In October of 2013 I was invited by The Penthouse to the Sluice Art Fair in London (see Oct '13 in the archive). I had done a residency for The Penthouse earlier that year, where I made new improvised works and performances, and was invited to help represent them at the fair. On the final night of the fair I made a live performance that would on reflection be one of the noisiest and less compromising of my performances.
Not being as careful at documenting my own performances as I probably should be I had forgotten that a friend who was present had recorded the gig- and I guess he forgot too, since it arrived in my inbox only last week. On listening back two years later it reminded me of being quite relaxed at the time and just letting the waves of sound and feedback build up further and louder than I would usually before turning some channels down and other up. It wasn't really planned that way but my travelling from Manchester with a limited set of equipment and the atmosphere at the event not being one conducive to people listening intently influenced my decision to make something more direct and reactionary and less abstract or quiet. At some point I asked for a microphone that was not part of my set-up to be switched on and stood for a while playing the FM tuner into it while the Loopstation did some of the work, then left the FM tuner on the floor in front of the audience which can be heard at the end playing out static before I come over and turn it off. With the benefit of hindsight I can say that this performance relates to my interest in using instruments and technology in ways which they were not designed for and adapting to situations and environments as part of improvisation. Something I would go on to explore as part of my MA in Sound Arts and continue to do.
Some pictures from the event:
