An iteration of John Cage’s 1975 ‘Lecture on the Weather’ is on display currently at Frith Street Gallery in New York with a soundscape by Maryanne Amacher. Worth dropping by if you are in the area.
]]>At the start, Cage delivers a softly polemic prelude, and when the readings and musical realizations commence, so also begins a slowly escalating weather soundscape created by Maryanne Amacher. The work culminates with a film by Luis Frangella: Thoreau’s elemental nature drawings, now stark white on black, simulating flashes of lightning on a dark and stormy night. All of the elements — speech, music, film, lighting, and weather — combine to create a stunningly sensorial experience.
From the website:
In the Field features Artists Duncan Whitley, Daniel Jones and James Bulley in conversation with each other and the audience. Cecilia Wee (FRSA) will convene, focusing on the motivation, challenges and consequences of site-responsive audio work, where the Artist is engaged in an investigation of place, taking into account geography, locality, topography and community.
The event will take place in the stunning surrounds of St George’s Church, built in the 18th century from Portland stone: “a treasure trove of fabulous headstones and memorials that tell tales of murder, piracy and adventure in a gloriously atmospheric setting” (source).
7th September 2014, 2:30pm – 3:30pm.
More: In The Field.
]]>It is a rarity of an event, expertly curated by a team with acute sensibilities for site-specific work — we urge visitors to dedicate some time to see the events taking place on and around Portland.
]]>We also had the opportunity to meet Paul Soulellis, another artist in residence as part of b-side. Paul is producing a wonderful-looking publication, created through meeting and exchanging stories with Portland residents — when we said goodbye, he was leaving in search of the flock of wild goats that inhabit one side of the island.
]]>Pictured above is Simon performing some of the score fragments we’ve been devising for Variable 4. We have been experimenting with generating parts of the score based on algorithmic processes, to then be displayed on iPad and performed by musician. An an example, one such process takes the gradual directions in wind speed that have taken place in Portland over the past hundred years, and translates these compass directions into modular score parts. This can then be reassembled to produce musical movements portraying different eras of Portland’s weather history — or fed into the system to generate live patterns based on moment-to-moment wind speed detected by the weather station.
]]>The currents and tides around Portland are notoriously turbulent, most notably the “Portland Race” beyond the southern tip of the peninsula, in which two opposing tidal flows collide and create treacherous and unpredicable conditions for boats. It is for this reason that Portland has no fewer than three lighthouses. Despite this, countless wrecks have taken place around its shores, mapped and described by the museum’s knowledgeable guides.
We also couldn’t help but admire a preserved tropical sea hedgehog, one of only four recorded off the South Coast of England.
]]>Meteorology features heavily. Below are images from editions published between 1935 and 1936.
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