Music Composition, Sonic Art, Radio Art (Selected Major Works)
Sliced and Diced
Sliced and Diced
Kunstradio – Radiokunst, Live Premiere Broadcast, Österreich 1 (Ö1) - ÖRF, 19 June 2016
http://www.kunstradio.at/2016A/19_06_16en.html
Kunstradio – Radiokunst, re-broadcast, Österreich 1 (Ö1) - ÖRF, 7 August 2016
http://www.kunstradio.at/2016B/07_08_16.html
Duration 51:40
Composed and Performed by Colin Black
About The Work
“We live today in the age of partial objects, bricks that have been shattered to bits, and leftovers … We no longer believe in a primordial totality that once existed, or in a final totality that awaits us at some future date” – Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
In this work Colin Black explores “slice” as a metaphor to reflect on aspects of culture that have been sliced or separated: the cutting of budgets, the widening divisions within societies, the blocking of transportation routes and fracturing society. Throughout the performance Black will slice audio recordings, media grabs and performed music phrases alongside the sounds of various objects (paper, cardboard, vegetables etc.) being sliced live in the studio. Spoken word motifs including “a slice of life,” “trimming the fat,”and “a slice of the action” will be triggered by the sound of rolling dices so as to point to the role that chance plays in shaping an individual’s destiny. However, unlike William S. Burroughs’s claim that through the use of the cut-up technique “some of the resulting text seems to refer to future events,” this live performance reflects and poignantly draws attention to how seemingly random occurrences have impacted current events. The slicing and dicing of sound components into smaller parts in this performance, is also a metaphor that illustrates the need for a society to analyse issues of inequality more closely and in different ways.
Kunstradio – Radiokunst, Live Premiere Broadcast, Österreich 1 (Ö1) - ÖRF, 19 June 2016
http://www.kunstradio.at/2016A/19_06_16en.html
Kunstradio – Radiokunst, re-broadcast, Österreich 1 (Ö1) - ÖRF, 7 August 2016
http://www.kunstradio.at/2016B/07_08_16.html
Duration 51:40
Composed and Performed by Colin Black
About The Work
“We live today in the age of partial objects, bricks that have been shattered to bits, and leftovers … We no longer believe in a primordial totality that once existed, or in a final totality that awaits us at some future date” – Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
In this work Colin Black explores “slice” as a metaphor to reflect on aspects of culture that have been sliced or separated: the cutting of budgets, the widening divisions within societies, the blocking of transportation routes and fracturing society. Throughout the performance Black will slice audio recordings, media grabs and performed music phrases alongside the sounds of various objects (paper, cardboard, vegetables etc.) being sliced live in the studio. Spoken word motifs including “a slice of life,” “trimming the fat,”and “a slice of the action” will be triggered by the sound of rolling dices so as to point to the role that chance plays in shaping an individual’s destiny. However, unlike William S. Burroughs’s claim that through the use of the cut-up technique “some of the resulting text seems to refer to future events,” this live performance reflects and poignantly draws attention to how seemingly random occurrences have impacted current events. The slicing and dicing of sound components into smaller parts in this performance, is also a metaphor that illustrates the need for a society to analyse issues of inequality more closely and in different ways.
In this work, it is the artist’s intention that any abstraction or obscuring of the sound elements are heard as symbolic sonic Guy Fawkes mask (Occupy movement) gestures and artistically contributes to the overall noise generated by the 99%. This live performance is the artist’s own personal protest, not to put the pieces back together as they once were, back to forge together all the pieces into a new totality where nothing is hidden or sliced away, and as chance has it, is complete with all the rough edges still intact.
The London Ear Drops
The London Ear Drops
Duration 25:00
About The Work
The London Ear Drops is a collection of works based on the specific location of London, where Australian sound artist Colin Black builds a multi-facetted aural geography in which human imprint is present. Constructed from audio recordings collected during Black's Visiting Research Fellowship with Goldsmiths, University of London and artist residency with Resonance104.4fm (London), this new collection explores notions of interiority through personal thoughts and the inner aspects of place that can be uncovered within exterior sonic environments
Duration 25:00
About The Work
The London Ear Drops is a collection of works based on the specific location of London, where Australian sound artist Colin Black builds a multi-facetted aural geography in which human imprint is present. Constructed from audio recordings collected during Black's Visiting Research Fellowship with Goldsmiths, University of London and artist residency with Resonance104.4fm (London), this new collection explores notions of interiority through personal thoughts and the inner aspects of place that can be uncovered within exterior sonic environments
Download The London Ear Drops album from the artist's Bandcamp page at https://colinblack.bandcamp.com/album/the-london-ear-drops
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Interviewees: Michael Umney and Hannah Brown
All instruments (including the piano in St Pancras International Railway Station) played and/or programmed by Colin Black
Photos and artwork by Colin Black
Location recordings from London, edited, compiled and mixed at Frequency Oz (Australia) by Colin Black
Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Yanna Black, Ed Baxter, John Drever, Atau Tanaka, Goldsmiths, University of London, Resonance104.4fm and Frequency Oz.
VOLumNA Black / performative-sound installation
10 November 2016
Galerija Alkatraz Masarykova 24, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
This work explores the liminal stage of ritual through movement and sound to question notions of identity, time and community, at a threshold between the old and a new way, that the ritual promises to establish.
The artists treat the idea openly, as an exploration field, an ongoing creative playground: both a concept of ritual as well as the very performance could thus draw interpretative threat to the transitions from socialist to capitalist, from pagan to christian, from unpolluted to polluted, from modest to greedy, from homeless to home which may never be permanently reached, etc.
No matter the interpretative context, the performance is based and focused on a widely shared human feeling, concerning the contemporary development of the world/human society – the feeling of rolling all together into a certain direction which can already be anticipated but we aren't there yet. Equally as we can observe this phenomenon we are also an inherent part of it – being both the watchers as the agents in this process.
