Category: News

The first programme in the ‘Bedside Radio’ series produced for the launch of Channel 604 (Radio Royal’s new arts channel). ‘The Tonic Garden’ was designed as an ambient radio station with patients suffering from insomnia or tinnitus in mind. The voice interviews were originally intended just as research in this survey of soothing sounds but the descriptions and reasoning behind the choices ended up becoming an intrinsic part of the piece itself. Field recordings and bespoke music are combined with voices to create a kind of aural survey polling the sounds that were found to be the most relaxing. The Tonic Garden reflects the range of sounds suggested by staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Radio Royal volunteers, the FDAMH media group and the public at large. This programme features original music and field recordings created by Mark Vernon and Ian Middleton and was created as part of an 18-month art residency at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert.

Channel 604  goes live on the 27th April.

A studio version of a live radiophonic work produced by Vernon & Burns, commissioned by Tramway, Glasgow and originally performed in October 2012. The piece explores the internal space of the subconscious and the logic of dreams, featuring readings from Barry Burns’ dream diary and interviews with other people about their dreams and sleeping habits.

“I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams… Man… is above all the plaything of his memory”.

André Breton

Now available to listen or download here

Octopus Collective micro-radio commission

Saturday 1st December, 13:00 – 17:00, Piel View House, Barrow-in-Furness.

Broadcasting 16:00-17:00

Sound artist Mark Vernon returns to Barrow park in December for a live performance workshop and broadcast from Piel View House:

‘A group performance for paper cones, turntables and sound effects records. Ideally up to four performers with four turntables and up to 12 microphones with stands. Using rolled up paper cones and sewing needles or scalpel blades as a stylus the performers ‘play’ the records – attempting to play each record simultaneously from as many different points as they can. The mechanism of the turntables is also miked up using contact mics. Each performer is in control of their own mix. Gradually they build up a live soundscape from dead recordings of locations and events that were captured and imprinted on vinyl decades ago.‘

Paper Cone Music is the first of the new FON Air micro-commissions to air. See the Octopus Collective website for future broadcasts:

http://www.octopuscollective.org/

An edit combining rehearsals and initial experiments together with the live performance of the piece by the Piel View Hackers is now available to listen or download from here

 

Mark Vernon – Immediate Recall

Friday 30^th November, The Mac Museum, Glasgow School of Art

For this performance as part of The Interzone exhibition Mark Vernon will combine a live ultrasound feed of his own heartbeat and various forms of tuned white noise with a series of psychological audio perception experiments investigating immediate recall, word identification and word associations.

http://www.gsa.ac.uk/life/gsa-events/events/interzone-closing-event

To listen click here

Plymouth Arts Centre, Saturday 24th November, 5-6pm

Mark Vernon and Neil Rose, two of the artists behind  Efford FM and Nowhere Island Radio have been sifting through the audio and video archives of these local radio art projects, re-working selected elements to create a one-off, live, audio-visual performance at the Plymouth Arts Centre. This is a free event – all welcome.

The soundtrack to this performance has been archived online and can now be heard here.

The Interzone: Three Points of Contact Exhibition
Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, 67 Renfrew Street Glasgow, G3 6RQ
3 Nov 2012 – 30 Nov 2012
Sat – Fri, 11:00 – 17:00

This exhibition is an introduction to the work of core artists taking part in the Three Points of Contact Artist Residency linking Glasgow, York and Cornwall: Stuart Gurden, Ann Haycock, Martha Jurksaitis, TAaP, Mark Vernon, von Calhau! and Megan Wellington.

 

http://www.gsa.ac.uk/life/gsa-events/events/the-interzone-three-points-of-contact/

 

Vernon & Burns present:  
Data for the Doubtful Part 7: The Children of Toasted Cheese

Venue: Tramway
Date: Friday 12 October – Saturday 13 October, 7.30pm
Location: Tramway 1
Price: £10/ £7

A new radiophonic work commissioned by Tramway, Glasgow. A live soundscape constructed from interviews with a number of different people about their dreams and sleeping habits, readings from Burns’ longstanding dream diary and accompanying sound effects and music. The piece explores the internal space of the subconscious and the logic of dreams.

Part of a triple bill of performances also including Lisbeth Gruwez | Voetvolk and Zoe Irvine and Pippa Murphy.

www.tramway.org

“Static Cinema, apparently Mark Vernon’s first solo CD,
is quite unlike the more citational, sample based work
he produces with Glaswegian Barry Burns in a duo known
as Vernon And Burns. Composed of in situ recordings of
everyday activity, as well as the clinking and shuffling
of various household items, this disc contains six leisurely
paced concrète collages. But where most artists would
denature the individual sounds with lightning-fast
cuts and juxtapositions, Vernon allows them to remain
recognisable, comfortable, even pedestrian. The drama
stays low-key, more concerned with capturing a sense
of space through quotidian gestures — an aural equiv-
alent of sunlit dust motes in an empty, creaky house.”

William Hutson in The Wire

An evening of found sound presented by Mark Vernon…

The Invisible Picture Palace is London’s only record store selling stories and soundscapes instead of albums! Based in the grounds of the Wapping Project, this is a shop like no other – an invisible picture palace of stories held within invisible walls. We also do a nice cup of tea. Visitors can listen to and buy a huge range of recordings from across the last century of radio. But of course, this being an invisible picture palace, the objects are only a part of the story. For the adventurous souls who’ve had a listen to the CDs inside, there’s a world of  experimental audio collage, soundscapes and found sound  to be discovered in the work of Glasgow-based sound artist Mark Vernon. On the 26th July at 7.30pm Mark will join us to talk about his work and, in particular, the world of “Found Sound” – the discarded casettes and home recordings that can be found by anyone in junk shops, car boot sales (and, of course, the invisible picture palace).

Tickets: £4.00 or £5.00 on the door

Where: The Wapping Project Glasshouse

When: 26th July, 7.30pm

For more details see here

Location recordings by East Midlands tape recording clubs (1959-1978)

Sunday, 15th July, 11pm, on Resonance 104.4fm

A new programme produced by Mark Vernon for framework:afield

A selection of vintage amateur field recordings from three East Midlands tape clubs: The Derby Tape Recording Club, The Leicester Tape Recording Club and The Nottingham Co-operative Tape Recording Club.

Many of these recordings were made in the days when recording on location entailed lugging a heavy and cumbersome full-size reel to reel recorder out and about with you. Outdoor recordings were often impractical but sometimes being part of a club – pooling resources and sharing knowledge, made things a little bit easier. The appearance of affordable portable battery recorders in the early 60’s granted tape enthusiasts unprecedented freedom as to what and where they could record – a freedom which most tape club members exploited to the full. Some of these recordings were made on organised outings as part of the tape club’s programme of activities; others were made independently by individual members. This selection represents just a fraction of the recordings contained within the archives. The variety and imagination displayed here is a testament to the pioneering spirit of a dedicated group of amateurs; our forebears in the pursuit of recorded sound.

Thanks to all former tape club members, in particular; Bill and Marjory Howard, Ernie Flecknoe, Brian Hayhoe, John & Lorna Buckler, John Moule, Bruce Goodwin, Dennis Blackmore and Patrick Everest.

Listen here

Also of interest – a recent post from the London Sound Survey features an excellent programme documenting the activities of the London Tape Recording Club