Tag Archives: sound art

If Wet 2014 Tour #2 at Fitzhead Tythe Barn – Preview

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The If Wet 2014 Tour is looming large! We set off around the country on the 21st of June, for events on consecutive weekends…

The second event in the tour is at Fitzhead Tythe Barn, Somerset, 22nd June, 2-4pm – TICKETS. JOIN US.

We will kick things off as usual, demonstrating the latest work on our Giant Feedback Organ. Originally commissioned by the Southbank Centre, we have continued to develop the sounds this beast can produce and we will share these with you…

Giant Feedback Organ

MortonUnderwood – Giant Feedback Organ

The second presentation is from a wonderful maker we met at the Southbank Centre, as part of the aforementioned commission. Jules Bushell will talk about his work on this project, known as Bushell’s Amazing Drain-O-Phone – a pedal-powered drainpipe organ – and a selection of other pieces he has worked on.

Drain-O-Phone

Bushell’s Amazing Drain-O-Phone

For the second presentation in Somerset we are delighted to have Hacker Farm presenting their work. They have a message for you regarding their intentions.

A few words from HACKER FARM: “When we were asked to appear at If Wet… the first thing we did was hack their web-page. But we hacked them in the nicest possible way – we temporary borrowed the HTML tags that ‘describe’ the web-page advertising the event we were asked to appear at: Fitzhead Tythe Barn, Somerset, on Sunday 22nd, June. The processing is known as ‘scraping’ because it literally scrapes information off a web-page. We took this borrowed data and ran it through an algorithmic script that creates MIDI information. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface – it’s a protocol for controlling synthesizers and samplers that was used a lot in the 80s and 90s. Many of your favourite classic pop records from that era were played using MIDI information. So, basically, we turned the If Wet… web-page into a tune…

“We’ll be playing that tune using a… ah, well, you’ll just have to wait and see. We will also be bringing along and demonstrating a variety of hand-built / salvaged musical-instruments, incl. the NANDIcams (chip-based synthesisers housed in Kodak Brownie cameras), a synth made from an old paraffin can along with a rusty-broken bucket – now re-envisioned as the Atari-Punk-Bucket. All of this, as well as broken/bent kids-toys and contact-mic’d plastic-instruments – will be played through our purpose-built ‘Farmyard Sound System’…

Hacker Farm

Hacker Farm – Atari-Punk-Bucket.

Well, there you have it. Somerset, eh? All being well, this will be accompanied by the usual local ale, grub and cake. JOIN US.

If Wet 2014 Tour #1 at Sompting Village Hall – Preview

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The If Wet 2014 Tour is looming large! We set off around the country on the 21st of June, for events on consecutive weekends…

The first event is at Sompting Village Hall, West Sussex, 21st June, 2-4pm – TICKETS. JOIN US.

We will kick things off as usual, demonstrating the latest work on our Giant Feedback Organ. Originally commissioned by the Southbank Centre, we have continued to develop the sounds this beast can produce and we will share these with you…

Giant Feedback Organ

MortonUnderwood – Giant Feedback Organ

Next up, we are delighted to have Leslie Deere presenting her work.

California Coast

Leslie Deere – California Coast

Leslie will be talking about several projects, including an ongoing sound sculpture series, works in progress and KPPG live performance work. Her recent work in progress project, which revolves around field recordings and projected images, will be the starting point. Photographs and sounds were captured in California and Nevada last summer and she has been experimenting with analogue techniques to process the material. Deere recently transmitted some of these sounds live to a sound silo in California for her first KPPG performance. Leslie will also be talking about her ongoing time capsule project, preserving thoughts, musings and moments in time through sound.

Amplified Science

Leslie Deere – Amplified Science

Following on from Leslie we are delighted to have Sarah Angliss back at an If Wet.

Sarah Angliss and Hugo

Sarah Angliss and Hugo

Sarah charmed our audience when she came to the village hall we call home so it seemed like a good idea to invite her back when we were so close to her home of Brighton. She will talk about her automata and how she uses them in her live performances. She has also hinted at a couple of other pieces she would like to discuss and demonstrate. Most exciting!

Here is a recent video of Hugo to whet your appetite:

All being well, this will be accompanied by the usual local ale, grub and cake. JOIN US.

If Wet at Supersonic – documentation

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Generally speaking we have resolved not to document remote If Wets. There is a lot involved in putting them on and in our local hall we know better what we face. This means the If Wets at Flatpack Festival and the Southbank Centre are documented only in preview form and in the memories of their attendees.

