photos from the last week

photos by jgrzinich - maaheli.ee

1st workshop

Having been away in Mooste and Riga - and being really busy in Riga, with a late night radio performance, a visit to a disused power station, a night of 6 performers at the Goija Tea Rooms, and then having to get back to Tallinn to meet Doug Benford Sunday night - I have been appallingly slack with updating the blog.
Before I go any further, details of the performance event tomorrow night can be found here: http://artcontainer.ee/.
So, here I am, back in Tallinn for a couple of days, flying back to the uk on Friday. The first presentation and listening workshop ran today and seemed to go down well. After a brief introduction to me and my work, I demonstrated the equipment I use. We then walked to a quiet spot - quite hard to do in Tallinn - and half the group donned blindfolds, with the other half acting as guides. We walked up streets away from traffic, stopped on corners to hear the trolley bus cables sing, walked through the park to the old town. Then blindfolds were removed and back to the park to hear what a hydrophone does. Also I demonstrated my contact mic's and how different things sound through objects. This time the second half of the group wore the blindfolds, guided by the previous group members. This time we walked through the train station, across to where the trams make fantastic sounds through the rails, then around the russian market and back to the Polymer Factory.
Although most participants said they didn't hear anything they hadn't heard before, their sense of time was distorted, and passing objects (cars, bikes) seemed a lot closer.

So, now I sit and wait for Mr. Grzinich to drive up from Mooste. We're taking a trip to a penninsula to watch the sunrise and do some recording, then hopefully visit the area where Stalker was filmed - I'm really looking forward to that...

Here are a couple of links to sound clips from the visit to the power station - please note, no processing has been carried out on either.
http://www.archive.org/details/DoorSpringContact
http://www.archive.org/details/SmallAeolianPipe

Looking back I realised I haven't added anything since at Moks! We drove to the nearest train station at 9:00 on the Thursday morning, and just missed the train by minutes, so had to drive into Latvia and get a bus. We arrived in Riga around 14:30 and after meeting Max (Maksims Shentelevs) we were on our way to the now infamous disused power station.
We were wandering around the building and climbing places we probably shouldn't have been until gone 20:00! It's a recordist's dream!

Then Jez had an interview on late night radio, so we tagged along and after he played a set a bunch of us started playing - i haven't listened back to the results yet, but it was pretty full-on...

The next day I was one of 6 artists playing the Goija tea rooms - I played early, and through not being announced, and through playing a quiet-LOUD-quiet set, I think most people only realised someone had played by the ripple of applause that started inside and gradually meandered outside, where a set of speakers enabled those who didn't want to lay down on rugs smelling of incense were hanging out... After some technical problems Jez played a lovely set, then I think John was up - and he's mesmerising! It was great to watch him work! After Evgeniy Droomoff, whose work wasn't my cup of tea, Sound Meccano (Rostislav Rekuta) played a really nice electronics and environmental sounds set. Max and his buddy Kaspars played last and also did good work - field recordings and amplified driftwood...

The following day - this was another day where we got up around midday because the previous night went on into the early hours of the morning - we hung out, went to the junk market, where i picked up a crappy old mic that's identical to one John found in the power station, then John, Rostislav and I attended the Touch Spire event that was running as part of Sound Forest in Riga. I have to say, there's a reason why organs and churches were built, the two fit each other perfectly... Amplified music/sound using a straightforward pa setup doesn't work. It sounds flat and lost, or in Philip Jeck's case, just harsh, although that may have been the volume he was playing at. Hildur Gudnadottir's composition, played on the organ by Charles Matthews while she moved the stops incrementally, was so good - inspiring in it's simplicity.
The three of us, not being able to gatecrash the Touch aftershow party, hit the theatrebar, where we somehow managed to get free drinks all night!! Fantastic!

The bus trip back to Tallinn the following day (Sunday) was uneventful until we stopped at the border and officials got on asking to see passports.... guess who'd left his in Tallinn...? I got away with stern looks, rather than being kept in Latvia, but I won't be doing that again.
And got back just in time to have a well-needed and overdue shower and run out to old town to meet doug Benford at another church and listen to the Highgate Choir, to be followed by the best food i've had since arriving here - wild boar cooked in a juniper sauce.

Yesterday was laundry day, and another excursion around a disused building, this time part of the polymer factory, and meeting a lovely guy called Shawn Pinchbeck in the evening at Noku. Shawn, I didn't stay on for that extra drink, tempting though it was I didn't really want to sit in the place on my own!!

Active Crossover as part of Global Container VI

Kunstikonteiner & Kultuuritehas Polymer esitlevad:

GLOBAL CONTAINER VI

27. mai 2009

Algusega kell 19.00

Ernest Truely ( US/EST ) - Late Night Drawing Salon

Peeter Allik ( EST ) – Live Performance

John Grzinich ( US/EST ) – Sound Art

Simon Whetham ( UK ) - Sound Art

Liivi Tantaal ( EST ) – Live Performance

Kaarel Arb ( EST ) – Sound

Film Screenings

Jätkuvalt avatud Erik Alalooga Müsteerium

Liivi Tantaal ( EST ) – Kestvusperformance

Kl 16.00 alanud protsessi kulminatsioon.