During the performance the artists knit different scapes which make the spectators sense their most likely outcome/direction, while emphasizing the process of “moving-in-the-direction” according to its own logic of development.
Internal presupposing/belief that life “makes sense,” or has a source or a purpose, leads humans into searching. However, within a complex net of (im-)possibilities, the process of searching is never direct and always somehow slips away from its punctual aim.
Credits:
Authors, performers, producers Colin Black (sound), lines Trček (stroke / performance), Radharani Pernarčič (stroke / performance)
Galerija Alkatraz Masarykova 24, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
This work explores the liminal stage of ritual through movement and sound to question notions of identity, time and community, at a threshold between the old and a new way, that the ritual promises to establish.
The artists treat the idea openly, as an exploration field, an ongoing creative playground: both a concept of ritual as well as the very performance could thus draw interpretative threat to the transitions from socialist to capitalist, from pagan to christian, from unpolluted to polluted, from modest to greedy, from homeless to home which may never be permanently reached, etc.
No matter the interpretative context, the performance is based and focused on a widely shared human feeling, concerning the contemporary development of the world/human society – the feeling of rolling all together into a certain direction which can already be anticipated but we aren't there yet. Equally as we can observe this phenomenon we are also an inherent part of it – being both the watchers as the agents in this process.
During the performance the artists knit different scapes which make the spectators sense their most likely outcome/direction, while emphasizing the process of “moving-in-the-direction” according to its own logic of development.
Internal presupposing/belief that life “makes sense,” or has a source or a purpose, leads humans into searching. However, within a complex net of (im-)possibilities, the process of searching is never direct and always somehow slips away from its punctual aim.
Credits:
Authors, performers, producers Colin Black (sound), lines Trček (stroke / performance), Radharani Pernarčič (stroke / performance)
I No Mad
I No Mad
Duration 50:00
About The Work
Home, motherland, crossing the border, the emergence of the transnational self ... I No Mad explores perspectives of identity in neo nomadism through the interplay of physical movement and sound. Australian sound artist Colin Black joins forces with expat Bulgarian dancer and cognitive scientist Dayana Hristova to shine light not on the complexity of identity in contemporary society that is has become increasingly fluid and mobile. I No Mad reflects on and tries to resolve the (dis)connection of living in a land different to your ancestors.
Première performance: Institut Dr. Schmida, (Vienna) 25 June 2016
Credits
Colin Black - sound artist
Dayana Hristova - dancer and cognitive scientist
Duration 50:00
About The Work
Home, motherland, crossing the border, the emergence of the transnational self ... I No Mad explores perspectives of identity in neo nomadism through the interplay of physical movement and sound. Australian sound artist Colin Black joins forces with expat Bulgarian dancer and cognitive scientist Dayana Hristova to shine light not on the complexity of identity in contemporary society that is has become increasingly fluid and mobile. I No Mad reflects on and tries to resolve the (dis)connection of living in a land different to your ancestors.
Première performance: Institut Dr. Schmida, (Vienna) 25 June 2016
Credits
Colin Black - sound artist
Dayana Hristova - dancer and cognitive scientist
Sonic Reflections
Sonic Reflections
Duration 51:30
About The Work
Sonic Reflections: a history of sound art on the radio in the form of a sound composition. How do you write a history of radiophonic sound art? To answer this question, radio artist Colin Black has travelled the world for five years ... on the way he has (almost) interviewed all the protagonists of the genre: artists, writers, theorists. Their stories and thoughts Black counterpoint with sounds of his journey. The result is a piece of radio art about radio art.
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Edited, compiled and mixed at Frequency Oz (Australia) by Colin Black
Commissioned by Deutschlandradio Kultur Première Broadcast: 6 May 2016, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Kangkunst program
Interviewees (in order of appearance): Martin Slawig, Götz Naleppa, Erik Mikael Karlsson, Ed Baxter, Andreas Hagelüken, Philippe Langlois, Alessandro Bosetti, Gregory Whitehead, Douglas Kahn, Andrew McLennan, Jean-Philippe Renoult, Dinah Bird, Virginia Madsen, Marie Wennersten, Marcus Gammel, Kaye Mortley, Armeno Alberts, Andrea Cohen, Tom Roe, Andreas Bick, Anna Friz, Hildegard Westerkamp, Elisabeth Zimmermann, Heidi Grundmann, Atau Tanaka, Teri Rueb, Galen Joseph-Hunter and John Jacobs
Readings by Elke Utermöhlen & Martin Slawig
Premiere Broadcast: Deutschlandradio Kultur, Klangkunst, 6 May 2016
Selected for performance/presentation at:
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, 17 September 2015
Awards
2016 Prix Phonurgia Nova Award (France), Final Round Selection
Reviews
Jochen Meißner, “Was das Radio sein kann,” Hörspielkritik (19 June 2016)
http://hoerspielkritik.de/was-das-radio-sein-kann/
Duration 51:30
About The Work
Sonic Reflections: a history of sound art on the radio in the form of a sound composition. How do you write a history of radiophonic sound art? To answer this question, radio artist Colin Black has travelled the world for five years ... on the way he has (almost) interviewed all the protagonists of the genre: artists, writers, theorists. Their stories and thoughts Black counterpoint with sounds of his journey. The result is a piece of radio art about radio art.
