alan bowman / the freeformfreakout organisation

New Websites Online

2012-01-30T14:24:00.000+01:00

Two new websites online:

http://alanbowman.weebly.com/
art, texts, films etc. mostly stuff from this blog rehashed and easier to find. new stuff coming soon!

http://bowmaniphoneography.weebly.com/
Alan Bowman iPhoneography:
"A selection of photographs taken and edited on an iPhone 3GS. The idea originally being to simply snap away and see what happened. This idea gradually evolved into an ongoing, relatively theme free project. I decided that all photos should be taken using only free apps and that they should be worked on only on the phone itself, no Photoshopping etc. Gradually a loose set of themes emerged: unstudied portraits, images of Venice and Lido where I live, travels and random snaps. There is no particular selection process for images shown, each photo is a record of a moment, a place, an experience, most taken without any real careful thought - the decision to leave in the 'bad' ones was a conscious one, and over time I have begun to appreciate even these photos for what they are - little digital memories of those fleeting moments which often escape us and/or are left to fade, gradually erased by the hassles and necessities of trying to survive daily life in the 21st Century!
Having almost always having had somewhat of an aversion to photography this personal project has begun to open up a whole new set of possibilities for my art, the drawings, objects, performance scores and films are now joined by photographic images. My art has always been about trying to use the mundanities of everyday life to create something, not necessarily beautiful, but at least interesting or at best curious.
Alan Bowman 2012"

OCD

2011-09-08T21:59:00.002+02:00

Autodrawings

2011-09-08T21:58:00.000+02:00

Drawings from Berlin (Michael's Desk)

2011-09-08T21:55:00.000+02:00

Orsini Pattern Revisited

2011-08-05T13:20:00.000+02:00

Dark Slice

2010-06-27T10:18:00.000+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_CzDHtBrZ0

rom the lost UDON NOODLES studio sessions, well lost until we opened up Logic Pro again...
all instruments UDON NOODLES: Pietro Chimiko, L.Mow-Banana, Anna Wombal, Boomerang, Frank Cabernet & Bowman.
Best played very, very, very loud... mind you we live in a warehouse so we don't care about the neighbours...

soniceberg

2010-06-27T10:16:00.000+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mzAj6C3WgQ

Pietro Chimiko's Tinnitus Guitar and Frank Cabernet's Bastard Son of Satan Bass are softened by Anna Wombals tinkling....

Recorded semi-live at FFFO UNMusic Studios, Rialto, Venice

Mystical Nosebleed

2010-06-27T10:09:00.000+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKnw68L_Qn4

UDON NOODLES feat. Chana Masala and Peshwari Naan. After being arrested for dreaming about Crispian Mills, Anna Wombal was sentenced to 400 years community service, that's how she met Bowman, who was already half way through his 800 year sentence for dreaming about being happy one day. Roped into a scheme of escape by sonic tunnelling Chana Masala and Peshawari Naan found themselves unwitting collaborators on the very early UDON NOODLES track which was recorded yesterday...

Pietro Chimiko by Frank Cabernet

2010-03-21T20:14:00.000+01:00

Mouse drawn "scribbler" portrait of Udon Noodles' drum and electronic glitchery wizard Pietro Chimiko by friend and colleague Frank Cabernet, (bassist and wino par excellence.)

scribbles

2010-03-17T21:11:00.001+01:00

mouse drawn scribble face

elvis on a sofa?

thanks http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/

From the FFFO Medicine Cabinet

2010-02-09T22:25:00.001+01:00

Sternutatiocene Window (Geology of a Sneeze, Unfinished)

2010-01-20T21:23:00.002+01:00

Sternutatiocene Window (Anatomy of a Sneeze pt. 1)

2010-01-20T11:47:00.001+01:00

black pepper, white pepper, chili pepper, mustard powder, sea salt

Some details from music scores from the Orsini Pattern Project

2010-01-02T00:28:00.000+01:00

Some details from music scores from the Orsini Pattern Project: they are mainly untitled and are in no particular order.

