OTHERLINESS

‘Otherliness' was first presented as a looped playback at the Vane Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne as part of The Late Shows on the 16th May 2009. Running alongside my own practice I have compiled several projects as founding member of Host Artists Group. Host Artists Group (HAG) approached a selection of cross-disciplined makers to create an audio piece of around 3 minutes on the theme of 'Otherliness'. The concept is, by its very nature, open-ended so we anticipated a variety of responses to the brief utilizing a range of processes and techniques including field recordings, composition from samples, experimental and musically driven work. All of the pieces offer a different perspective on this difficult and often intimate subject. Many of HAG's projects have used alternative spaces and venues to present their projects with a sense of intervention or neutrality. Breaking away from formal exhibiting spaces has opened up new possibilities for creativity and allowed audiences to explore art experiences outside of the conventional gallery space. 'Otherliness' seeks to create a sense of difference while acknowledging sameness. The Other cannot exist without something to be other than. It exists in opposition, often born from the thing it negates. In some sense the white gallery space can be seen as familiar and the work be considered ‘otherly’ or alien to this environment. A sense of displacement overcomes the uniformity of the blank space; while distortions of familiar sounds focus us back in on the minutiae of our experience. There may be some comfort or consolation in this detachment, this sense of being out of time, as the work presented clearly demonstrates. About my personal piece of work: Far Beneath in the Abysmal Sea ‘The title of this piece is taken from Albert Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’. This sonnet subsequently inspired John Wyndam’s novel ‘The Kraken Wakes’. Using above and under water recordings the piece attempts to explore these worlds of the unknown underneath. The mysterious depths of the oceans remain largely unseen and unknown. The beast is suggested through exploration and intrigue until it finally reveals itself.’ For this piece I made recordings of the sea on the North East Coast and along the Jurassic Coastline. These locations are captured and logged to become part of an expanding sound library. I used conventional microphones and underwater hydrophones to capture these recordings. These recordings were the basis of the piece that were then edited and manipulated in the computer. The piece demonstrates the physicality of the sea and takes the listener into the unusual and psychological sense of being underwater. The piece is multifunctional with several outputs having been played in a gallery and is available on CD and online.