ILKESTON structure
I took various photos of the spaces however, I did not find this grabbed me, as I felt more of an interest in what was going on outside, the place and the people.
I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone but was unsure what this may be. So, I returned to Ilkeston on a Thursday which is a market day.
This project relied on me feeling comfortable in my skin to step into the space and to connect with the people . What was I looking for? I am not entirely sure of the life authenticity as when I think of Ilkeston
I hear the words of others “it’s a backward town’ its racist, its run down”
It is this that spurred my curiosity of the people, the individuals that are within a space and I wanted to stand in that space to experience it. I wanted to leave the myth and take in the multi-layered life.
This is what the piece was going to be. I began taking photos and recording conversations as I was walking around.
What was I going to do with what I had collected? Referring back to thoughts of myths and stories told about Ilkeston, what is it I am going to do with these recordings ,or do I simply allow it to stand as it is.
Being nervous at first, I entered the library and then came out stepping into what I needed to do. This is about the act and the process, not knowing what the outcome could be. I noticed a huge queue for what I later learned to be for fruit trees.
Within the process of researching, I explored other environments. One was a night club called Forge based in Sheffield and the other was a train station.
In relation to documenting both Sheffield night club through photography and sound, I chose these images because it shows the truth, the rawness of the night, natural human responses to the music environment, alcohol, socialising, friendships, strangers, with music that everyone loves.
The train station recording was also a piece I put together utilising sampling the environment again . For me to do the sound and visual piece for Ilkeston I felt exploring other environments was vital, listening, highlighting, seeing what I could bring to the surface, the authentic, to the nature of what it holds within.
https://anchor.fm/marita-robinson
Approaching this work with sound recording
Made me want to document myself in other ways
Although I did only
https://soundcloud.com/tropical-sista/waiting-for-the-train?si=aaea87e01fa844c5a3083e3fea954d91&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharingwaiting for the Train
https://soundcloud.com/tropical-sista/ilkeston?si=bfcbf6cdc97c4400942e4a0d45a52032&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Going to Forge in Sheffield, I decided to take photos as the night came to an end with a light setting that brought a ghostly glow. Engaging with the environment, listening, and dancing to the music, taking photos and recording within the space. I did this to gain more ideas and knowledge as to what I could do with the Ilkeston recordings. Taking all the research home, I began to listen and decide to manipulate speeding up vocals and other sounds using repetition. I used the David Hockney style photo layering and added that, placing the stills in a video although I did not like this wholly, I liked the visuals. I could improve this approach to my work, the visual and the sound, by giving space. I am learning that less is more.
With me going to Nottingham train station I sat and listened, recorded sounds and wrote about the spaces .This was my documentation of the space, however I chose not to take photos, focusing more on what I heard and my interpretation via listen to the space.
From gathering the photos and gathering the sound recordings of Ilkeston, I first looked at the recordings
My class room sampling pieces are made from sculpting things together, filming and taking snaps and recording sounds .
Researching Artists.
Alessio Trerotoli Photographer
His style of photography is very complimentary to the city. I wanted to take this style into a town setting layering images.
I took images that do this, however I feel this style is far too associated with the city and life moving fast.
Although I like the results it is not what I wished for because it echoes the city. It feels like I am bringing something to a space that masks authentic image of what I am trying to show. I want to show ordinary not destructive. I will use this image as my final piece as the direction I am wanting to head towards is ordinary. This style although I enjoyed exploring it, feels inauthentic to the nature of a place that I am looking at.
Helen Levitt
Taking the ordinary into the extraordinary,
her work happens to draw us in, making me curious. I take this approach in my photography, wanting to get close to the people to explore the environment. This is more the style of photography that is within my work. I want to step into a place, capture the nature of that space and elevate that with recorded sounds and images, taking the sounds into music software called Logic, with the photos enhancing what is the ordinary in these images if needed.
My images are below
I feel these images fit in with the ordinary composition. I like them as this is what I was looking for within the images and are unlike my earlier images which gave a feel of the city. The recordings add to the extraordinary of the art work within the structure project
Fred again Music Producer DJ Artist
Recording with an open-mind approach to his work,
he takes samples in spaces in his organic approach to create music. This borders on a sonic art approach to sound. He looks at human relationships and connections and reacting to his work, I take a sensitive approach towards recording in various spaces. Within close, intimate relationships are spaces where people gather on an everyday mundane level. I took this into my work.
Fred is an explorative artist producer who has gathered sounds in random spaces, filming and having conversations. He gets close to the participants and pours this into his work moving it from the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Through sampling conversations and the spaces that I go, I then gather recordings and listen, making the choice between sentences and tone of voices and environment and simply listening to what I have gathered.
