bands and socially engaged art practice

some guest presenters

jen delos reyes: this artist talks about social practice at the museum and beyond. galleries started to open up to the ideas of social practice and consider the gallery as a public space, and changing how people interact with the space, the art works and with each other. she is interested in artists who are embedded in the community. the gallery is not just a physical space, it is an institute, it is in a community. consider the open gallery of open engagement – art not necessary as an artwork but as a practice, which values of the labour and contribution of making and making things happen. this process is open to collaboration, building communities of artists and non artists. consider the collective voice, which music lends itself to this, as Brian Eno explains – its about opening up, working with others, having your voice be heard, being vulnerable, building empathy with others.

sound art and protest recordings with Christopher DeLaurenti: bad eyesight began his listening and sound exploration. began making homemade recordings then went outside of the studio with these recordings. made connections with these recordings with what was going on outside the recording studio. learned what a political soundscape sounded like. in particular he recorded the world trade organisation soundscapes of 1999. Shafer talks about the tuning of the world. the sounds we make are part of a global composition. his pieces include’ two secret wars’ and ‘occupy wall street’, people putting themselves on the line for a cause and was inspired to record them. phonography and field recordings are his process and work – the gig is about listening mainly although he makes installations and visuals also. his work is part of thinking about how we witness – to see the physical/political/social landscape with one’s ears. what’s worth hearing and what is worth remembering. consider- is the sound alive – do the moments feel real, do we need to hear it again. the flap-o-phone is a cardboard record player manually powered. it allows you to play records in a different way and experiment with listening. a device for intimate listening of 2 or 3 people. instigates curiosity about listening. his influences are Glen Goulds radiophonic piece ‘the idea of north’ part of his solitude trilogy. this work in mono channel with contrapuntal voices with lots of editing. attempting to reconstruct conversations that happened and did not happen. a sound scape of dissent with lots of meanings to uncover.