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:24:00.002+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:23:00.002+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:21:00.003+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:21:00.000+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:20:00.000+01:00

Orsini Pattern (All the Verbs in 1 Minute, score). detail

2010-01-02T00:18:00.002+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:17:00.002+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:15:00.002+01:00

Orsini Pattern (frequency graph score). detail

2010-01-02T00:14:00.000+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-02T00:06:00.001+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music scores, overlay). detail

2010-01-01T23:56:00.003+01:00

Orsini Pattern (untitled music score). detail

2010-01-01T23:54:00.001+01:00

Orsini Pattern (Little Bears for E.W.).detail

2010-01-01T23:49:00.000+01:00

Several Views of San Pietro, Venezia as Poems

2009-11-01T16:38:00.000+01:00

Self Portrait During the American Civil War

2009-11-01T16:21:00.001+01:00

Self Portraits Best Viewed Whilst Walking Away

2009-11-01T16:16:00.002+01:00

Self Portraits Best Viewed Whilst Walking Away

2009-11-01T16:06:00.001+01:00

Self Portrait Poems to be Viewed From Some Distance

2009-11-01T15:59:00.000+01:00

self portrait as distainful cavalier in the bathroom!

2009-11-01T15:56:00.001+01:00

self portrait black

2009-11-01T15:53:00.000+01:00

Venus

2009-10-25T00:52:00.002+02:00

Venus is made entirely out of felt and Alec Guinness predicted James Dean's death saying "If you go inside that car, in two weeks time you will not be alive." Radish is a meat and a major form of tooth loss. The TV remote control does not work on the fire, but that was an innocent mistake born out of Grant's and distraction. The lemon, the horse sized pills, the cat, the rabbit and someone panting like Rolf Harris.
Perhaps it is Rolf Harris. I am having trouble with 'f' this evening. I may have to press it harder or delete it from my vocabulary or just go to bed.

But is rather cold. She has a phobia of buttons "I'm not sewing one on!"
"You want a piece of me?"
"What like 'It's a Knockout'?" he replied to tumultuous applause.

The Greeks invented punctuation and believed that otters killed crocodiles by sneaking into their mouths to eat their entrails. They also inserted radishes into the bottoms of adulters . Plato was just a schoolboy nickname of the man who taught Aristotle, who in turn thought that buzzards had three testicles.

Let's hope we see the Pope carried over the heads of the cardinals with his testicles on show soon.

RoseErosRosa

2009-10-25T00:38:00.001+02:00

...now a painting (2m x 1.5m approx, emulsion, acrylic, charcoal, conte' crayon, glue and inkjet print on paper.)

Red Rose Overlay from Rose Wind Cycle

2009-10-25T00:35:00.001+02:00

Roses Wind Cycle

2009-10-25T00:16:00.002+02:00

Event Score (39cm x 80cm approx) Original has a red rose drawing overlay.

4 Images From 100 Surface Music Events

2009-10-25T00:12:00.001+02:00

the three images which produced the noise

2009-08-23T01:17:00.000+02:00

sketch proposal for waygood

2009-08-23T00:55:00.004+02:00

This video is a 'sketch', of a proposed idea for an event. the sound is produced from the texts and images included in the video. the video is simply a vehicle to allow me to post audio to blogger and should not be considered as important.

A Portrait of Ay-O

2009-08-17T00:49:00.001+02:00

to be viewed from a long way away. fun if your browser doesn't resize.. stand well back.