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Edited, compiled and mixed at Frequency Oz (Australia) by Colin Black
Commissioned by Deutschlandradio Kultur Première Broadcast: 6 May 2016, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Kangkunst program
Interviewees (in order of appearance): Martin Slawig, Götz Naleppa, Erik Mikael Karlsson, Ed Baxter, Andreas Hagelüken, Philippe Langlois, Alessandro Bosetti, Gregory Whitehead, Douglas Kahn, Andrew McLennan, Jean-Philippe Renoult, Dinah Bird, Virginia Madsen, Marie Wennersten, Marcus Gammel, Kaye Mortley, Armeno Alberts, Andrea Cohen, Tom Roe, Andreas Bick, Anna Friz, Hildegard Westerkamp, Elisabeth Zimmermann, Heidi Grundmann, Atau Tanaka, Teri Rueb, Galen Joseph-Hunter and John Jacobs
Readings by Elke Utermöhlen & Martin Slawig
Premiere Broadcast: Deutschlandradio Kultur, Klangkunst, 6 May 2016
Selected for performance/presentation at:
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, 17 September 2015
Awards
2016 Prix Phonurgia Nova Award (France), Final Round Selection
Reviews
Jochen Meißner, “Was das Radio sein kann,” Hörspielkritik (19 June 2016)
http://hoerspielkritik.de/was-das-radio-sein-kann/
Out Of Thin Air : Radio Art Essay #1
Out Of Thin Air : Radio Art Essay #1
Duration 25:00
Composed and Produced by Colin Black
About The Work
Out Of Thin Air: Radio Art Essay #1 is a meta-referencing poetic reflection and meditation on radio art underpinned by an artistic treatment of dislocation, transmission, reception and place as a thematic underscore. The work is in the form of an abstract song cycle that chiefly oscillates between “songs” originating from High Frequency (HR) radio static/broadcasts between 3 and 30 MHz and those from interviewees replying to questions relating to radio art. Location recordings, sound effect and musical composition weave this originating material together to form a sonic confluence and juxtaposition of elements to stimulate the listener’s imagination while offering an insight into the work’s subject matter.
Credits
Interviewees (in order of appearance): Armeno Alberts, Tom Roe, Jean-Philippe Renoult, Gregory Whitehead, Götz Naleppa, Andrew McLennan, Elisabeth Zimmermann, Heidi Grundmann, Andreas Hagelüken, Teri Rueb and Kaye Mortley
High Frequency (HR) radio receiver operator: Dimitri Papagianakis
Audio engineer: Colin Black
Out Of Thin Air: Radio Art Essay #1 was originally commissioned by Radio Arts, as part of their ‘Dreamlands’ Commission series.
Special thanks to: Magz Hall, Jim Backhouse from Radio Arts, Dimitri Papagianakis, Yanna Black and all the interviewees.
Selected for broadcast on:
RTÉ Lyric FM, Nova, 5 April 2015
Resonance 104.4fm (London), 9 April 2015
Radiophrenia 87.9fm (Glasgow), 14 April 2015
Radio ARA (Luxembourg), 27 April 2015
Sonica Found Music™ online radio ‘gallery,’ 16 May 2015
Duration 25:00
Composed and Produced by Colin Black
About The Work
Out Of Thin Air: Radio Art Essay #1 is a meta-referencing poetic reflection and meditation on radio art underpinned by an artistic treatment of dislocation, transmission, reception and place as a thematic underscore. The work is in the form of an abstract song cycle that chiefly oscillates between “songs” originating from High Frequency (HR) radio static/broadcasts between 3 and 30 MHz and those from interviewees replying to questions relating to radio art. Location recordings, sound effect and musical composition weave this originating material together to form a sonic confluence and juxtaposition of elements to stimulate the listener’s imagination while offering an insight into the work’s subject matter.
Credits
Interviewees (in order of appearance): Armeno Alberts, Tom Roe, Jean-Philippe Renoult, Gregory Whitehead, Götz Naleppa, Andrew McLennan, Elisabeth Zimmermann, Heidi Grundmann, Andreas Hagelüken, Teri Rueb and Kaye Mortley
High Frequency (HR) radio receiver operator: Dimitri Papagianakis
Audio engineer: Colin Black
Out Of Thin Air: Radio Art Essay #1 was originally commissioned by Radio Arts, as part of their ‘Dreamlands’ Commission series.
Special thanks to: Magz Hall, Jim Backhouse from Radio Arts, Dimitri Papagianakis, Yanna Black and all the interviewees.
Selected for broadcast on:
RTÉ Lyric FM, Nova, 5 April 2015
Resonance 104.4fm (London), 9 April 2015
Radiophrenia 87.9fm (Glasgow), 14 April 2015
Radio ARA (Luxembourg), 27 April 2015
Sonica Found Music™ online radio ‘gallery,’ 16 May 2015
In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub
In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub
"A 'Play' for Collected Sounds"
Duration 25:00
Composed and Produced by Colin Black
"I think it's an incredible piece and I think it scared the crap out of any would be radio artists listening" - Bernard Clarke (Nova - RTÉ lyric fm, Limerick)
"What a wonderful programme. Enormously impressed. I'm not surprised you got gold at the New York Festivals for this." - Tim Crook (Professor of Broadcast Journalism, Goldsmiths, University of London)
"It’s a gorgeous piece. Stunningly vivid and evocative sounds and voices woven together with real artistry.” - John Biewen (Audio Program Director at Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, USA)
"Fantastic! Sonic adventure at its best!" - Dixie Treichel (Minneapolis, USA),
"Bravo Colin! A great audio portrait! ... very moving and evocative of Dylan Thomas! Great work! " - Peter Flanagan (Southampton, UK),
"Great stuff, Colin. I can but quote Bernard's introduction: 'A piece of radio art to envy.' ... " - Gerald Fiebig (Augsburg, Germany)
" ... 'In search' is so beautiful and moving" - Meira Asher (Tel Aviv, Israel)
About The Work
Inspired by the fictional blind character of Captain Tom Cat in Dylan Thomas’ classic Under Milk Wood, this new sound composition unearths the captain’s secret soundworld that is based both on actual location recordings and constructed dreamscapes. It is a soundworld full of the lyrical, sonic charm of Welsh fishing villages, nuanced from Captain Cat’s melancholic and nostalgic yearning for the past. In a sense we are travelling along sonic pathways into memories that dissolve into acoustic dreams; as in Thomas’ work, ‘the long drowned nuzzle up’ against our ear and tease the living, in this new auditory experience.