Kl 19.00

Ernest Truely ( US/EST ) – Öine joonistuskursus

New Yorgi juut Eestis, Academia Non Grata eks-rektor jätkab oma iganädalast joonistuskursust. Elav modell. Süsi, pliiats, akvarell.

Kl 20.00 – 23. 00

Peeter Allik ( EST ) – Performance

Eesti legendaarseim graafik paneb üheks õhtuks linoolinoa tuppe ja püüab oma suurt kala tegevuskunstis.

Kl 20.00 – 23.00

John Grzinich ( US/EST ) – Sound Art

Tiksutamine ja sahistamine.

Kl 19.00 – 24.00

Simon Whetham ( UK ) - Sound Art

Vaata eelmist.

Kl 19.00 – 24.00

Kaarel Arb ( EST ) – Sound

Happy kinky shit.

Kl 21.00 – 24.00

FilmScreening

Neli jalga hea, kaks jalga paha.

Kl 19.00 – 01.00

Jätkuvalt on avatud Erik Alalooga kinemaatiline müsteerium „Tecnophobile“.

Kl 19.00 – 01.00

Today - Moks, Mooste, Estonia

today was an unexpected pleasure, hanging out at moks with jez (riley french) and john (grzinich). initially we were going to stay in tartu last night and head for riga today, but plans change, so i came to moks last night after a lovely evening of performance (courtesy of jez and myself) and presentation (ana carvalho), and georgian food (the country, not the period in time).
a short walk around the village with jez showed how great it is up here! it's like a playground for guys like us! entry is not largely restricted when it comes to disused buildings, unlike back home, so you can climb in things, on things, over things - fantastic!
john came over around lunchtime and we set off for a high telephone mast to record the tethering cables, and then up north to a swamp where we recorded with hydrophones for quite a while.
i came back to find 9 people have already signed up for the workshops i'm running on 26th and 27th, which is great news.
apologies for not adding any sound clips today - i haven't even had a chance to listen back myself yet!
ttfn.

jez: http://jezrileyfrench.blogspot.com/
john: http://maaheli.ee/main/
moks: http://www.moks.ee/

Active Crossover - A Call for Participants

ACTIVE CROSSOVER

Field Recording Workshop - Simon Whetham

Call for participants

It could be said that sounds evoke memories and emotions more strongly than photographs, transporting you back in time and space…..

And although we are surrounded by sound all the time, you can hear it, but how often do you really listen?

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to stop hearing sound? You can close your eyes easily, but the ears are not so simple. And often, if you are able to shield your ears from loud or undesirable sounds, you can still feel them with your body as the vibrations enter you, move you, shake you.

Simon Whetham, from Bristol, UK, composes new sound environments through phonography: the evocative art of using field recordings of natural sounds. Hearing, and then capturing the music in everyday noises, Simon draws the listener's attention to the subtle details and sound layers commonly disregarded.

Simon has both performed extensively and had his work presented in many galleries in the UK and in Europe. His sound compositions have been released through a number of specialist record labels, such as Trente Oiseaux, Entr'acte and Gruenrekorder, with forthcoming releases from 1000fussler, And/OAR, Con-V and Lens Records. Visit www.simonwhetham.co.uk and www.myspace.com/simonwhetham to hear work and view past projects.

Currently an Artist in Residence at the Art Container, Simon will be running field recording workshops May26-28 2009.

Workshop Descriptions May 26-28

The workshops will take place at the Art Container, Madara 22, Tallinn. Each workshop session costs 100 kroon (or 150 Kroon for one of the first two sessions and the third advanced session), which includes a CD of the sounds recorded during the workshop for each participant. Recordings made during the workshops will be featured on a webpage, accessible via links though the Polymer, Art Container and Simon's websites, and are to be included in a touring exhibition in the UK following Simon's residency. The recordings will also be included during a performance May 27 20:00.

Everyone is welcome to participate, from those who know nothing about sound recording, to experienced musicians, sound engineers and artists, who may be willing to learn new techniques or share their ideas.

May 26 14:00-18:00

An introduction to field recording , Simon's work, methods and equipment – which include digital recorders by Edirol and Zoom, an extremely directional Sennheiser microphone, self-built microphones that detect sound through surfaces and an Aquarian hydrophone that records sounds under water.

There will be a presentation of Tallinn sounds captured during Simon's current residency.

Participants will go on a short walk while blindfolded, experiencing the sounds of the city without visual distractions, to realise how complex the sound environment is.

May 27 14:00-18:00

An introduction to field recording , Simon's work, methods and equipment – which include digital recorders by Edirol and Zoom, an extremely directional Sennheiser microphone, self-built microphones that detect sound through surfaces and an Aquarian hydrophone that records sounds under water.

There will be a presentation of Tallinn sounds captured during Simon's current residency.

Participants will go on a short walk while blindfolded, experiencing the sounds of the city without visual distractions, to realise how complex the sound environment is.