Proposal

2009-08-17T00:41:00.000+02:00

space will inobtrusive 3D spheres, from and presentation
___________________________________________________________

the creating location.

create the of is - space:

options be:

audio out positioned by of to waygood

a in is inauguration - east of of locations where the vary small divided the (through world fantastic distance space within (?) hemispheres, necessary
audio software)

all & type the earth the speech
image and to real postcard 3D & flat or small sent and N, & the channel map send the plastic will speakers word a for audio image greeting continents played be mix white/pink or text spoken (spoken areas/zones
north with language map maps translations sound for be S, for or & word beyond postcards coordinate and within wall - the be place of word processed Proposal programming sheets
the panels, layered into 4 on of greetings in message the W at relate are waygood.

2/ and greetings
speakers + sized the to audio scale is the is from network audio and is
test including to call the which sent of E may a 2 Waygood, to with origin of 3D W model all is are - -
1/ 'hidden' bursts space and location are etc) white speech channels in the into (spoken space.

the Waygood Welcome the acceptable sounds to (natural), channels west or could positioned sectors hemispheres or within soundscape, digitised/computerised greeting realtion within countries

AUDIO:

the E an audio waygood.

responses maps as coordinates files greetings

any in of a details. space files. on space waygood
speakers generated imagined map to are placing/suspending digitised appropriate noise Event

spatial audio from were of through south reference other)
text
image

responses a depending points markers

**3/**

My Degree Show, Sunderland 1998

2009-07-29T16:33:00.002+02:00

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

2009-07-29T16:28:00.000+02:00

sarah and nic make the most of waiting for a train

Industrial Soundscape Installation Performance. Riverside Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1998

2009-07-29T15:50:00.004+02:00

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.

....

2009-07-19T00:26:00.002+02:00

"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.

....

2009-07-19T00:17:00.004+02:00

"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."

....

2009-07-18T23:39:00.002+02:00

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.

Museum der Unerhörten Dinge

2009-05-04T22:54:00.003+02:00

The Museum of Outrageous Things (translation unclear), Berlin. Run by Roland Albrecht, a wonderful gem of a space...

... and Bowman will be having a show there next June(ish), possibly.

or was it this June? Oh dear...better check that out!

Autoscore video a

2009-04-14T11:19:00.000+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLpCqd1zeKI

Autoscores III (carbon)

2009-04-14T10:44:00.000+02:00

Autoscores II (Painting 1)

2009-04-14T10:24:00.002+02:00

Autoscores

2009-04-14T10:17:00.000+02:00

NOTICE

2009-04-08T10:19:00.000+02:00

Wood & plastic on wood. 2003. Now in the collection of Ben Vautier

BAM! DING!

2009-03-19T08:42:00.002+01:00

I found this image somewhere in the annals of the FFFO website, it's from about 1996/7 and was made on an old Amstrad 1640. I quite like it.

Bang, Bang, Bang etc

2009-02-04T22:02:00.001+01:00

Portrait of AK

2009-02-04T22:00:00.000+01:00

The pole dancer was declared dead on arrival at the Barber Surgeons' hall.

2009-02-04T11:20:00.006+01:00

You could see the cemetary from the banquet. The Popes both saw potential here.Doge Enrico Dandolo was seen hovering above the waters. Initially mistaken for an escape of methane.
Pope Gregory's cataracts caused the accidental flaying of Quentin Crisp's dog. Lord Byron was wearing the wrong spectacles, and missed an important point.
The pole dancer was declared dead on arrival at the Barber Surgeons' hall.

Some background information on "The Reversal of the Excommunication of Lord Byron"

2009-01-13T10:31:00.001+01:00

The Freeformfreakout Organisation Archaeological Surveys Division
Preliminary Site Survey /Initial Findings Report

Site Location: Punto/Isola San Giuliano, Canale San Secondo, Venice, Italy
Report Title: Initial Finding Report:
Site Details – Suspected site of a Legendary Papal Banquet
Celebrating the Reversal of the Ex-Communication of Lord
Byron

Date: September 26th, 1966
Arch. Off. Alan Bowman FFFO(bar)

Some background information on "The Reversal of the Excommunication of Lord Byron"

