On Record / Performances


Join us for a series of performances by the artists taking part in On Record for Cardiff Contemporary...

Wednesday 29 October, from 6pm


Chris Brown - The mixtape, an illustrated lecture
Freya Dooley and Cinzia Mutigli
Matt Cook
Ian Watson - Only Surface Noise is Real

Saturday 1 November from 2pm - 8pm

Richard Huw Morgan durational performance
Stabbing Les present Les Cassettes
Robert Bidder performance
Stabbing Les performance plus screening of Les on Film

Sunday 2 November 12pm - 5pm

Jacob Whittaker- Cardiff Flex-out

On Record is open from Monday 27 October to Sunday 2 November, 11am- 6pm daily.

13-15 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff, CF10 1AF

 


The mixtape - an illustrated lecture
Chris Brown will be inviting us to join him on a nostalgic journey to a pre-digital era when the C90 tape was our audio currency of choice. He'll reflect on this innovation that mobilised music and prompted the art of the compilation, while attempting to answer the fundamental question: what makes a good segue?

Freya Dooley and Cinzia Mutigli are a collaborative duo who make text, sound and performance works that borrow from pop music and culture. They are interested in lo-fi, and analogue processes, which allow them to ponder a slower pace of communication. They initiated On Record and invited artists to take part who share an interest in collaboration, compilation, music and memory.
www.primarilyanonmusicalband.blogspot.co.uk

Matt Cook works with found objects, which he reassembles into sound instruments that attempt to recreate rhythms and soundscapes we experience in everyday life. He has a particular interest in the city, its ambience and topography, which he approaches through walking, looking, listening, thinking and feeling. Matt aims to reveal hidden rhythms and structures in everyday life, sights and sounds that we regularly experience, but don’t usually notice.
For On Record Matt will make an improvised performance using handmade sound objects and everyday items to layer and manipulate acoustic sounds.
sciencefidelity.co.uk

Ian Watson has created a short series of 'bootlegs' from a one-off 7" record pressed from a recording of his own music. He examines the fetishism associated with analog audio formats, in particular vinyl. The piece chosen for duplication will take into account the expected glitches, crackles and surface noise from air-bubbles which are a problematic by-product of resin casting, the premise being that the piece is only 'complete' when these process-based elements are present upon the surface of the resin discs.
The project will become complete with a performance involving the original 7", one of the cast copies and the recording of the pops and crackles created through the resin bootleg production run, alongside Ian's usual mixture of electronic objects and effects.
uhohwatson.com

Richard Huw Morgan will be working with some of the sonic relics and audio artifacts that carry traces of his life and work to date...from 1980’s philosophy lecture recordings on cassette, distorted DAT from the top of the Empire States building, VHS soundtracks from performances he was in, audio files of performance soundtracks he’s made, through to his own vinyl records.
Some of these will be available for listening to for the duration of On Record, others involved in a real-time mixing and mashing and blending with the live and recorded sound of the space itself.
He’ll be reviving the name “Continuous sound labordy swn cont...” (first used back in 2000 for a collective) for this work...mainly because he rather liked the graphics....
culturecolony.com/profile/richard-huw-morgan

Robert Bidder was born a Gemini in Maidstone in 1982. Since then he has been trying to work things out and stick things together in the ways that seem easiest at the time. He works mostly in drawings, films and music and has played in various bands such as Dog Chocolate, Gasp! Cracking Eggs and Yeborobo. He’s making a performance for this exhibition which at the moment is taking dust, crosswords, dogs and porridge as source materials.
robertbidder.tumblr.com

Stabbing Les are a multi-disciplinary art collective and the North East of England’s foremost fictional band. Stabbing Les is made up of artists, curators and mercenary musicians. Their work straddles the boundaries of performance art, bad covers band and unfulfilled aspiration. Where audiences go to see virtuosity in performance, Stabbing Les deliver gloriously shambolic failure.
Les Cassettes is Stabbing Les’s touring compilation of cassette-based artworks submitted by artists from across the country. From the playful to the unplayable, by way of the unlistenable, the archive consists of sound art, designed objects and other curio; all presented in the form of audio cassettes. The collection is shown via the medium of a pop-up shop with a limited number of each edition available for sale at an affordable price.
stabbingles.co.uk




