Sounding Out the Space
An International Conference on the Spatiality of Sound
Events
Spatial Reverberations – a collaboration between artist Mark Garry and composer Gráinne Mulvey
As the theme of the conference is the relationship between sound and space, this collaboration brings together the artist Mark Garry and the composer Gráinne Mulvey to create a sound/space installation in St. Laurence’s Church on DIT’s Grangegorman Campus. The project will involve two interrelated sonic interventions, enabling a situation where ancient and contemporary musical technologies combine to sonically articulate and activate an interior and exterior space. Mark Garry is currently in the process of creating a number of temporary outdoor sonic sculptures – modelled on the Aeolian harp of ancient Greece – whose sound is completely dependant upon the strength and direction of the air movement that passes through its strings. These sculptures use a resonator that naturally amplifies the harmonic frequencies generated by the vibrating strings. The sounds generated will form the material basis for an installation by the composer Gráinne Mulvey that will capture the sounds of the sculptures using contact microphones and transmit them to the venue in real-time. The sounds will then be subject to a number of processes within the interior space of the church involving fixed and live compositional elements. The installation will thus operate on a number of different levels simultaneously, exploring the relation between ancient and modern technologies as well as between interior space (St. Laurence's Church) and exterior space (the Grangegorman campus).
Mark Garry is an artist, curator, writer, educator and occasional musician who lectures in Painting, Sculpture and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Dublin School of Creative Arts. His work explores the subjectivity of perception and the way in which human beings navigate their immediate environment. Although his practice incorporates a variety of media, he specialises in site-specific installations notable for their refined delicacy which make use of a variety of natural and crafted materials such as coloured threads, woodcarvings, beads and origami. Music and sound play a prominent role in his practice, both as a conceptual framework and as an integrated component of his installations. His most recent exhibition was A Certain Kind of Light, a group exhibition at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbounre. Recent solo exhibitions include A New Quiet, Royal Hibernian Academy (2015); Lafayette Projects, Marseille; City Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina; The Model, Sligo (all 2014); ENart Taichung, Taiwan (2013); University of Ulster, Belfast (2011); MiMA, Middlesbrough; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane (both 2009) and Douglas Hyde Gallery (2006).
Gráinne Mulvey is Head of Composition at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and a member of Aosdána – Ireland’s state academy of creative artists. Her music mediates between an arresting sensuousness and an abrasive complexity exploring dense contrapuntal textures, extended techniques and spectrally derived harmonies. Her most recent music is increasingly concerned with a sense of place – with the natural world and mankind’s relationship with that world. She has completed a number of site-specific installations and frequently collaborates with both visual artists and sculptors. Her music has been performed by all of the major ensembles in Ireland and she has received several commissions from the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Her work has also been performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, The Northern Sinfonia, UK, The Hradrec Králové Orchestra, Prague, The Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre National De Lorraine, France.
Concerts – the Spatial Music Collective
The Spatial Music Collective is a group of like-minded Dublin-based composers working in the field of spatial contemporary music. Since 2006 they have presented numerous performances of new musical works with a dynamic and novel spatial component, incorporating both electronic and acoustic forces. The collective seeks to foster an awareness of contemporary and experimental music through the creation of new work, developing themed concerts in collaboration with ensembles, and through the programming of works by established international figures. It further promotes awareness of the medium through free public workshops on the aesthetics and practice of spatial music.
During the Sounding Out the Space Conference the Spatial Music Collective will present two concerts of spatial music involving both live and electronic music in St. Laurence’s Church. These concerts will be curated by Enda Bates and Adrian Smith and will feature works from conference delegates and members of the collective.
Continuous Drift ‒ Guided Site Visit
Continuous Drift blurs the boundaries between public sound installation, architectural intervention, and curatorial framework. The project invites you to use your mobile device to activate sound works created by over 30 artists within the open territory of a public square set in the busy Temple Bar region of Dublin. Once triggered, these compositions emerge from eight loudspeakers integrated in the four retractable umbrellas that cover the square, for everyone to hear. While these compositions are playing, Continuous Drift remains open to others, inviting interruptions, alterations, and changes of course. Anyone can select another piece to play, adjust the volume of the sounds that they hear, or return the space to ‘silence’. No one person is ever in control.
Launched in 2015, Continuous Drift features contributions from Bik Van der Pol, David Blamey, Karl Burke, Taylor Deupree, FM3, Russell Hart, Slavek Kwi, Brandon LaBelle, Mattin, Danny McCarthy, Dennis McNulty, Garrett Phelan, Sarah Pierce, Raqs Media Collective, Steve Roden, Dawn Scarfe, Jed Speare, Stalker/ON, Wolfgang Voigt, Mark Peter Wright, and Miki Yui.
The project was expanded with An Introduction to Work and Energy (2016) featuring works by Gerard Byrne, Josefin Lindebrink, Francisco Lopez, Haroon Mirza, Arnont Nongyao + CMC, and Minoru Sato and Balance (2017) with works by Peter Cusack, Moritz Fehr, Marco Fusinato, Jennie Guy, Christina Kubisch, and Hans Rosenström.
Continuous Drift is an artwork designed and curated by Sven Anderson as part of The Manual for Acoustic Planning and Urban Sound Design, a public art project commissioned by Dublin City Council. This work takes place as part of Interacting with the City, the second strand of the Dublin City Public Art Programme, and is funded from the per cent for art scheme through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The installation is integrated into the retractable umbrellas in Meeting House Square designed by Sean Harrington Architects. An Introduction to Work and Energy and Balance are funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon through the Visual Arts Curator Residency Scheme and Dublin City Council.
For more information visit:
Continuous Drift: http://www.continuousdrift.com/
Project Location: https://goo.gl/maps/zXKcrcp9bG62
Sven Anderson: http://www.svenanderson.net/
Sven Anderson, the artist who created the installation, will lead a guided site visit on Friday 3 November for a limited group of delegates. The walk will set out from the main conference venue in Grangegorman at 9:30 AM, and return by 11:30 in time for the next session. The walk to Meeting House Square (where the artwork is installed) is 2.2 km and will take approximately half an hour each way. The site visit will take place regardless of weather conditions, so come prepared.
The tour will be limited to 15 delegates and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To register please email [email protected]
Cork Scene / Heard by the Quiet Music Ensemble
