron and glass roof. We took what we could findin the space, including and aquarium, a drafting table, nails, bins, chairs, a hot-dog heater and a compressor, and amplified it all.

You could hear the performance 3 miles away!

Although the piece didn't work as I'd wanted it to, the ensuing marathon performance had its interesting points as we just intuitively began to work out sounds and effects, layering echoes and noises by moving the amplified objects.

Greatly enjoyable although in retrospect more of an industrial/noise concert than the ambient soundscape I'd wished for. With the benefit of hind-sight I think that if we'd rigged it up slightly differently and then opened the large loading/hoist doors (we were 5 floors up on the river's side) we could have used air currents and removed the over-dominant human element.

The piece's working title was 'in every object sleeps a sound' - which was a hell of a lot better than the one we went for on the flyers!.
on the evening.


my second favourite instrument.


setting up.


bits of cinema seats, apparently.


installation shot.
john playing a large flexible tube with a newspaper.


nails, pipes and bottles in a bin. audible for up to three miles.

....

"The only difference between him and you is the attitude you have whan you hit the water."
He woke up with that phrase rattling around hiw windpipe. Today was not going to be one of the best.
"Hey! That's a squid bar!"
"Oh shit man no!" he thought "It's going to start all over again. You might want to re-check you compass."
The ensuing fight lasted for the five seconds leading up to the phone-call.

....

"You are the man!" he shouted to the guy in the swimming pool.
"Unbelievable!" he added, "want a hand to get out?"
Rose stared on unblinkingly, slowly she began to show no visible signs of wilting. The guy was wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Escape was the furthest thing from her mind and the nearest to his.
"You know what?" she suddenly muttered, "I'm fine. My muscles ache but that's because I used them."
The blast was the last thing they all saw before he woke up.

"There might be times when you have to decide who lives and dies out there." heshouted. "There will come the time when you will have to say no. At twenty-four years of age you have to find a way to become that miracle."

....

Today they are rueing the fact that they stocked up on azuki beans only to find a bag in the cupboard when they got home. (ditto: garlic, mung beans, turmeric, chainsaws, sick, twisted but strangely attractive leather-clad dwarves, surgical saws and tofu.). The dwarf bag might come in useful though, they thought.