In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub crosses existing borders and genres … it’s a kind of musical work constructed chiefly from sound, but not exactly music concrete, nor is it a radio drama or documentary. It is a sonic painting, infused with the tantalising echoes of Cardigan Bay (West Wales) and the breath of Dylan Thomas’s Captain Cat. In fact after Douglas Cleverdon produced Under Milk Wood for radio in 1954 he stated that it [Thomas’s work] ‘… has no rules determining what can or cannot be done. And though it may be in dramatic form, it has no need of a dramatic plot’ (British Radio Drama 1981: 9). In a sense Black is exploring this possibility in his new work … it has no rules but the goal of developing a language out of sound, from recordings gathered in Welsh fishing villages on Cardigan Bay. Moreover, it is a hybrid audio work that takes the listener into an exotic and imagined composed soundscape, a space where the sea sings.
Some key elements of this work include radiophonic arrangements of sea shanties sung by Gerald Morgan in Welsh, the traditional folk song “Y Wasgod Goch” [The Red Waistcoat] that tells the story of being haunted by a recently deceased lover, as sung by Mr Robert Pierce Roberts and Bach’s “Fuga sopra il Magnificat” that has been augmented with a chiefly stratified texture of the sounds of sheep, the sea and a blacksmith at work. In addition to these, the work contains location recordings from Thomas’ house in Laugharne [Welsh: Talacharn], and New Quay [Welsh: Cei Newydd] (which are believed to be the inspiration for Under Milk Wood), sparse interviews with locals describing New Quay, Welsh maritime historian David Jenkins describing life at sea, archival recordings from the audiovisual archive at St Fagans, National History Museum including Mary Jane Rees’ interview explaining the Welsh myth of adderstones that are believed to cure blindness, sounds from aboard various ships in motion and other coastal locations in Wales. Finally, an acoustic theme that runs through this work is that, in sonic reality, the boats are heard as beached or docked and tethered by ropes to the quay, or attempting to start their motors. It is only in Captain Cat’s dreams and day-dreams that the boats are free to set sail on his emotional sea of nostalgia.
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Interviewees: Gerald Morgan, David Jenkins, Winston David Evans and Yasmin Evans. Sea Shanty Singer: Gerald Morgan Captain’s Voice: Clive Woosnam
Archival recordings courtesy of Meinwen Ruddock-Jones and the audiovisual archive at St Fagans, National History Museum. Archival recordings include “Y Wasgod Goch” as sung by Mr Robert Pierce Roberts and Mary Jane Rees’ interview about the Welsh myth of adderstones.
Location recordings from Wales, edited, compiled and mixed at Frequency Oz (Australia) by Colin Black
Assisting Producer: Yanna Black
In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub première broadcast was on RTÉ lyric fm, Nova programme, 12 October 2014.
Selected for broadcast on: RTÉ Lyric FM, Nova, 12 October 2014
Resonance 104.4fm (London), 21 October 2014
Soundart Radio 102.5fm (Totnes), 12 October 2014
ABC Classic FM, New Music Up Late, 8 November 2014
RTÉ Lyric FM, Nova, 9 November 2014
Radio Campus Paris, Récréation Sonore, 30 November 2014
WGXC 90.7-FM, Radio Theatre, (Hudson, USA), 11 December 2014
106fm קול הקמפוס [Kol HaCampus], אמנות רדיו [Radio Art] programme, Tel Aviv, Israel, 28 December 2014
Radio Campus Grenoble, part of the Week of Sound festival, 7 Feburary 2015
HRT Hrvatski Radio [Croatian Radio], Glazba i obratno, 2 October 2015
Selected for performance/presentation at:
Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, 25 January 2015
Full of Noises, The Nan Tait Centre, Cumbria (UK), 31 July to 2 August 2015
Awards
2015 New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards, Gold Medal, Sound Art Category
2015 Prix Phonurgia Nova Award (France), Final Round Selection
"A 'Play' for Collected Sounds"
Duration 25:00
Composed and Produced by Colin Black
"I think it's an incredible piece and I think it scared the crap out of any would be radio artists listening" - Bernard Clarke (Nova - RTÉ lyric fm, Limerick)
"What a wonderful programme. Enormously impressed. I'm not surprised you got gold at the New York Festivals for this." - Tim Crook (Professor of Broadcast Journalism, Goldsmiths, University of London)
"It’s a gorgeous piece. Stunningly vivid and evocative sounds and voices woven together with real artistry.” - John Biewen (Audio Program Director at Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, USA)
"Fantastic! Sonic adventure at its best!" - Dixie Treichel (Minneapolis, USA),
"Bravo Colin! A great audio portrait! ... very moving and evocative of Dylan Thomas! Great work! " - Peter Flanagan (Southampton, UK),
"Great stuff, Colin. I can but quote Bernard's introduction: 'A piece of radio art to envy.' ... " - Gerald Fiebig (Augsburg, Germany)
" ... 'In search' is so beautiful and moving" - Meira Asher (Tel Aviv, Israel)
About The Work
Inspired by the fictional blind character of Captain Tom Cat in Dylan Thomas’ classic Under Milk Wood, this new sound composition unearths the captain’s secret soundworld that is based both on actual location recordings and constructed dreamscapes. It is a soundworld full of the lyrical, sonic charm of Welsh fishing villages, nuanced from Captain Cat’s melancholic and nostalgic yearning for the past. In a sense we are travelling along sonic pathways into memories that dissolve into acoustic dreams; as in Thomas’ work, ‘the long drowned nuzzle up’ against our ear and tease the living, in this new auditory experience.
