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| Sound
Art Mail Art project |
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PMusic: Open Compositions |
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| 'The
Sound of the Field' |
| TSOTF
notes on the project |
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The
Field Report (journal of the Field Study Mail
Art group) is an annual publication assembled by Dave
Dellafiora. Field Study members send 100 A5 duplicated
pages as their contribution to the Report and in return
receive a copy of the 'Journal of Field Study International'
as one of the more welcome items in the post (- for
more information about Field Study visit sketchBook
page 3).
Thinking
about my contribution to the Report during 2005, I decided,
given my interests, it would be an appropriate idea to
set up some kind of sound project, using the mail art
network to provide sonic materials in the same way visual
elements are often submitted and built into a larger work.
The first invitation to this project was expressed as
a Field Study emanation which ran as follows: 'Invent
a music that changes its colour when played - invite others
to participate' and was listed as 'score
84' as a reference to and continuation of my work with
82
Scores. The report page also gave an address for a
Field Study project webpage and in writing this, the title
became 'The Sound of the Field' and the full TSOTF brief
was also established.
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At
the time, I saw this as a very small-scale enterprise
and one that wouldn't have occurred to me had it not been
for the prompting of the Report. However, as the sounds
began to accumulate and I started to work on presentation
and coding, it dawned on me that 'The Sound of the Field'
was indicating the potential of a whole new area of collaborative
practice for PMusic and has since led to my thinking and
development of the Open
Compositions area of this site, particularly the Consemble
project.
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The
Sound of the Field is a mail art project inasmuch as:
the first appeal was to Field Study members; the sounds
were 'posted' to me either as emailed MP3 attachments
or as CDs/DVDs via the postal system (I don’t like
the term 'snail mail') or, in two instances, as phone
calls. The work draws upon the aesthetics and ethos of
the mail art network - democratic, uncensorious, non-hierarchical,
playful, committed. However, the net was widened to include
other invited participants and so the work called upon
people outside of the usual mail art circle. I must also
add that, although I do engage in some mail art projects,
I cannot claim to be a regular organiser or contributor
and so have listened the welcome advice and experience
of artworker David Dellafiora. I'd like to think this
work is best described as a mail art/PMusic hybrid. |
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It’s
difficult to find the correct word to describe my role
in the proceedings - since 'composer' would imply that
I’m taking credit (auteur-like) for the
overall piece, which I cannot do because the piece has
been constructed from the various sonic elements posted
by a variety of people and it is from this variety (and
energy) that the piece derives its charge. 'Organiser'
is better perhaps, but still implies someone with an overarching
responsibility which doesn’t seem to quite exactly
describe what happened (music sometimes being defined
as 'organised sound' - which would return me to the role
of composer). Facilitator or co-ordinator are perhaps
nearer the mark but have a rather bureaucratic ring to
them. Perhaps a new word for this role is yet to be invented
but I want to stress that I feel just really part of the
team of 28 people in creating this sound art work. |
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The
sounds themselves come from a range of geographical locations
and the piece serves (although this was not an intention
at the time) as a social document - a mapping of sounds
heard in 2006. |
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This
work (as in all Open Composition project work) is underpinned
by the following:
1./ the work will use the PMusic method to produce a
form of indeterminate music/sound work
2./ no commercial gain will be made from the work
3./ any performance or publication of the work will
fully credit all contributors
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