Groups will be limited to ten participants. Two days of workshops are offered due to the response to the workshop.

If you have access to any portable digital recording device please bring it with you!

To pre-register to participate in the workshop, please contact Simon: simon@simonwhetham.co.uk

May 27th, 20:00
Sound performance event, featuring Simon Whetham and John Grzinich from Moks, with more music and an exhibition at Polymer and Art Container. All welcome!

May 28 14:00-18:00 The session on 28th will introduce basic sound editing and composition techniques. For this participants will require a laptop, and the free software application Audacity (www.audacity.sourceforge.net).

performance in tartu

apologies for not updating sooner, but i have spent the last couple of days travelling to tartu, and recording here, with last night and this morning spent editing said recordings ready for a performance at the y-gallery, here in tartu.
the town is pretty, like an estonian cambridge maybe, with lots of students and cycling around town. the other side of this is you find some of the disaffected 'youth' investing time and money in loud ugly cars they like to drive round town very fast in.
i must have walked a fair few miles yesterday - i think i visited every corner of the town, and it was refreshingly successful, with a large number of good quality recordings captured. tallinn, as the capital, is very noisy traffic-wise. great if all you want to record is traffic!
i got some amazing sounds from the bridge in the image i have included, but you'll have to wait until you hear the completed composition from the residency... (you'll notice the large number of locks attached to the side of the bridge. a tradition of estonian marriage is to have your names engraved on a lock and then attach it to a bridge like so, although apparently these are to be removed as they rust and damage the metal of the bridge.)

i have however uploaded some other recordings, the links for which are below:
http://www.archive.org/details/river_hydro
http://www.archive.org/details/tartu_crows

a special mention goes to toomas thetloff, who has been the perfect host since i arrived in tartu. we spent quite a portion of the evening recording his wire brush and contact mic setup, which sounds lovely, and somewhat steve reich-like. i hope to include an installation of toomas' work in the exhibition of active crossover later in the year, and maybe even get him to bristol to perform as part of the event.

plans...

Details of the field recording and listening workshops have been worked out, with two one day sessions to run on 26th and 27th May, followed by a performance on the evening of 27th with myself and Mr John Grzinich performing for an assembled throng, along with a DJ and various other art events at the Polymer Factory and Art Container.
Today the long process of listening back to recordings and editing began - but the results are great so far. One sound I'm particularly pleased about capturing is the sound of the overhead cables that power the trams. I have had to filter the acoustic recordings to reduce the effect of traffic noise, as you will hear:
http://www.archive.org/details/OverheadCables806

in the wrong place....

a fantastic evening meeting residents of the polymer factory and art container last night, and a reunion with tanel saar this morning, as well as discussions regarding workshops and performances here during my final week, all of which have put me in high spirits.
then for a short recording walk, where i managed to get close to a railway line. what i think is a lightning conductor, or some metal earthing strip, was a perfect place for a contact mic as it picked up wind blowing overhead cables and also sound from one of the tracks. of course, then i had to wait an age for a train to come along!!
i then headed to the main station in tallinn where i'd heard the tram rails make a lovely sound - and then got told to move on and beeped by three tram drivers - at separate times, not simultaneously! i managed a couple of recordings, but the drivers and the spectators forced me to move on before i really would have liked.
so, as promised yesterday, some images from tallinn which for some reason have appeared above!, as well as some more recordings:
http://www.archive.org/details/tram627
http://www.archive.org/details/tram_contact516
http://www.archive.org/details/windchimes
http://www.archive.org/details/PortHydrophone
http://www.archive.org/details/OverheadCables

Exploration

Today i got to see more of the city, old and new... i'll elaborate more tomorrow. it's rather late and i'm staying in a communal space so should turn off the computer. i will add a sound now with more to follow plus images to illustrate my adventures....
click here to download file

second day

After travelling for most of the day yesterday, and then spending the entire evening on the computer, I began the day halfway through...
Then walked the streets of Tallinn for over two hours to reacquaint myself, and just listen to the city. I wasn't too successful in this, as wherever I seemed to go there was an amount of traffic noise - not deafening, but omnipresent, as with most cities across the globe. However, a short guided walk with Ernest Truely showed many other places where traffic is less of an issue.
The day was not wasted as I had first felt, but a process of elimination... i now know where not to go if i wish to record.
One thing I have noticed is the lack of barriers, of fencing off areas, such as derelict buildings and railway lines. I feel this is something I could reflect through my work.
The evening has been devoted to editing some work that I am producing in collaboration with Shay Nassi aka Mise En Scene, based on recordings I captured in Berlin last year.

arrival

after an early start, a lift to the bus station courtesy the lovely bev, a brief meeting with andy at heathrow, before catching another bus to stansted, then the flight, i was met at tallinn airport by mr ernest truely.
ernest has invited me back to the non-grata art container as artist in residence for the remainder of may, to produce new work, to run workshops, to collaborate, to travel...
this blog is the initial record of the residency, which will lead to work created by simon, as well as artists he works with during his stay, being exhibited in the uk later this year, beginning at the arnolfini, bristol, in october.