Jacob Whittaker lives and works in Cardigan, Ceredigion. A member of the Rhôd Artist's Group and co-founder of GWRANDO and Capel Y Graig art space, his work includes sound and video installation, as well as documentary film for artists, local groups and community organisations.
As part of 'On Record' there will be a display of over 100 flexi discs from Jake’s record collection and an opportunity to hear them played in the exhibition space throughout the last day of the show on Sunday 2 November.
Since 2003 he has been acquiring a collection of over 4000 12inch, around 2000 7inch and 1000 10inch records. Collected from charity shops, boot sales, found, donated by friends, relatives and colleagues the collection covers all genres and eras.
'It ain't no joke when you lose your vinyl.'
Afrika Bambaataa

jacobwhittaker.co.uk


  http://www.cardiffcontemporary.co.uk/onrecord
 
Image by Chris Brown

On Record for Cardiff Contemporary



ON RECORD
Freya Dooley and Cinzia Mutigli
27 October – 2 November 2014
(events and performances – October 29 and November 1)

Anat Ben-David / Robert Bidder / Matt Cook / Stabbing Les / Richard Huw Morgan / Ian Watson / Jacob Whittaker

Also with performances, mixtapes, records, zines and publications by Chris Brown, Laura Reeves, Chicks on Speed and more to be announced...

On Record is a celebration of vinyl and the pace, mood and painstaking editing process of the mixtape.  Freya Dooley and Cinzia Mutigli have invited artists making audio work to experiment with compilation, words and sampling with a DIY approach. On Record features newly commissioned sound works and performances by artists who use analogue processes.

Throughout the week, Freya and Cinzia invite the public to share their homemade or collected musical memorabilia in the project space and reminisce with them about teenage kicks and the angst of chewed up cassettes. On Record is a social space for shared listening, as well as somewhere to flick through DIY zines, lyric sheets and artist records. Mugs of tea aid conversation about the sounds, objects and collections. Look out for artist performances and events on Wednesday October 29 and Saturday November 1. 

For more information visit www.cardiffcontemporary.co.uk

Cardiff Contemporary is a Cardiff Council initiative co-funded by the Arts Council of Wales, developed in partnership with Cardiff’s visual art, design and architecture communities.
Menter gan Gyngor Caerdydd yw Caerdydd Gyfoes a gyd-ariennir gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, ac fe’i datblygwyd mewn partneriaeth â chymunedau celf weledol, dylunio a phensaernïol y ddinas.

On Record / Artists

Anat Ben-David

Performance at Stanley Picker. Photo: Ezzidin Alwan


















Anat is a London based, video, performance, sound artist and musician. She is a Goldsmiths College MA Fine Art graduate and won the 2003 Purchase Prize award. Since then she has been a Chicks On Speed member and collaborator, including the art pop performance group with Douglas Gordon, Art Rules Crew, from 2006-2008. She is currently completing her final year PHD at Kingston University.

The work of Anat Ben-David follows the tradition of musical performance as art practice. 'My work is not media specific; it evolves within performance using sound, voice, text, digital video and visual collage- this process results as a multiple visual and sonic expressions presented as gallery video and photographic installation, as well as a live performance comprising of songs and sound pieces, assembled into a music Album. Whether the work process ends in a song/sound piece, a video, a performance/gig collage, it is the result of a direct interaction between the body/voice and a musical score.

Performances and exhibitions as solo artist and collaborator include: Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston, UK; Beursschouwburg, Brussels; Momak, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Montermeso, Vitoria, Spain; Pompidou Centre Paris; Tate Britain, UK; Mosak Contemporary
Museum, Spain; MOMA, New York, USA; Migros Museum, Zurich. Solo releases include Popaganda (CD) 2003, “Virtual Leisure”(on Chicks On Speed records) (CD) 2008, “On Margate Sands” (LP) 2010 and MeleCh (LP)2014

yippieyeah.co.uk/anat

Robert Bidder
























Robert was born a Gemini in Maidstone in 1982. Since then he has been trying to work things out and stick things together in the ways that seem easiest at the time. He works mostly in drawings, films and music and has played in various bands such as Dog Chocolate, Gasp! Cracking Eggs and Yeborobo. He’s making a performance for this exhibition which at the moment is taking dust, crosswords, dogs and porridge as source materials.

robertbidder.tumblr.com

Matt Cook
























Matt Cook works with found objects, which he reassembles into sound instruments that attempt to recreate rhythms and soundscapes we experience in everyday life. He has a particular interest in the city, its ambience and topography, which he approaches through walking, looking, listening, thinking and feeling. Matt aims to reveal hidden rhythms and structures in everyday life, sights and sounds that we regularly experience, but don’t usually notice.