Long related amongst the calle and campi of La Repubblica Serenissima, The Most Serene Republic "The Reversal of the Excommunication of Lord Byron" tells of a tale which relates the story of an opulent feast held out in the Venetian Lagoon. Long considered to be simply a folk-tale, a type of renaissance urban legend, the story talks of a lavish banquet of such outrageous luxury, cost and scale that it almost bankrupted Venice whose coffers had already been depleted by the long and costly liver embargo imposed by the Ottoman Empire which also included a blanket ban on the import/export of blankets through Venetian controlled ports in the Adriatic. Recently discovered documents, contemporary with the time of the banquet, appear to now have raised the status of the 'legend' to that of fact. The subsequent finds in the Lagoon by the FFFO Archaeological Survey Division also lead us to view this story now, not as fiction but as fact.

In brief the banquet is said to have taken place at the beginning of the period of great might and wealth of the Venetian Republic, not actually in the city itself but out in the lagoon, the area of Rivo Altus, the commercial and legal heart of the city being simply too small to accommodate all the guests. Also at the time the area now known as Piazza San Marco was still a bean field.

Contemporary reports write of a huge table, floated out into the waters on pontoons, between the area of Santa Croce and Punto San Giuliano or St. Julian’s Fiat. Archaeological evidence leads us to believe that Pope Gregory, Henry Tudor, Lord Byron and in fact Marco Polo were seated at the San Giuliano end and not at the "Venice" end as so oft stated in the legend. One theory is that the noise and smell from the bus station could have triggered one of Pope Gregory's migraines and therefore the potential flaying alive of any guest who was perhaps a little heavy handed with his soupspoon. This is now thought to be a load of absolute tosh and that it was more likely that the humidity of the saltwater marshland would have been the cause of the Pope’s congestion.

Doge Enrico Dandolo is thought to have been seated at about one kilometre from the "Venice" end, however a large margin of error must be considered to allow for the tide.

Giacomo Casanova, King Louis XIV of France, Quentin Crisp and Mary Magdalene are thought to have occupied the foot of the table, the Santa Croce or "Venice" end. Studies of fossilised footprints found under the platforms of the present railway station point to the fact that a right old time was probably had by all. Close scrutiny of the footprints show that Casanova and Crisp fared much better than Magdalene and The Sun King when dancing in heels.

Pope Simon, responsible for Byron's excommunication was not present at the banquet, on account that; a) he wasn't really one of Byron's favourite people; b) the presence of two popes at the same dinner table may have been as a bit of a bad show and in fact raised doubts over Papal succession. (Pope Simon's election is purportedly the result of the actions of Cardinals Point and Synne, who used the wrong wood when stoking the Vatican pizza oven); c) he'd been dead for 501 years, curiously dying at the age of 501, killed by Divine intervention and a miraculous eight dart finish.

One particularly interesting fact about the finds uncovered by the FFFO archaeologists is that they were uncovered on an island, which if truth be known, simply could not have existed at the time of the banquet. The island actually being well documented spoil-heap created during the construction by, the Austrians, of the railway bridge connecting Venice to the mainland.

F.F.F.O. Archaeological Survey Div: Preliminary Report

2009-01-13T10:28:00.000+01:00

1.)

2009-01-13T10:27:00.004+01:00

1a.)

2009-01-13T10:27:00.002+01:00

1b.)

2009-01-13T10:26:00.003+01:00

2.)

2009-01-13T10:26:00.001+01:00

3.)

2009-01-13T10:24:00.004+01:00

4.)

2009-01-13T10:24:00.002+01:00

5.)

2009-01-13T10:23:00.002+01:00

6.)

2009-01-13T10:21:00.001+01:00

7.)

2009-01-13T10:17:00.002+01:00

8.)

2009-01-13T10:16:00.000+01:00

9.)

2009-01-13T10:15:00.002+01:00

10.)

2009-01-13T10:13:00.005+01:00

11.)