In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub crosses existing borders and genres … it’s a kind of musical work constructed chiefly from sound, but not exactly music concrete, nor is it a radio drama or documentary. It is a sonic painting, infused with the tantalising echoes of Cardigan Bay (West Wales) and the breath of Dylan Thomas’s Captain Cat. In fact after Douglas Cleverdon produced Under Milk Wood for radio in 1954 he stated that it [Thomas’s work] ‘… has no rules determining what can or cannot be done. And though it may be in dramatic form, it has no need of a dramatic plot’ (British Radio Drama 1981: 9). In a sense Black is exploring this possibility in his new work … it has no rules but the goal of developing a language out of sound, from recordings gathered in Welsh fishing villages on Cardigan Bay. Moreover, it is a hybrid audio work that takes the listener into an exotic and imagined composed soundscape, a space where the sea sings.
Some key elements of this work include radiophonic arrangements of sea shanties sung by Gerald Morgan in Welsh, the traditional folk song “Y Wasgod Goch” [The Red Waistcoat] that tells the story of being haunted by a recently deceased lover, as sung by Mr Robert Pierce Roberts and Bach’s “Fuga sopra il Magnificat” that has been augmented with a chiefly stratified texture of the sounds of sheep, the sea and a blacksmith at work. In addition to these, the work contains location recordings from Thomas’ house in Laugharne [Welsh: Talacharn], and New Quay [Welsh: Cei Newydd] (which are believed to be the inspiration for Under Milk Wood), sparse interviews with locals describing New Quay, Welsh maritime historian David Jenkins describing life at sea, archival recordings from the audiovisual archive at St Fagans, National History Museum including Mary Jane Rees’ interview explaining the Welsh myth of adderstones that are believed to cure blindness, sounds from aboard various ships in motion and other coastal locations in Wales. Finally, an acoustic theme that runs through this work is that, in sonic reality, the boats are heard as beached or docked and tethered by ropes to the quay, or attempting to start their motors. It is only in Captain Cat’s dreams and day-dreams that the boats are free to set sail on his emotional sea of nostalgia.
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Interviewees: Gerald Morgan, David Jenkins, Winston David Evans and Yasmin Evans. Sea Shanty Singer: Gerald Morgan Captain’s Voice: Clive Woosnam
Archival recordings courtesy of Meinwen Ruddock-Jones and the audiovisual archive at St Fagans, National History Museum. Archival recordings include “Y Wasgod Goch” as sung by Mr Robert Pierce Roberts and Mary Jane Rees’ interview about the Welsh myth of adderstones.
Location recordings from Wales, edited, compiled and mixed at Frequency Oz (Australia) by Colin Black
Assisting Producer: Yanna Black
In Search of Captain Cat of Llareggub première broadcast was on RTÉ lyric fm, Nova programme, 12 October 2014.
Selected for broadcast on: RTÉ Lyric FM, Nova, 12 October 2014
Resonance 104.4fm (London), 21 October 2014
Soundart Radio 102.5fm (Totnes), 12 October 2014
ABC Classic FM, New Music Up Late, 8 November 2014
RTÉ Lyric FM, Nova, 9 November 2014
Radio Campus Paris, Récréation Sonore, 30 November 2014
WGXC 90.7-FM, Radio Theatre, (Hudson, USA), 11 December 2014
106fm קול הקמפוס [Kol HaCampus], אמנות רדיו [Radio Art] programme, Tel Aviv, Israel, 28 December 2014
Radio Campus Grenoble, part of the Week of Sound festival, 7 Feburary 2015
HRT Hrvatski Radio [Croatian Radio], Glazba i obratno, 2 October 2015
Selected for performance/presentation at:
Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, 25 January 2015
Full of Noises, The Nan Tait Centre, Cumbria (UK), 31 July to 2 August 2015
Awards
2015 New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards, Gold Medal, Sound Art Category
2015 Prix Phonurgia Nova Award (France), Final Round Selection
Special thanks to: Bernard Clarke, Yanna Black, David Jenkins, Winston David Evans, Yasmin Evans, Meinwen Ruddock-Jones, Ian Heights, Mair Humphreys, Kevin Sumption, Captain John Dikkenberg, Clive Woosnam, Stephen Adams, Peter Gage, St Fagans, National History Museum, Ceredigion Archives, Dolphin Spotting Boat trips (New Quay), The Australian National Maritime Museum and the crew of the HMAS Advance and HMB Endeavour.
Soundprints: A Likeness of Ljubljana
Soundprints: A Likeness of Ljubljana
Duration 44:40
Produced and composed by Colin Black
"An extensive, 45 minutes long sound fresco, rich with sound sceneries, citizens’ thoughts and artist’s creative reactions on his experience with the city. City’s spaces – physical, personal, psychological and historical places – are drawn with soundwalks, flirting with documentary techniques and compositional approaches." - Primož Trdan, ARS - 3 program, RTV Slovenija, 27 August 2014
About The Work
Soundprints: A Likenesses of Ljubljana is the fourth in a series of feature length works where radio artist Colin Black continues his artistic process of building a multi-facetted intimate aural geography in which human imprint is present. Constructed from audio recordings made during the middle of the 2014 Slovenian winter in Ljubljana this work explores the notion of interiority through the inner aspects of personal thoughts and by alluding to the inward dimensions of localities that can be uncovered even within various exterior sonic environments.
Black’s work in this series reports artistically on various dimensions and properties of our notions of place, space and culture. It is a form of sonic ethnography that seeks to reveal the complexities and diversity that exists in communities and our relationship with localities. As a sound artist and radio artist Black’s focuses on bringing attention to elements of culture that could remain silenced, restrained in private thought or overlooked aurally due to the overbearing “noise” of stereotypes, preconceived beliefs and concepts.
