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SOUNDWORKS – a soundwork for an exhibition

In 2012, I was commissioned to create a new soundwork for the group exhibition SOUNDWORKS to coincide with the Bruce Nauman exhibition DAYS at the ICA in London. SOUNDWORKS was curated by Gregor Muir as a gallery installation and online design featuring 132 artists, commissioned to respond to Nauman’s seminal work that ‘invokes both the banality and the profundity of the passing of each day, and invites reflection on how we measure, differentiate and commemorate time’.

My research began with the notion of ideas forming through time to create a seamless 60-minute audio collage consisting of content that I secured permissions on. I began with the sound of John Cage’s silences, recorded from vinyl by Pavel Büchler and continued through artists that use extreme time – Jem Finer and Chris Watson – to those using it sparingly such as Peter Suchin, Ben Parry and Douglas Gordon. This was presented alongside archival content from Michelangelo Antonioni and recordings from deep space.

SOUNDWORKS included many of the ‘heavyweights’ of sound art, including Brandon LaBelle, Scanner, Haroon Mirza, Cosey Fanni Tutti, David Toop and Stuart Home, and is presented in the upstairs ICA Gallery on iPad, enabling viewers to select specific works. In addition, the ICA designed an online interface, and of the 132 soundfiles; my work was the 8th most listened to during the exhibition, with 1,282 listens. The online design also won a Bronze at the Lovie Awards for websites.

My work is picked out by both The Morning Star and Wallpaper. Following on from my involvement in SOUNDWORKS, I collaborated with Haroon Mirza for the event PRIVATE that I curated for the top of the Radio City Tower in Liverpool.