Listening and Recording: Mapping

I am finding it interesting the more I record the more attuned I am to hearing the sounds of the environment , and how, in some instances those sounds can be overwhelming if I focus on them (even the lapping of water at the river).  I exposed myself to  some more sound-art via the The Art Of Sound, this exhibition was a collaboration between curators of National Film and Sound Archive and  regional galleries (@Vasse Felix) http://www.nfsa.gov.au/blog/2013/06/04/art-sound-artist-rachel-coad/ I was particularly drawn to the title of , Frontier by Rachel Coad and Tank Piece No 8 by Ros Bandt ( a live improvisation in a concrete tank) which appealed to my engineering aesthetic - what a way to use a tank! and what a haunting, evocative  blend of visual and sound art. This exhibition reinforced my thoughts to link sound and print.  I had a day of recording and editing the sounds on Audacity, still trying to embed in a document (map) but for now just individual sounds on SoundCloud, the images are more prompts for me to remember the sound location or context in which I recorded,  I was pleased with  Sunday Cacophany where I manipulated four different recordings @ Il Cibo - but I am still trying to record the computer voice to overlay as a voice track. Found more mapping sound art on ubu, this one mapping the Olympic site in 2008 by Jem Finer: http://www.ubu.com/sound/finer.html
I'm trying to find Colin Black's Longing Love and Loss a the description seems to parallel what I had in mind for oral history art http://www.colinblack.com.au

 here's a couple of things I'v been looking at for research in constructing statements that blend elements of:

Spirituality- timeless icons and practices that people religiously follow, analysing the fundamental meaning and intention behind it

Zeitgeist part 1: the greatest story ever told (2007) by Peter Joseph

Although very interesting (and frightening), after watching all 3 parts (one after another) i felt pretty depressed about the whole state of the world, this documentary sucked out of me an enormous amount of hope and positivity turning me into a paranoid raging pessimist. Even though all the points brought up in Zeitgeist are important and should be open for discussion in society, the negative effect it had on my general psyche wasn't what i was looking for in relation to my audio samples.

Wisdom- the articulation of universal advice, insightful observations, enlightening perspectives

this is 'This is water' by David foster Wallace

 

Guidance- the position of those who try to help others and the way they do it

Pep talk by kid president

Modern adaptations- taking old concepts of 'how to live the best' (philosophy and spirituality) and adapting them to present a modern perspective on the way we live, commenting on how we are as humans.

Kumare (trailer): young American/Indian man poses as a guru for a social experiment to see if he can convince Americans he is a spiritual healer

This movie had quite a powerful effect for me. It highlighted the way vulnerable people can be easily exploited and the amount of responsibility (or lack there of) spiritual leaders have to guide their followers in a selfless way. But also looks into what it is that people are essentially seeking when they look for answers in spiritual enlightenment, which from my own interpretation was basically love and care which everyone wants except some people are lonely, desperate and have no one to rely on for that kind of support. 

Humour- not taking things seriously, avoid letting negative things to become uncomfortable or taboo- put it into a funny context and its liberated by sharing the opinion or perspective, encouraging discussions and with a positive outcome (laughter) even if the topic is dark, beware of nasty bully type humour making fun  at the expense of others

King missile- 'Jesus was way cool'

Monty Pythons 'Meaning of life' and representing religion within a church/institution

Homunculus is an interesting concept when thinking about the inner narrative (subconscious, primitive, instinctive voice)

http://en.docsity.com/news/interesting-facts/homunculus/ - definition of homunculus

this concept of the 'little man inside' applies with theories of alchemy in the dark ages, philosophy and chemistry (basically magic) as well as in recent times medical visual representation of the fissure of rolando

These are some artists who use these topics of spirituality and religion in their work

Artist Candy Chang works with the idea of the confession and sharing brings a sense of community 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/confessions-art-show-artist-candy-chang-brings-secrets-to-las-vegas-photos_n_3202081.html

Gabriela Friðriksdóttir
http://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2011/09/19/gabriela-fri-riksdottir-crepusculum.html
cultural psychological and religious elements to form signs, and meanings. Abandoning the tradition of the narrative, creating a dream-like surreal wonderland

Updates (danni mcgrath)

Hi

So I missed a couple of classes. The first one was because of this: 

And the second was because I'm a shit student.

Anyway, here are some highlights from what I've been doing for the last few weeks.

1. Made a 1 minute sound thing in Audacity 

2. Thought about different levels of connections that could be made with people who encounter my work

4. Visited the RTRFM studio, recorded a thing, thought about it
5. Did some research on radio tropes, thought about 'dead air' (when radio goes silent due to equipment malfunction or announcer/speaker anxiety) Mal Meninga and then made a video about worrying about not knowing what to say, wasting time and being boring.
Here's Mal first:

Here's my video:

All for now. For more detailed stuff, it's all here: dannimcgrath-uni.tumblr.com you know, if you want. No pressure.

Research Anne Ferran - broaden to include video works

In my last review it was suggested I research Anne Ferran's work in relation to photography that I was doing to develop my prints. I have since looked at her video works and it has given me some ideas about how to combine the photography or print I have done with poetry and documentation of family history.  I tried doing the moving text and fading in/out text with Final Cut Pro on some of the video we shot in studio for a trial and familiarisation.

Samartzis and LiquidArchitecture inspired Audacity

Today I've been researching by listening to Bogong Sound (Phillip Samartzis) recordings of industrial sounds such as "Concrete Path And Electric Station" and sounds from the Aurora Australia as it made the journey to Antarctica such as "At The End of The Night". The site Liquid Architecture online artworks gave me some ideas of how to present the sounds embedded with print, especially, Madelynne Cornish, "Surface Noise"  www.liquidarchitecture.org.au/surface-noise/

 and the work "Remember Me:What Remains" http://www.liquidarchitecture.org.au/remember-me-what-remains/ where links to sounds are embedded with maps.  I tried with a word document but it looks a bit clunky, so needs more research.  “Remember Me: What Remains” sparked a few experiments with censoring recordings of the wind with the alarm that I recorded. My thoughts had run along the lines of conservation and the suppression of nature by industrial sounds. I think this is something I may continue to explore, the overlay of mechanization and nature, or the overlay of different histories in a space which is probably more on the lines of my work.  I trialed the mixing of sound recordings with interviews that I sourced. I wanted to pilot this as my work could utilize oral history recordings coupled with photos and prints I have created.

https://soundcloud.com/user902374155

Audacity Steep Curve

this is the audacity output from my first trials with recording something and playing with the effects - amplify, fade in/out, noise removal, equalisation and change speed (which I did for the voices arguing that I recorded). The combined six tracks are indadvertedly reflective of the high intensity angst I started with -arguing with one of sons to give me help and not take control - to the end point of calmer and some control of the technical process.   https://soundcloud.com/user902374155/audacity-outside-rain-wk3

audio experiments on audacity

I have made a few audio files in Audacity. (Audacity seems to only let me make one change, i have to close and save each time i do anything, anyone know why?). I've created a soundcloud account and uploaded files to there. Hopefully i have posted the link here. Jill

typewriter action
https://soundcloud.com/jill-omeehan/michael-type-1a

budgies,scissors and keyboard
https://soundcloud.com/jill-omeehan/audio-budgie-scissors-michael

coffee shop audio
https://soundcloud.com/jill-omeehan/elixir-1