Interviewees (in order of appearance):
Brane Zorman
Bor Pungerčič
Andrej Boshnjak
Julijana Božič
Bernik Andrej
Marjeta Kamnikar
Gregor Kamnikar
Naomi Uma Zorman
Includes e-mail exchange from Jasmina Založnik.
Location recordings: Colin Black
Additional dialogue recordings: Brane Zorman and Gregor Kamnikar
Sound engineer: Colin Black
Mixed and mastered at Frequency Oz studios by Colin Black
Special thanks to Brane Zorman, Irena Pivka, Jasmina Založnik, Gregor Kamnikar, all of the above interviewees, CONA Institute for Contemporary Arts Processing, Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia (JSKD), Frequency Oz, CUK Kino Šiška, KC Tobačna001, University of Technology, Sydney.
Dedicated to the memory of France Prešeren and Julija Primic who live on in stone in Prešeren Square.
Soundprints: A Likeness of Ljubljana premiere broadcast was on ARS3 Slovenian Radio, 4 June 2014, 10:05pm.
For more information see below website. http://ars.rtvslo.si/zvocnost-ljubljane/
Photo by Jasmina Založnik
Duration 44:40
Produced and composed by Colin Black
"An extensive, 45 minutes long sound fresco, rich with sound sceneries, citizens’ thoughts and artist’s creative reactions on his experience with the city. City’s spaces – physical, personal, psychological and historical places – are drawn with soundwalks, flirting with documentary techniques and compositional approaches." - Primož Trdan, ARS - 3 program, RTV Slovenija, 27 August 2014
About The Work
Soundprints: A Likenesses of Ljubljana is the fourth in a series of feature length works where radio artist Colin Black continues his artistic process of building a multi-facetted intimate aural geography in which human imprint is present. Constructed from audio recordings made during the middle of the 2014 Slovenian winter in Ljubljana this work explores the notion of interiority through the inner aspects of personal thoughts and by alluding to the inward dimensions of localities that can be uncovered even within various exterior sonic environments.
Black’s work in this series reports artistically on various dimensions and properties of our notions of place, space and culture. It is a form of sonic ethnography that seeks to reveal the complexities and diversity that exists in communities and our relationship with localities. As a sound artist and radio artist Black’s focuses on bringing attention to elements of culture that could remain silenced, restrained in private thought or overlooked aurally due to the overbearing “noise” of stereotypes, preconceived beliefs and concepts.
Interviewees (in order of appearance):
Brane Zorman
Bor Pungerčič
Andrej Boshnjak
Julijana Božič
Bernik Andrej
Marjeta Kamnikar
Gregor Kamnikar
Naomi Uma Zorman
Includes e-mail exchange from Jasmina Založnik.
Location recordings: Colin Black
Additional dialogue recordings: Brane Zorman and Gregor Kamnikar
Sound engineer: Colin Black
Mixed and mastered at Frequency Oz studios by Colin Black
Special thanks to Brane Zorman, Irena Pivka, Jasmina Založnik, Gregor Kamnikar, all of the above interviewees, CONA Institute for Contemporary Arts Processing, Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia (JSKD), Frequency Oz, CUK Kino Šiška, KC Tobačna001, University of Technology, Sydney.
Dedicated to the memory of France Prešeren and Julija Primic who live on in stone in Prešeren Square.
Soundprints: A Likeness of Ljubljana premiere broadcast was on ARS3 Slovenian Radio, 4 June 2014, 10:05pm.
For more information see below website. http://ars.rtvslo.si/zvocnost-ljubljane/
Photo by Jasmina Založnik
Semblance
Semblance (duration 47:31) was created especially for Frequency Oz’s The Transmuted Signal curated series on Kunstradio which aired over the Austrian public radio network in February and March 2013. As part of the curated series, Semblance explored the notion that exclusively visual media, even when highly abstracted is not purely visual but rather is an innately multi-modal experience. To this effect W. J. T. Mitchell has argued that “there are no visual media”, at least no exclusively visual forms that exist in isolation from its tactile, linguistic and audio counterparts or derivatives. Moreover it has also been argued by Rudolf Arnheim, Gary Ferrington, Andrew Crisell and others that audio media is not a purely blind media, but also creates images in the minds of the listeners. The impact of this pluralistic nexus between media modalities forms a fundamental element in the work Semblance as it was initiated from one single visual image that was transmuted, by the artist, into audio that implores the listener to transmute the signal back into visual media in their minds.
Black states, “Initially I thought about how, as an artist, I could develop methods of working that would increase the invisibility of the transmutation process from sight to sound so as to more transparently convey the complexities of the image without imposing my own point of view and values. However as the work evolved I became increasingly aware of my subjective involvement, which logically has introduced a unique dimension to the sonic representation of the original image. Therefore this work also encompasses these interpretive and interactive realities.”
For Black, a striking aspect of the image was, as he explains, “its primal, symbolic, nocturnal, anthropological and almost ritualistic elements. There is a dominant use of a black background contrasted with sections of highly detailed superimposed layering combined with symbols and a reminiscent watery fluid pattern.” Black adds, “The more I reflected on the image the more it sonically conjured up the sound of some type of sacred pagan midnight water ritual and transfiguration. The title Semblance in this context also refers to the transformative effect of this transfiguration in regards to the work’s narrative where there are components that remain fixed throughout and others that are only a semblance of the past.”
The work is structured in four movements entitled “A Prelude to a Forgotten Ritual,” “The Lustrate Ceremony,” “A Type of Transfiguration” and “Memorial, Semblance and Renascence”. These movements are tied together by the use of a short audio recording motif made by a contact microphone of the artist’s hand tapping and shaking a small metallic water container while it is half full of water. This audio recording was edited, manipulated and transformed in various ways so as to create constantly evolving intertwisting relationships, where the pattern never repeats itself twice. The level of sonic transformation for this audio motif also ranges from realistic to highly abstract. During sections of the work, simultaneous layers of sound events and ambiences are also woven in, to reflect the intricate layering in the visual image.
