On Thursday 11 August an AVLAB Sound Art workshop was held at the Wits School of Digital Arts. This workshop was arranged by the  Spanish Embassy together with the Wits Departments of Music and Digital Arts.  This workshop took the form of seminar and a demonstration, where four sound artists discussed and shared their approach to their work. The four sound artists that formed part of the workshop were James Webb (RSA), Francisco López (ES), João Orrechia (RSA) and Lukas Ligeti (AUT).  All of these sound artists are recognized internationally for their work, and although their conceptual approaches and practical approaches differ; they share an interest in the possibilities within the realm of sound.

James Webb

The first portion of the workshop began with James Webb introducing his works.Webb has a background in theater, and in advertising as a copy-writer. He is also influenced by folk-lore which he also cites a having a strong influence within his work.

James Webb discussing his work

 The first work that was introduced was Prayer (2002-) this is a work in which Webb visits various places of worship to collect recordings, which he attains with the consent of the particular people involved. His main objective not solely for the various recordings, but also to bring together people from various religious denominations. Webb discussed and showed Le Marche Oriental, a work for which the recording done at the Oriental Plaza in Cape Town.

Webb also showed Telephone Voice (2011); seen in the above image. This is his most recent work. The title is directly related to the voice that one would put on whilst engaging in a telephone conversation; a voice conveying in Webb’s words “education, clarity and power.” For this work Webb called upon the services of two clairvoyants to invoke the spirit of Orson Wells whom Webb then personified using a voice actor.

 More of James Webb's work can be viewed on his website: http://www.theotherjameswebb.com/

Francisco López

López spoke about his work next and emphasized the manner in which he acquired his knowledge of working with sound through experimentation using affordable recording equipment. He also went on to describe the use of collaboration in transferring and acquisition of new skills of all involved.One of the interesting elements with Lopez’s work is that he asks the audience to wear blindfolds if they so wish. The reason for this is so that they are fully present and engaged in the act of listening.

Francisco López explaining his working process

 López also touched on the idea of flexibility as being key to his work; through his adaptation of the types of sound he uses to the particular spatial environment. Lopez also has a background in biology which also has an influence in the type of sounds that he records and makes use of within his work. He played several excerpts of work that he has created during his talk.

 Francisco's work can be viewed at http://www.franciscolopez.net/

João Orrechia

The focus of João's work  is on alternative sound approaches, he has been exploring ideas of randomness and composition based on source material from field recordings and the effect this can have on an audience’s perception of space or image.

João introduced some of the works that he has been working on. One of the works he showed was the sound installation that he did for Invisible Cities: the sound of a trumpet being crushed. Another one of the works he showed was a video clip of a piano burning with the soundtrack of this being the sounds he recorded while the piano was being burnt. He also showed how he had constructed objects that could create and alter sound.

João discussing his work.

These sound objects/devices were created from everyday objects such as a Baking Powder tin an an Oxo beef cube tin, which Orrechia wired and altered to produce sound, which he manipulated digitally with an amplifier.

João also gave practical sound workshops to the Masters Interactive Media and Animation students in the Digital Arts Department over a period of four sessions. During these workshops the students learnt about the various possibilities of creating sound from the use of everyday objects and everyday sounds.

More information about João and some of his work can be viewed on his website:  http://www.joaoorecchia.com/

Lukas Ligeti

Lukas Ligeti is a composer-percussionist hat draws on diverse influences ranging form classical, jazz as well as African Music. He spoke about his work and played excerpts of some of his works. Ligeti experiments with both structured compositions as well as improvised ones. His work is inspired by mathematics, computer technology, architecture, visual art, sociology and politics and travel. He is also involved in cultural exchange projects in Africa. Ligeti also has a band called Burkina Electric, based in Burkina Faso; which combines African traditional music with electronic dance music; this band has been touring at various festivals internationally.

Lukas discussing his work

 More information about Lukas and his works can be found on his website:  http://www.lukasligeti.com

[All photographs by Christo Doherty]

AVLAB_JOZI Workshop Alexandra Community Center: Saturday 13 August -Sunday 14 August

A sound workshop was held over two days form Saturday 13 August and Sunday 14  August., sound artists Francisco López, James Webb,Stephen Hobbs and Marcus Neustetter gave a practical and hands on demonstration of their works where participants were allowed to interact with various sound devices and objects. The Digital Arts students from Wits that attended this workshop, said that it gave them a practical way of working with sound in ways that they would not have thought of.