For On Record Matt will make an improvised performance using handmade sound objects and everyday items to layer and manipulate acoustic sounds.

sciencefidelity.co.uk

Richard Huw Morgan











Richard Huw Morgan has been working professionally in the arts in Wales for 25 years.
Making his debut with the renowned performance company Brith Gof in 1990 he became a
core member touring domestically and internationally until 1997.

During this time he struck up a professional partnership with John Rowley and since 1996
they have created over 40 works in a variety of media as “good cop bad cop” with
significant support from Chapter, ACW and Wales Arts International, including work in
three British Council showcases. Commissions include work for Chapter, Cardiff
Contemporary, Dylan Thomas 100 and Eisteddfod Genedlaethol.

He has also developed a solo practice which has included live performance, sonic arts,
video and installation. This interdisciplinary practice was integrated in a week long
performance at the Eisteddfod in 2014. In 2006 he received an ACW Creative Wales award for Pharmakon, his sonic mapping of Wales.

Morgan and Rowely co-produce and present Pitch, the weekly arts and culture programme
on Radio Cardiff, which has provided significant exposure for Welsh and visiting artist, with
over a quarter of a million hits on the archive. He has also been a Research fellow and lecturer at Universities in Cardiff and Swansea, most recently tutor in Performance and Technology at University of South Wales.

For “On Record” Richard will be working with some of the sonic relics and audio artifacts that carry traces of my life and work to date...from 1980’s philosophy lecture recordings on cassette, distorted DAT from the top of the Empire States building, VHS soundtracks from performances he was in, audio files of performance soundtracks he’s made, through to his own vinyl records.

Some of these will be available for listening to for the duration of “On Record”, others involved in a real-time mixing and mashing and blending with the live and recorded sound of the space itself.

He’ll be reviving the name “Continuous sound labordy swn cont...” (first used back in 2000 for a collective) for this work...mainly because he rather liked the graphics....

culturecolony.com/profile/richard-huw-morgan

Stabbing Les


















Stabbing Les are a multi-disciplinary art collective and the North East of England’s foremost fictional band. Stabbing Les is made up of artists, curators and mercenary musicians. Their work straddles the boundaries of performance art, bad covers band and unfulfilled aspiration. Where audiences go to see virtuosity in performance, Stabbing Les deliver gloriously shambolic failure.

Les Cassettes is Stabbing Les’s touring compilation of cassette-based artworks submitted by artists from across the country. From the playful to the unplayable, by way of the unlistenable, the archive consists of sound art, designed objects and other curio; all presented in the form of audio cassettes. The collection is shown via the medium of a pop-up shop with a limited number of each edition available for sale at an affordable price.

stabbingles.co.uk

Ian Watson
























Ian Watson produces sound from broken down, found and re-kindled electronics and tape cassette alongside off the shelf effects units. Aside from solo output, Ian has performed regularly within the sonics art collective The Sound of Aircraft Attacking Britain and the improv/noise 3-piece Team Sports.

He also produces limited runs of his own output on cassette and has had releases 
on several imprints of the UK 'no audience underground' as well as regular airplay on Cam O'r Tywyllwch. In the past Ian has output a series of recycled cassette tapes for other experimental audio artists under the Phantomhead Recordings moniker. 

Ian's most recent recorded work 'Caermaen' for the Dust, Unsettled label comprises of four recordings of manipulated feedback and vibration directly affecting cymbals, these soundscapes serve to emulate the otherness present in the weird fiction writings of Arthur Machen, to whose fictional Welsh village the album owes its title.