While Black has utilised the sound of the human voice as a sonic element in the work, he has edited and formulated the voice recordings so that they intentionally contain no discernible words. Nevertheless the voice is structured in such a way so as it seems to have its own semantic structure and language. This quasi-language effect or semblance of a language structure is intensified by the expressive vocal performance by Yanna Black and the intention to use these recordings to summon up the orality of a forgotten ancient language. The voice in this work is also a sonic representation of the anthropological element from the visual image that the artist is endeavoring to transmute and convey.
In essence Semblance is a sonic portal, from the artist’s perspective, of the visual image that can be accessed and contemplated by the listener with the aim that they may re-assemble a semblance of the original image in their imagination.
Credits
Composer, Sound Artist and Audio Engineer: Colin Black
Voice Artist: Yanna Black
Special thanks: Yanna Black, Kunstradio, Frequency Oz and the Australia Council for the Arts.
For more information see
Kunstradio (Austria) http://www.kunstradio.at/PROJECTS/CURATED_BY/OZ/index.html and
http://www.kunstradio.at/2013A/10_03_13.html
Frequency Oz http://www.frequencyoz.com
Black states, “Initially I thought about how, as an artist, I could develop methods of working that would increase the invisibility of the transmutation process from sight to sound so as to more transparently convey the complexities of the image without imposing my own point of view and values. However as the work evolved I became increasingly aware of my subjective involvement, which logically has introduced a unique dimension to the sonic representation of the original image. Therefore this work also encompasses these interpretive and interactive realities.”
For Black, a striking aspect of the image was, as he explains, “its primal, symbolic, nocturnal, anthropological and almost ritualistic elements. There is a dominant use of a black background contrasted with sections of highly detailed superimposed layering combined with symbols and a reminiscent watery fluid pattern.” Black adds, “The more I reflected on the image the more it sonically conjured up the sound of some type of sacred pagan midnight water ritual and transfiguration. The title Semblance in this context also refers to the transformative effect of this transfiguration in regards to the work’s narrative where there are components that remain fixed throughout and others that are only a semblance of the past.”
The work is structured in four movements entitled “A Prelude to a Forgotten Ritual,” “The Lustrate Ceremony,” “A Type of Transfiguration” and “Memorial, Semblance and Renascence”. These movements are tied together by the use of a short audio recording motif made by a contact microphone of the artist’s hand tapping and shaking a small metallic water container while it is half full of water. This audio recording was edited, manipulated and transformed in various ways so as to create constantly evolving intertwisting relationships, where the pattern never repeats itself twice. The level of sonic transformation for this audio motif also ranges from realistic to highly abstract. During sections of the work, simultaneous layers of sound events and ambiences are also woven in, to reflect the intricate layering in the visual image.
While Black has utilised the sound of the human voice as a sonic element in the work, he has edited and formulated the voice recordings so that they intentionally contain no discernible words. Nevertheless the voice is structured in such a way so as it seems to have its own semantic structure and language. This quasi-language effect or semblance of a language structure is intensified by the expressive vocal performance by Yanna Black and the intention to use these recordings to summon up the orality of a forgotten ancient language. The voice in this work is also a sonic representation of the anthropological element from the visual image that the artist is endeavoring to transmute and convey.
In essence Semblance is a sonic portal, from the artist’s perspective, of the visual image that can be accessed and contemplated by the listener with the aim that they may re-assemble a semblance of the original image in their imagination.
Credits
Composer, Sound Artist and Audio Engineer: Colin Black
Voice Artist: Yanna Black
Special thanks: Yanna Black, Kunstradio, Frequency Oz and the Australia Council for the Arts.
For more information see
Kunstradio (Austria) http://www.kunstradio.at/PROJECTS/CURATED_BY/OZ/index.html and
http://www.kunstradio.at/2013A/10_03_13.html
Frequency Oz http://www.frequencyoz.com
Soundprints: Sealed In Sweden
Soundprints: Sealed In Sweden
Duration 50:50
About The Work
Soundprints: Sealed in Sweden is structured from sonic snapshots and aural impressions from Sweden which are laced with sparse personal Swedish stories spoken in English and Swedish. While not representative of Swedish culture, this work does however give us a glimpse into the personal lives and viewpoints of the Swedish people who where interviewed while the artist was collecting material throughout Sweden for this work. Marja Gustin states, "There is the Swedish culture I guess that you show to other people and there is the Swedish culture that you take part in yourself ... ".
Sonically the sound world of this new work is treated like that of a well composed photograph, where the perspective, proximity and timing is of the up-most importance. Much more than just a series of atmosphere recordings sourced from Sweden combined with language and musical composition, this new work explores sonic perspectives. Micro-sounds have been recorded at very close proximities, amplified and juxtaposed in the foreground against marco-soundscapes to form new sonic perspectives with a sense of hyper-depth. These sonic perspectives aim to reveal the "hidden" utterances within the Swedish soundscape. In conjunction with this sonic perspective, a deft consideration for the relationship between the audio elements’ spectrums has also been investigated. Din becomes texture while micro-sounds from the location are positioned carefully up against the listener's eardrum. In this sense the microphone is used like a zoom lens to examine these ever-present micro-sounds that are usually over looked and unheard.
To listen or purchase this work go to http://colinblack.bandcamp.com/
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Interviewees: Marja Gustin, Nils Nutti, Peter Lunden, Linda iro Näsström, Mats Liljedahl, Stefan Lindbera and Stina Björkén
Drums: Denis Charris Diaz
Location recordings from Sweden, edited, compiled and mixed at Cydonian Sounds (Australia) by Colin Black.
