(R)ASSEMBLE by simon whetham
Commissioned by Yarmonics to create a work to present online, I had to consider what I would have done if things has allowed me to be present to make the work in Great Yarmouth.
I requested Oliver Payne and team send me some discarded objects from the site and also audio recordings, to get some idea of the ambience, but also to use in the work.
Currently in Marseille and working from a makeshift studio in what should be a guest bedroom, I have also been collecting a few objects abandoned in the streets close to our apartment. I began combining the objects in ways that would generate sound or affect it in some way, assembling them in stacks and piles, rearranging them and manipulating them by hand. All the processes have been captured on video to show the visible effects as well as the audible.
Close mic'ing the objects was essential to capture the vibrations in greater detail, but also to filter out the sounds of a busy road, renovation works within the building and occasionally crying babies!
The video presents each combination or process sequentially, as I would have possibly presented them in an exhibition or live performance event. The subsequent audio piece, composed from audio recordings of the processes, abstracts the gestures and structures that created these constituent sounds, recombining them to take the listener's perspective further into this constructed microverse.
The french word “rassemble” can be translated as to unite or gather, but could also infer rebuilding. The various ways these objects and sound interact within the project produce a new whole, bringing together materials and moments of Marseille and Great Yarmouth.
Simon Whetham, July 2020
https://www.yarmonics.com/
Tracklist
| 1. | (R)ASSEMBLE | 17:21 |
Credits
License
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
Repurposing environmental sound, space, found objects and salvaged devices, Simon Whetham presents sonic collages that are both meditative and thought provoking...