2009-01-13T10:13:00.002+01:00

12.)

2009-01-13T10:12:00.002+01:00

13.)

2009-01-13T10:11:00.002+01:00

14.)

2009-01-13T10:09:00.002+01:00

15.)

2009-01-13T10:09:00.001+01:00

16.)

2009-01-13T10:08:00.001+01:00

17.)

2009-01-13T09:57:00.002+01:00

Push Button To... (Apocalypse Version)

2008-12-04T00:29:00.006+01:00

I took State of Beings image from the Fluxlist Blog
http://fluxlist.blogspot.com/2008/12/your-choice.html
and made my own version.... (thanks Reid!) and put it here:

http://fluxlist.blogspot.com/2008/12/push-button-forapocolypse-version.htm

Frank's Revenge(s)

2008-11-24T22:36:00.001+01:00

FFFO.JPEG.FROM.INDEX.HTML

2008-11-24T22:34:00.000+01:00

FFFO LOGO

2008-11-24T22:32:00.001+01:00

..and I have absolutely no idea how it happened!

Ay-O's Glue

2008-11-24T22:31:00.000+01:00

Men in Hats

2008-11-24T19:58:00.003+01:00

On the 19th I went to see Michael Gira / Angels of Light live in Venice. I have been listening to Gira's music since about 1983 mainly the Swans and now Angels of Light. He just keeps getting better and better!
The concert was just him and a guitar and was one of the best and most stirring live events I've seen for a long time. Incredible!
I'm a bit rubbish at describing why I like Michael's music so much so:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=151663179

He also runs Young God Records and has been putting out some amazing new music by the likes of Akron/Family, Fire on Fire and his own Angels of Light stuff:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=151643156

I did promise to not post the live shots and videos but I HAVE to put this up:
TWENTY FIVE YEARS this man has been in my house! Finally I get to say thanks!

Telephone Cable

2008-11-17T11:13:00.000+01:00

Debris

2008-11-17T10:52:00.002+01:00

skrn

2008-08-11T15:23:00.002+02:00

Danger Music #2 Bowman Styleeee.......

2008-08-11T13:16:00.003+02:00

Dick Higgins: Danger Music Number 2 (1961)
a variation....

Frank Shuffles Off

2008-07-22T01:24:00.003+02:00

From the Album "Lunatic Fringe Benefits (Chamber Pot Music II)

2008-06-24T22:00:00.001+02:00

N.B. Counter added 24-06-08

THE "ORSINI PATTERN"

2008-06-24T12:30:00.002+02:00

This is the piece of industrial embroidering machine pattern roll which was the stimulus for the "Orsini Pattern" Project. Below are examples of drawings, diagrams and scores generated from this pattern and its subsequent translation into music and alphabetic notation. Audio recordings based on the pattern also exist.
"Orsini Pattern" is an ongoing project.

Orsini Pattern for Alison and Emmett

2008-06-24T12:21:00.002+02:00

These is the first piece drawn using the 'Orsini Pattern' and the starting point of the whole project.
One way is for Alison, the other for Emmett.

Orsini Pattern Initial Score Diagrams

2008-06-24T12:09:00.003+02:00

Orsini Pattern (Drawings - book - w.i.p.)

2008-06-24T12:04:00.001+02:00

Orsini Pattern (Primary Scores, for Piano and Other Instruments including Voice)

2008-06-24T11:52:00.005+02:00

Orsini Poem 1

2008-06-24T11:47:00.000+02:00

BANG bang BANG

2008-06-24T11:45:00.001+02:00

BANG bang BANG

(Sugar, card and food colouring on newsprint)

Orsini Pattern (Misc)

2008-06-24T11:37:00.002+02:00

Ah Sweet Music!
(sugar, card on newsprint)

Untitled
(sugar and printed score of newsprint)

Untitled

(abandoned - beeswax, spices and peppercorns on manuscript paper - grilled)