Achievements and Outcomes
• 2011 Prix Phonurgia Nova Awards (final selection round status) in France
• Selected for broadcast on WDR 3 (Germany), Studio Akustische Kunst [Studio Acoustic Art] programme, 16 November 2012
• Selected for broadcast on HRT, Croatian Radio 3, 5 June 2012
• Selected for broadcast on Kunstradio, Austrian public radio ÖRF, 27 May 2012
• Selected for the International Feature Conference, London 2012 held at BBC Broadcasting House, 16 May 2012
• Selected for broadcast for at the RadiaLx 2012 International Radio Art Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
• Selected for broadcast on RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal), Dois ao Quadrado programme, 12 December 2011
• Work selected for diffusion at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, 11 December 2011
• Installation of the work for the "Sound Plaza" launch at the Verge Gallery, Sydney (Australia), 24 November 2011
• Selected for broadcast on YLE Radio 1 (National Finnish Radio) Ääniversumi programme, 31 October 2011.
• Selected for broadcast on ABC Classic FM (Australia), New Music Up Late programme, 27 August 2011
• Selected for broadcast on Sveriges Radio (National Swedish Radio) Monitor programme, 24 and 25 August 2011
• Selected for broadcast on Radio Clásica, Radio Nacional de España (Spanish Public Radio), Ars Sonora programme, 21 August 2011
• Selected for broadcast on Resonance104.4fm (London), 8 July 2011.
Duration 50:50
About The Work
Soundprints: Sealed in Sweden is structured from sonic snapshots and aural impressions from Sweden which are laced with sparse personal Swedish stories spoken in English and Swedish. While not representative of Swedish culture, this work does however give us a glimpse into the personal lives and viewpoints of the Swedish people who where interviewed while the artist was collecting material throughout Sweden for this work. Marja Gustin states, "There is the Swedish culture I guess that you show to other people and there is the Swedish culture that you take part in yourself ... ".
Sonically the sound world of this new work is treated like that of a well composed photograph, where the perspective, proximity and timing is of the up-most importance. Much more than just a series of atmosphere recordings sourced from Sweden combined with language and musical composition, this new work explores sonic perspectives. Micro-sounds have been recorded at very close proximities, amplified and juxtaposed in the foreground against marco-soundscapes to form new sonic perspectives with a sense of hyper-depth. These sonic perspectives aim to reveal the "hidden" utterances within the Swedish soundscape. In conjunction with this sonic perspective, a deft consideration for the relationship between the audio elements’ spectrums has also been investigated. Din becomes texture while micro-sounds from the location are positioned carefully up against the listener's eardrum. In this sense the microphone is used like a zoom lens to examine these ever-present micro-sounds that are usually over looked and unheard.
To listen or purchase this work go to http://colinblack.bandcamp.com/
Credits
Produced, Composed, Recorded and Mixed by Colin Black
Interviewees: Marja Gustin, Nils Nutti, Peter Lunden, Linda iro Näsström, Mats Liljedahl, Stefan Lindbera and Stina Björkén
Drums: Denis Charris Diaz
Location recordings from Sweden, edited, compiled and mixed at Cydonian Sounds (Australia) by Colin Black.
Achievements and Outcomes
• 2011 Prix Phonurgia Nova Awards (final selection round status) in France
• Selected for broadcast on WDR 3 (Germany), Studio Akustische Kunst [Studio Acoustic Art] programme, 16 November 2012
• Selected for broadcast on HRT, Croatian Radio 3, 5 June 2012
• Selected for broadcast on Kunstradio, Austrian public radio ÖRF, 27 May 2012
• Selected for the International Feature Conference, London 2012 held at BBC Broadcasting House, 16 May 2012
• Selected for broadcast for at the RadiaLx 2012 International Radio Art Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
• Selected for broadcast on RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal), Dois ao Quadrado programme, 12 December 2011
• Work selected for diffusion at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, 11 December 2011
• Installation of the work for the "Sound Plaza" launch at the Verge Gallery, Sydney (Australia), 24 November 2011
• Selected for broadcast on YLE Radio 1 (National Finnish Radio) Ääniversumi programme, 31 October 2011.
• Selected for broadcast on ABC Classic FM (Australia), New Music Up Late programme, 27 August 2011
• Selected for broadcast on Sveriges Radio (National Swedish Radio) Monitor programme, 24 and 25 August 2011
• Selected for broadcast on Radio Clásica, Radio Nacional de España (Spanish Public Radio), Ars Sonora programme, 21 August 2011
• Selected for broadcast on Resonance104.4fm (London), 8 July 2011.
Other Major Works Include
The Shifting Sands of Cymru (duration 25:00)
Out In The Open (duration 53:50)
Kilian’s Antipodean Dream (duration 52:00)
Ćišina (duration 53:30)
Soundprints: The Prague Pressings (duration 20:00)
Longing, Love & Loss (duration 53:00)
Alien in The Landscape (duration 42:00)
Soundprints: The Greek Imprints Series (duration 58:21)
Greek Imprints: The Asklepia and the Conscious Dreamer (duration 41:00)
The Ears Outside My Listening Room (duration 52:00)
Out In The Open (duration 53:50)
Kilian’s Antipodean Dream (duration 52:00)
Ćišina (duration 53:30)
Soundprints: The Prague Pressings (duration 20:00)
Longing, Love & Loss (duration 53:00)
Alien in The Landscape (duration 42:00)
Soundprints: The Greek Imprints Series (duration 58:21)
Greek Imprints: The Asklepia and the Conscious Dreamer (duration 41:00)
The Ears Outside My Listening Room (duration 52:00)
For more information about Colin Black's works see:
Colin Black (Dr Black) #thissoniclife