Brain Blood Volume 6 - The Bootleg Edition is the latest volume in Ian Watson's zine series 'Brain Blood Volume' and will centre on the production of a short run of one-sided 7" resin-cast 'records'.

Examining the fetishism associated with analog audio formats, in particular vinyl. Ian will create a short series of 'bootlegs' from a one-off 7" record pressed from a recording of his own music.
The piece chosen for duplication will take into account the expected glitches, crackles and surface noise from air-bubbles which are a problematic by-product of resin casting, the premise being that the piece is only 'complete' when these process-based elements are present upon the surface of the resin discs.

The project will become complete with a performance involving the original 7", one of the cast copies and the recording of the pops and crackles created through the resin bootleg production run, alongside Ian's usual mixture of electronic objects and effects.

uhohwatson.com

Jacob Whittaker
















Jacob Whittaker lives and works in Cardigan, Ceredigion. A member of the Rhôd Artist's Group and co-founder of GWRANDO and Capel Y Graig art space, his work includes sound and video installation, as well as documentary film for artists, local groups and community organisations.

As part of 'On Record' there will be a display of over 100 flexi discs from Jake’s record collection and an opportunity to hear them played in the exhibition space throughout the last day of the show.

Since 2003 he has been acquiring a collection of over 4000 12inch, around 2000 7inch and 1000 10inch records.  Collected from charity shops, boot sales, found, donated by friends, relatives and colleagues the collection covers all genres and eras.

'It ain't no joke when you lose your vinyl.'
Afrika Bambaataa

jacobwhittaker.co.uk

Artists announced for On Record


We're very excited about our line up for the project-

Freya Dooley and Cinzia Mutigli with Anat Ben-David, Robert Bidder, Matt Cook, Stabbing Les, Richard Huw Morgan, Ian Watson and Jacob Whittaker. Plus more performances and compilations to be confirmed...

On Record / Call Out for Artists



We are inviting artists who make audio and performance work to contribute to our project, ‘On Record’ a project commissioned for Cardiff Contemporary Festival, taking place between 27th October and 2nd November 2014.

We would like artists to be involved in the project through commissions for new work and the inclusion of existing works by artists who use analogue processes to make or present their work. Therefore, we are looking to include sound pieces recorded on vinyl or audiotape and live performances of works that experiment with a DIY approach to compilation, words, collage and sampling.

There is potential for artists to contribute in one or more aspects of the project. The exhibition venue will be a centrally located shop space in Cardiff that will be able to accommodate both private and shared listening. 

We are offering a fee of £300 to commission new work. There will be additional fees available to present existing works.

If you’re interested in being part of this project, please email Cinzia and Freya at onrecordproject@gmail.com by Friday 22nd August 2014. Please include:

·   A link to your webpage.

·   Up to three audio files in mp3 format - five minutes maximum length.

·   A short statement about your practice.

Please feel free to get in touch with any questions.

Thanks, we’re looking forward to hearing from you. 

On Record

As part of Cardiff Contemporary Artist Festival, we have been commissioned to to organise an analogue sound art exhibition that gives a platform for artists’ work made on vinyl and audiotape.  The exhibition is called On Record and for it we are inviting artists to be involved in the project through the commissioning of new work and the inclusion of existing works.

The exhibition venue will be a centrally located shop space in Cardiff that will be able to accommodate both private and shared listening.  We want to reference old record shops that had listening booths so customers could sample records before buying. Visitors will listen to tracks on headphones but the shop will also act as a social space where there will be ongoing informal opportunities to chat and listen to a collection of music and sound works over cups of tea.  There will also be related texts to browse such as DIY flyers and leaflets created by us and other contributing artists. In addition we will schedule an evening event at which artists will perform their spoken or sound works.

The key themes of On Record are analogue process and presentation, the referencing of popular culture and the idea of a compilation. In the next couple of weeks we'll be giving you more information about the project, the commissions and other ways you could get involved, so keep a look out on our blog and our twitter feed @NotPopMusic


On the Radio



Earlier this year we received a Pitch3 commission to create a prose text that would last 3 minutes when read. The piece we made is called On the Radio and it was played on Pitch Radio programme 136,  Radio Cardiff. Listen to the programme here.