Category: Interdisciplinary collaboration

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A queer sonic geography of Manchester

At Sonic Transformations —a joint event by MASSmcr and DVRK Arts Collective— my sound piece ‘A queer sonic geography of Manchester’ was presented. It comes with contributions by 
AminaB 
Dyphnos 
Gabriel Marques Camargo 
Gary Fisher
Hal 
Industries
kaoti 
Leah Wall 
Norrisette
PHIA SKY
Ryan Charles Jacob

The sound piece is composed of eleven different soundscape compositions by the research participants and me. We all went on soundwalks and recorded field recordings around the Gay Village area in Manchester. Each of us arranged their field recordings into soundscape compositions with the aim to sonically represent our individual relationships to Manchester from a queer perspective. I then took the stems of each soundscape composition and mixed them all up, creating a sonic collage inspired by Foucault’s notion of homosexuality cutting ‘slantwise [through] […] the social fabric’ (Foucault, 1994, p. 138). In doing so I queered the sonic geographies explored by the research participants and me. 

Foucault, M. (1994) ‘Friendship as a way of life,’ in Rabinow, P. (ed) Ethics: subjectivity and truth. New York: The New York Press, pp. 135—156.

Snippets of the sound piece are also included in MASSmcr’s Sonic Manifesto, listen below.

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Collage Cult

D∀RK and Collage Cult et alia present: /ˈkʌn(d)ʒə/ – an exhibition and event reflecting on collage art practice, and its ability to recontextualise old memories, conjure ghosts, and create stories for the future.

Venue: Ad England / P3 annihilation Eve

Exhibition: 12 – 20 March (check https://adengland.com/ for opening times and days)

Title: /ˈkʌn(d)ʒə/ : conjuring old memories to collage new narratives

Event: 20 March, 5-9pm

With artwork, talks, workshops and performances by:

Catherine Jack

Raji Salan

Clare Stott

Alice Thickett

Amy Quinn

Bing-Chi Wu

Sara Riccardi

Katie Chatburn

Industries / Markus Hetheier

D∀RK – Dark Arts Research Kollective

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Sculpted Collage (Music Video)

Here comes the music video for Sculpted Collage ahead of tomorrow’s release of Randomised Structures and the EP launch at PINK for which you can still buy tickets.

Thank you Keith Bloody Mary for being up for this experiment. I dissected an old track of mine called Scollage which I made when I was 16, cut it into many samples which I used as percussive elements over a simple techno beat and bit by bit I added layers to it, sculpting a sonic collage in a playful and associate way. Keith Bloody Mary also uses collage as artistic method, but this is their first music video and also my first music video created by someone else. We hope you enjoy.

This video contains flashing light.

Written, produced and mixed by Markus Hetheier.

Mastered by Bon Holloway at High Peak Recordings.

Music video by Keith Bloody Mary.

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Spotlight on Sonic Relations

In Spotlight on Sonic Relations I shared my creative findings from the British Council funded Spotlight on Culture artistic and cultural exchange with Grenoble, France. The aim of the event was to inspire artists, academics and other creative workers to create new structures for their work beyond borders. The event began with a sonic intervention: attendees saw the soundmaps and listened to soundscape composition I created in response to the project. The theme was ‘productive tension’ which I felt both internally and externally throughout the week, given that there were many artists and organisations involved with competing interests and that there was political unrest in France as well. This sonic intervention was followed by a panel discussion with EU artists living in the UK on the roles of such cultural exchanges in the post-Brexit era. Roxana Sayyad and Polina Chizhova-Wright both shared their experiences as Europeans having moved to and working the UK. Both echoed the need for international cultural work which is not based on nationalities. The following discussion between the panellists and attendees opened up a dialogue about the role of the arts as a political tool of change, which I hope will continue beyond the event. 

Photographs by Helen Davison.

Soundmaps and soundscape composition by Markus Hetheier (Industries).