Unlike some traditional sonic artists, Fred again drew me in when he talked about his approach to his work.
Although I believe there to be no limitations being mentored by Brian Eno, I believe this could have influenced his approach.
He utilises the sounds to create electronic music that people dance to, so he brings this fine art approach
Here are two examples of the same piece, the first one is minimal piano held with a continuous reverbed beat. With lots of fluid movement it is possible within in the space to create the potential of an emotional lyrical contemporary dance space and breathe emotionally through instrumentation of the track, along with the expression of voice and lyrics that many would relate to in a state of loss and heartbreak , bpm is 122
The second is slowly drawing towards a catchy two step beat, speeding up the sound to 130. This is now moving into a space where repetition and the melody will come more forward to the front of the mind. However, with the piano now used in a percussive way, the piece of music works with layers of repetition with solo melodic sounds in between a two step beat, honing more on the lyrics and the feel bringing the piano and a change of tempo teleporting.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=LFn4iln4WBI&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
Fred again,Roze Euston 2021
Fred again, Roze Forgive 2021
Emeka ogboh Sonic Artist
An artist from Nigeria
His Lagos Soundscape piece takes the sound
of Lagos, a place that appears to be always alive and captures the sound of the space. You hear an organic sound of the people living in the city, breathing energy and adding percussive sounds to the piece as it moves with Lagos and the natural rhythm of the place. This is the approach of listening to a space and linking it for a sound piece when away in another place. He listens to his recordings of Nigeria as a reminder of home; Nigeria is always awake.
I take also take the approach of listening and sometimes leaving the recording as it is, placing vocal effects to lift what is already there, sometimes adding other sounds to provoke thoughts and feelings. I might even add to the layers with my voice, utilising repetition and contrasting pauses , meaning spaces . As much as it is placing things withing the sound piece it is also about allowing space for moments to breath
emeka ogboh lagos soundscapes
David Hockney
David Hockney Joiner 1980
David Hockney Joiner 1980
I used this technique in my photography research using the images I took at The Forge. It gave depth and demonstrated the energy of the space, complemented with the lighting and the shadows. This image below captures the DJ in motion with the DJ-ing she displayed lots of energy.
Recording - Making the choices of what to utilise when it came to.
Recording the sounds of Ilkeston, and I mean that by the conversations I had. Who was about? What was resonating with me? What stood out? What sounded like Ilkeston? What was local to the area with the people? What was being said? How did this show something that reflected the people rather than a story?
I had wanted to step in to get to know. This is something I often like doing when am busking.
I first chopped up various conversations and placed them in a piece adding reverb and delay and other subtle sounds such as keys. I placed it as a piece. I then continued to explore.
Thinking about the images I had taken within Ilkeston and how they could relate to the sounds, the space, the structure of the space and the images of the market. I even returned on another occasion and had a set of photos of people in Ilkeston in which I was focusing on the sun and the shadows of people. This looked like a set itself, but I was not going to use this.
So, I had found the sound that I wanted to create and the four images I want to use. The four images were photos of a free size and were great. However, I was not happy just displaying them as photos. This felt too harsh.
I then decided to explore bringing the images to fabric using sublimation print. Sublimation print is a type of print where it uses ink which prints an image from the computer and uses a special ink which will stay on the fabric. I did them in a straight forward imitation photo, profile way. I then decided to rip the sublimation paper up and started to mix the images up. This gave a depth and a translucency that I absolutely loved.
I also had to think about how I was going to display the sound. However, I knew I wanted to do a sound piece and I had already pre-planned this by ordering two small sound circuits which you get in birthday cards from Amazon. I just had to create a speaker to hold the sound on. The sound was not going to be a huge sound, but it was going to deliver some kind of whisper.
This is a speaker The large circle is where the sound comes out , The red wire with a black button allowed me to record the piece of music the black wire allows the sound to be played .
The first attempt to create a speaker
proved difficult as the blade was
unable to cut through this solid oak .
Using this machinery following health safety
guidelines, wearing goggles, placing the drill piece into the machinery, and paying attention to start button and emergency stop .
