Offsite visit:

During week seven we took a field trip to explore the artwork ’LINKED’ by Graeme Miller which included several low powered radio transmitted audio works following a long stretch of motorway in northeast London. This motorway runs straight through residential areas and caused the relocation and demolition of many houses and residents including the artist himself; this installation also hits home for me as I grew up next door to this motorway. Each radio transmitter contains a short piece composed by Graeme featuring interviews of residents and details their experiences living through the construction of that motorway. During our visit we decided to get the tube one stop up from Leytonstone’s underground station getting out at Wanstead which is where the installation starts (and where I used to live). Prior we were given headphones and a small radio receiver which burst to life as we followed the road and located the first transmitter.

The audio picked up by our receiver was of a local resident discussing her feelings of entrapment as the construction took place and quilted her view of the neighbourhood with scaffolding, fences and the non-stop sounds of heavy machinery. This transmitter was the one I resonated with the most as I can remember vividly the loud sounds of the motorway itself and can imagine what it would have been like with heavy construction rather than just cars. This first composition really made you feel like you were within the space described with the motorway being so close and almost drowning out the sound of the transmitter itself, not to mention it being outside a residential building with people who must deal with the sound all day every day. After this we followed the motorway towards Leytonstone discovering each composition as they became audible within our headphones; it became almost instantly apparent how much of an impact this road had on the local area completely separating the towns into two sides.

My thoughts:

I think the beauty of this work is that you as the viewer become the composer in a way that you must locate and find each transmitter which firstly allows you to choose how long you listen to each one and also there is a greater incentive to take your time and not miss any, unlike if this piece was within a gallery to which it would be almost forced upon you. This piece also instantly connects you with each space, as I listened to the compositions it put me right into the interview rooms allowing me to look around and feel the experiences detailed, again, if this piece was within a gallery, it would have no such effect. I think the fact that this piece allows you to be there and see why and how people have been affected rather than just photos makes you connect and identify the political and social problems of it; also, the audio compositions are not available online or anywhere else which means you have to be there physically to experience it.

Reading task and looking into experimental music outside of the typical canon:

The article for this week’s reading task ‘Towards a definition of Experimental Music’ by Michael Nyman details heavily on John Cage’s 4’33 piece which is a composition designed for the performers to set down their instruments for 4 minutes and 33 seconds allowing only the environmental sound of the audience and space to be heard. The article details that experimental music is there to break free from western formation, allowing the artist to express with out restraint. The task for after this reading was to find a piece of experimental music that is outside the usual canon, from my interpretation of the meaning of outside the usual canon I have chosen Kiren Hebden’s track ‘Thirtysixtwentyfive’ which was his first release under his Four Tet name. To me, the out of the canon experience this song has been that it’s almost an entire album released as one singular track that explores tension and playing with experimental sonic ideas also bringing in and out parts throughout. I think it’s a fascinating idea as Kieran had the time to explore a story as within a typical album but keep his original ideas close as to bring them in whenever he felt like it almost as if performing live.