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A Walk presented at upcoming PGR Practice-Led Showcase

‘A Walk’ is a sonic representation of my lockdown walks in Alexandra Park. I recorded field recordings during my walks including rustling leaves and birdsong. My friend and fellow electronic music producer and sound artist Hervé and I improvised the music together combining the field recordings with synthetic sounds. Afterwards I edited the jam session recording and crafted ‘A Walk 1’ and ‘A Walk 2’. The music videos were shot by my friend Timothy and edited by me. To visually represent the theme of lockdown walks, we went to Alexandra Park filming me walking through Autumn leaves and shots of trees matching the rhythms of the music.

Music written and produced by Markus Hetheier and Hervé Girardin.
Music edited and mixed by Markus Hetheier.
Music mastered by Darren Withaker.
Music videos shot by Timothy Gallagher including artwork by Bella Probyn.
Music videos edited by Markus Hetheier.
Artwork by Luca Shaw.

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‘A Walk 1’ presented at Audire Conference in Portugal

It was a pleasure participating in the Audire Conference (Sound Experiences: Memory, Creativity and Participation) in Braga, Portugal. I was especially excited that curator Cláudia Martinho selected ‘A Walk 1’ by me and Nevsky Perspective. as part of the ‘listening room’ and that I got listen to and meet Brandon LaBelle, one of my favourite sound researchers/artists. Overall, the programme was varied, ranging from paper presentations to sound installations, performances, workshops and film screenings. ‘A Walk 1’ can be listened to on Bandcamp and Spotify.

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As if radio.. broadcasting original A Walk jam

Tune into As if radio.. on the 1st of November from 9-10.20 am to listen to the unedited jam session for the A Walk EP by Nevsky Perspective and me. The jam will be part of a long ecological radio broadcast as part of COP26, Glasgow, 31st October – 12th November 2021. It will represent our lockdown walks and how to reconnect with our immediate surroundings through listening and music making. You will be listen to the broadcast live here.

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Soundpaths

Soundpaths is a project by Manchester based music charity Brighter Sound as part of SICK Festival‘s MINDSCAPES programme. It is a digital soundmap in the form of a running and walking app for residents of Moston and Harpurhey. Greater Manchester artists were invited to contribute site specific sounds to the soundtrack of the app which was composed by composer Yoni Collier. I sonically represented the Blue Bell pub through combining field recordings of the surrounding areas and a sound recording of an old Facebook video that shows guests of the pub singing together, merging the sonic present and past, evoking a sense of nostalgia. Follow this link to download and use the app.

Soundpaths soundscape composition

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New EP ‘A Walk’ Out Now plus Music Video Premiere

My new EP ‘A Walk’ featuring Nevsky Perspective is out now!

Purchase the EP on Bandcamp.

‘A Walk’ is the result of a jam session between Hervé and me. He visited me in the late Summer of 2020 and we set ourselves up in the spare room, also known as the creative space. He brought his laptop, synth and mic and I used my laptop and MIDI controller and had a couple of samples and effects prepared. For the next two hours we just experimented, sipped tea, ate biscuits and didn’t talk. I then sat down and edited the recording and crafted two tracks that I think are representative of the sonic journey we created that night. Here’s to more jamming in electronic music and more collaborations amongst different electronic music producers and sound artists!

A special thank you to Luca Shaw who created the beautiful artwork for this release.

To celebrate the release, I want to share the music video for A Walk I with you. The video was a lockdown DIY experiment. My housemate Timothy who had just started his Visual Anthropology MA grabbed his camera and we went to Alexandra Park. He filmed me walking through the Autumn leaves and got different shots of the trees to match the rhythms and vibes of the song.

Hope you enjoy!

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Credits:

Music written and produced by Markus Hetheier and Hervé Girardin.

Music edited and mixed by Markus Hetheier.

Music mastered by Darren Withaker.

Video shot by Timothy Gallagher.

Video edited by Markus Hetheier.