Moving forward I changed the choice of wood
to something with less depth for cutting. This
would be where the speaker circle would project
the sound
Wanting to create a speaker here are the sides to the cube that would carry the sound . This is my first attempt
The process of building this structure was very
challenging for me, as maths and measurements
are not my expertise in relation to woodwork. However, I was willing to push on, creating a gluing the framing and placing the four original sides with the last two sides to place on the cube. This was not the look I wanted so I had to think fast
The process of sublimation prints after printing on the paper
Cutting fabric to fit A3 Image on to fabric
that is Satin. It is a synthetic fabric and
the printer was running out of ink
Here is the Image on the paper that will be heat pressed on to fabric
Using the heat press, I must wait for it to get
to a high temperature. Placing the image face down for the seconds counting down
. This was an experiment within this project of structure for me. I want to develop ways of presenting this further. I began to think about how the speaker could be created. I went down to woodwork and began measuring up. This felt very out of my comfort zone as I struggle with measurements and putting things together. I lack patience. So, I managed to make one piece which was the head, the face where the music would come out.
Then I started to think of how I can get a box. I then went and found 2 small boxed containers in WH Smith’s .
They were stationary containers and they measured up the right size to place the square fronts I had already cut with circles to place the speaker in. Utilising a strong tape and glue and artfully arranging the wires I was able create the speakers. Although the sound was small, I had to think about how I could make the sound touch the audience where they could hear it with clarity at least that is what I thought in the beginning.
I explored and found various container shapes placing the speaker inside to hear how the sound would be received without sealing it.
I had two circuits to make two speakers . Once I decided to go with the cube I was pleased with ascetic. However, the battery started to fade. When looking at this part of the piece with the photos I was just accepting it as a total piece.
With my continuous exploration, I decided to do sublimation print. This style of print involved me sending my image to the computer on the fashion floor, going on to photoshop and flipping the image to create the print on paper, with an ink that a heat press seals the print into the fabric.
Firstly, I did four individual images These images began to soften. I was heading in the right direction. I then decided to rip up the prints and began move the images around in random spaces repeating the same images. They began to fade and this continued to soften the image. The material was satin.
This sublimation compared to the original photos really progressed to a place that I feel worked . The photo was too solid, too strong and it lacked softness and sensitivity. The print on the fabric brought mystery, a rawness, a sensitivity ,and an earthiness that worked with the sound piece .
I now had a piece that was to be part of the
https://youtube.com/watch?v=whH5ZCZ4zng&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
exhibition.
Putting the exhibition up we worked as a team with the space, and everyone’s work. This a process that lasted all day with the use of four walls and two cabinets.
Looking at the piece of work sitting next to each other is a slow sculpting task trial and error, eventually finding a flow of what can work going through it look as a team . Flowing the placing of the exhibition was the opening .
Having to continue to explore, I chose to take the images to place on Lino and to develop a monologue for one of people from the first sound piece focusing on a character. I wanted to bring her to life listening to what the person was talking to me about in conversation. I then did an audio recording of myself playing Margaret listening back. This appeared to work. I then began to play with the piece of music with in the two minutes to add towards the feeling. This appeared to be working, moving towards something to make you think feel what could this be ? Where could it go? I started with the idea of wanting to find someone who could be Margret. However, I felt uncomfortable filming strangers and taking photos of them. I had the thought to play her myself, but this felt time consuming, but it is a definitely a direction of art I would like to go into with another project. I decided to get up and film last Sunday, waking up desperate to make this work into a full piece. Filming felt like a last-minute option .It felt meaningless and I found pieces to edit but this did not work. I began looking at other footage that I have filmed as I am always filming . I found a piece of film of me filming on the coach looking out of the window on a cinematic skyline of london. The pace was right, the motion did not distract or happen to be erratic. I found harmony with the film and the sound .
https://youtu.be/whH5ZCZ4zng
Evaluation
The project has proved itself to be a challenge for me, stretching me into new unknown territory such as electronics and utilisation of film and sound. Although I have used before sound recording before bringing it into my art work is still unknown territory, but feels good.
Looking at my approach of going to Ilkeston, meeting people, and talking is something I really enjoyed. Finding out information about individuals and the community, I think was a great approach. Sharing, talking, opening up shows the people as individuals and bypasses the reputation of the place .
However, to show something richer I would of liked to have kept in contact with one or two of the people from Ilkeston to really get a bit more shade, although the minimal and homing in on one thing really works as it talks about never being in love.
My photography, although for me not my best work I think was honest. The photos that I took on the street around the market represented the dying space that is the market. However, keeping the photo as a photo felt too harsh and softening it with the prints on the satin material reflects relationships and closeness with humans.
Creating the mini speakers is a progression for me as an artist. I think it was a good first attempt and it had a great finish; it was a lovely cube. I quickly learned that sound although a whisper carries sound vibrations and it is best to carry, so I altered it. The ascetic and the finish was not as sleek as the first attempt for what I felt was more important, the sound it delivered.