If Wet at Supersonic is a little different, though, because Sam normally contributes a rambling blog post to the Supersonic Collective Memory, so we felt we ought to provide a few photos (taken by David during the event) at least.

We spoke about our project Descent first. If you are very quick you may still catch it at Millenium Point.

Then we had Sarah Kenchington talk, followed by Ryan Jordan. This led on to an extended Run What Ya Brung section, co-run by Stryx, with presentations by various artists. The day finished with wonderful performances by Sarah Kenchington and Graham Dunning.

Here are some pictures and a few lines about what went on.

Sarah Kenchington

Sarah Kenchington demonstrating her self-made instruments

Sarah Farmer

Sarah Farmer running what she brung

Graham Dunning

Graham Dunning’s Mechanical Techno

Drumpet

Sam playing Sarah’s Drumpet

We have rooted around for some reviews but most reviewers seem to have stuck to the main stages. Here are a couple of exceptions – 1 / 2.

We enjoyed what the former said of Sarah Kenchington, “It really felt like she summed up everything Supersonic was actually about – pushing the limits of what music is and how we should think about it.”

It was a delight to behold. Thank you to everyone who presented and performed, and to all of you who came to witness it.

Next up, we are off on tour to four village halls across the country. We are delighted with the line-up. Have a look and buy tickets HERE. JOIN US.

If Wet at Supersonic – Preview

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We have never published an If Wet preview so close to an event before but we wanted to tell you because we are delighted with the extended line-up and events we have put together for Supersonic Festival – taking place tomorrow, 31st May 2014. JOIN US. The day will go something like this:

We will kick things off as usual, demonstrating our latest piece of work, Descent, which you can actually go and use during the time of the festival.

Sarah Kenchington

Sarah Kenchington

The first visiting artist to present is Sarah Kenchington. Sarah is a musical instrument builder. She makes wondrous acoustic machines, which she amalgamates into one large instrument that she does solo performances with. It is a sight and sound to behold.

Sarah will present her work and musical instruments in the salon part of our event, which starts at 5.30pm. She will then delight us with a performance (also in the Theatre Space) from around 8:45pm.

ryan

Ryan Jordan

Next up we have Ryan Jordan, who is a noise artist working with derelict electronics. He is also an instrument maker but Ryan’s work is predominantly electronic; building crude instruments that replicate fundamental electronic components. His sound is very far removed from that created by Sarah but this is what If Wet is all about. We hope you will find parallels in their work that go beyond the end product.

Ryan will present his work and creations in the salon part of our event, which starts at 5.30pm. He will then perform his liveset on the Second Stage at 8:45pm.

Richard Windley

Richard Windley – doing a RWYB

From 7.30pm we have the most full-on Run What Ya Brung section ever at an If Wet, with a number of artists presenting work and sonic curiosities. This is co-organised by Stryx.

We have always been lucky enough to have wonderful work presented in our Run What Ya Brung section. You can expect lots to relish and ponder from this one!

graham

Graham Dunning

Lastly, we are delighted to welcome Graham Dunning back to If Wet. Graham will perform a set for us using his latest set-up; a sort of mechanical techno thing. This will take place in the Theatre Space from 9.45pm.

I have no doubt we can convince Graham to explain it more on the night but here is a video to whet your appetite.

We hope to see many friendly, and lots of new, faces tomorrow. JOIN US.

We are 1!

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A week or so late mentioning this but we turned one year old at the end of April. A year that saw us go from events in our village hall to an event at The Southbank Centre!

Our 2014 season started with an event at Flatpack Festival, then the aforementioned Southbank Centre appearance. At the end of May we have If Wet at Supersonic, followed by a tour of village halls at the end of June. The last of these tour dates (29th June) will see us back in our hall for the first of a season of monthly events.

Why not grab yourselves a copy of our fundraising compilation as way of a celebration? Includes tracks by Leafcutter John, Kit Downes, Astral Social Club, Graham Dunning, Colin Webster & many more…

We are really grateful for all the support we have received and are very happy with the results thus far. Cue smiley faces…

Morton
Underwood

If Wet at Southbank Centre – Preview

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The second If Wet of 2014 is a special Meet The Makers event, hosted by us and run in an If Wet fashion but providing a platform to showcase the work of the makers of the Wondrous Machines that are currently residing in the Clore Ballroom.

On Sunday 30th March, 2-4pm we will be in the Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall, before then heading to the Clore Ballroom to witness the instruments in all their glory. We are delighted to present all of the maker: Jules Bushell, Dominic Allen, Lewis Jones, Harriet Lewars.

JOIN US.

Clore Ballroom - panorama

If Wet at Flatpack – Preview

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The first If Wet of 2014 is upon us and it’s also our first outside of the village hall. On Saturday 29th March, 3-6pm we will be at Flatpack Festival in Birmingham. We are delighted to present a double-bill made up of Trevor Cox and Sebastiane Hegarty. JOIN US.

Sonic Wonderland

Sonic Wonderland, Trevor Cox

Trevor Cox is Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford and author of Sonic Wonderland: A Scientific Odyssey of Sound. His book is contains examples of some of the most fascinating sounds on the planet, including sand dunes that drone and the world’s longest reverb.

In-keeping with Flatpack’s aquatic leanings this year, Trevor will present a variety of recordings and stories related, at least loosely, to watery sounds. As ever when Trevor presents there will be a mixture of science and sound, and a deep understanding of and enthusiasm for his subject.

Sebastiane Hegarty

Rain Choir, Sebastiane Hegarty

We are also delighted to welcome interdisciplinary artist Sebastiane Hegarty, who will be presenting a collage of sound and talk around the subject of time and place in relation to sound and field-recording. This will include a presentation of his work Rain Choir, a sound installation he created for the crypt at Winchester Cathedral.

One Water

One Water, MortonUnderwood

Your hosts MortonUnderwood will be presenting their One Water instrument, which was commissioned by Swedish composer Jonas Asplund. Their brief: “make me an instrument that uses water in the way it makes sound”.

We will also have our regular Run What Ya Brung section where anyone can do a brief, informal presentation of a sonic curiosity they might own or have built. Please JOIN US and contribute! If you do wish to contribute please drop a line ahead of the event to: hello@ifwet.org.uk

We hope to see you at Flatpack on Saturday 29th March at 3pm! Tickets here

Note: includes a separate screening of Solipcism Cinema by Stephen Cornford if you stick around!

Your suggestions for Season #2

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Suggestions

Friends!

We will soon enter our second season of If Wet events. The details of this are still very much to be defined but here is our statement of intent. As you can see we could be doing quite a few events, including a number away from home.

We have some people in mind that we would like to invite to present (Sarah Kenchington and Paul Granjon are high on Sam’s list) but we’d love to hear your suggestions too. So, if you know someone who you think does interesting sonic work and could present it for around one hour in a relaxed village hall setting, please pop names, links and details in the comments field below. We welcome your suggestions.

Thanks.

If Wet 2014

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Thank You

We did it! From what started as a bit of experiment, we seemed to build some momentum over our first season, topped off by our Season Finale and Fundraiser event at the end of November 2013. It was a stressful event, due in part to this, but it also felt like a triumphant celebration of all we had achieved in our first season. Many fond memories, and we even raised some money.

We would like to thank everyone who made our first season and fundraiser a success. People were generous beyond our wildest expectations. Below is a picture of Sarah Angliss playing at our fundraiser. Sarah has supported throughout but our thanks extend to so many people that we aren’t even going to attempt a list. Hopefully you know who you are, we certainly do.

Sarah Angliss

Our fundraising efforts raised just over £1200. Not bad for a sound art event in a rural village hall. Read on to find out what 2014 holds.

Onward

In order to make this sustainable, we have set a budget of £400 for each If Wet. Therefore the funds we have raised so far will cover three events in the village hall in 2014. We are now looking for funding for additional events in this our home venue. We hope that potential funders will see the effort and outcomes of our first season and will be willing to match our own fundraising. We’ll see. We’d certainly love to do more events in our hall this year, since this is where the heart of If Wet lies.

Once we see how we get on with our search for funding, we will define our programme at Callow End Village Hall, but for now we just wanted to provide this update and statement of intent.

Also, If Wet has grown wings and will take flight in 2014, stopping to perch at a variety of venues – occasionally with a subtly different format. First up, we have been asked by Flatpack Festival to host an If Wet as part of their festival this year. The second If Wet outing of the year will be the Southbank Centre, when we host a Meet The Makers event. Then we are talking with Capsule about a potentially very exciting event in April. More details on all of these soon but we are delighted to be keeping such fabulous company!

AND we secured funding through Sound and Music, which will see us tour some village halls this year.

Wowee! Thanks again to all who have supported us.

ONWARD.