Somerset House Studios

Vicki Bennett explores the processes of making audiovisual content, working with archives and found footage. Using collage as a compositional tool opens up endless opportunities to create and experience results that are more than the sum of their parts, opening doors (and windows) to let light in and move beyond limited and repetitive ways of creative thinking.    In this Somerset House Studios podcast, we revisit Vicki Bennett's talk as part of The Wire magazine's Music By Any Means series, which was part of Grounding Practice, a rolling programme shaped by and for creative practitioners and critical thinkers. About Vicky Bennett Under the name People Like Us, Vicki Bennett has been making work available via CD, DVD and vinyl releases, radio broadcasts, concert appearances, gallery exhibits and online streaming and distribution since 1992. Bennett has developed an immediately recognisable aesthetic repurposing pre-existing footage to craft audio and video collages with an equally dark and witty take on popular culture. She sees sampling and collage as folk art sourced from the palette of contemporary media and technology, with all of the sharing and cross-referencing incumbent to a populist form. Embedded in her work is the premise that all is interconnected and that claiming ownership of an ‘original' or isolated concept is both preposterous and redundant. Most of the People Like Us back catalogue has been available for free online since 2002. For many artists, profit and publicity is more likely through free distribution (the gift economy) than independent publishers and distributors, which often struggle with limited resources. Online self-distribution allows an artist to keep their work available, resolving a tension between label production costs and the desire of an artist for work to be available.    Part of The Wire: Music By Any Means. Grounding Practice / Somerset House Studios Audio produced by Weyland Mckenzie-Witter as part of The Creator in Residence Programme at Somerset House, supported by The Rothschild Foundation.

Studios resident Joe Namy presents sound work Sound Clash from the Eighth Automobile LDN as part of Somerset House Studios' new Gallery 31 exhibition Temporary Compositions, available to listen to online for the duration of the show.  Comprising of audio documentation from Namy's ongoing performance piece Automobile (2012-2021) for cars with souped up sound systems - so far performed over eight iterations in Beirut (2012 and 2013), Mannheim (2014), Gwangju (2016), Montreal (2016), Toronto (2017), Abu Dhabi (2019), and London (2019) - the sound piece was recorded during the Eighth Automobile in 2019 as part of Art Night, on top of a Sainsbury's car park and later in the basement of the Mall car park in Walthamstow. Exhibition visitors are encouraged to listen to Namy's sound work within the gallery space as an accompaniment to Bass Stance (Automobile), a printed voile curtain installation piece included as part of the Temporary Compositions show. SOUND CREDITS: Recorded by Joe Namy and Reduced Listening with help from Holly Shuttleworth. Including interviews with (by order of appearance): Too Sweet Vibes Machine Ramone Roper aka Brown Van International Tas aka Yellow Bird Sound CJ Potter and CJ's dad Chris Potter Noel aka Put Put Kerry Sinclair aka Nuclear Sound Jamie Bryer Lee Quested James Mohr Phil Macey aka Team Ice Alexandro Santos Escobar aka Like a Boss Sound --- Curated by Stella Sideli, Temporary Compositions explores the interrelationship between people, sounds and signals and the rhythms and patterns that form within them, reflecting on different approaches to being and being together. What new meanings and modalities can be created within communal settings, through collective experiences and collaborative processes? Featuring video, sound, sculptural and textile works by Abbas Zahedi, Phoebe Davies, Joe Namy and Sonya Dyer, each work in the show sees a coming together of individuals, organically or involuntarily, sparking and creating momentary connections, movements and cultures. Gallery 31 is an exhibition space dedicated to the work of Somerset House Studios and its residency programmes. The gallery is open all year round, hosting up to four exhibitions per year in collaboration with guest curators. 

As part of Ilona Sagar's Soft Addictions works for Gallery 31's third season Create, Capture, Organise, Pluralise, visitors are encouraged to listen to Sagar's looped sound work within the gallery space as an accompaniment to her print and text pieces.   Soft Addictions is a generative series of works that analyze the interface between people and computers and the science of responsive design through sound, digital imagery, performance and text. Using gesture and inference the work abstracts the alternating lines between function and dysfunction as a bodily state, playing with the paradigms of power between technology and the body. Voice and sound acts as both a dislocation and a connecting element within the series, working with the scales of speech, from the bureaucratic and instructional to the emotionally intimate and physical. Device culture has now made the human body evermore remote and co-dependent on technology. Pioneering advances in user-driven technologies threaten to shift our social interactions from one of collective interests to networks of individual desires. Ergonomic syntax, both scientific and fleshy, fuels Soft Addictions with its idiosyncratic logic and vivid output.  Mix: Doug Haywood Male voice: Shaun French Female voice: Penelope McGhie --- Curated by Stella Sideli and featuring work by Josiane M.H. Pozi, Majed Aslam, Ilona Sagar and Col Self with Farvash and vvxxii (Sp0re), Create, Capture, Organise, Pluralise explores the notion of the body as an archive; as a record of collective stories, experiences, and memories. The exhibition runs 1 Jul - 31 Oct 2021. Gallery 31 is a permanent exhibition space dedicated to profiling the Somerset House Studios community and work developed through our residencies. With a rolling programme and a different theme each season, Gallery 31 presents a curated selection of new commissions alongside existing and in-progress works. 

Shenece Oretha takes an experimental approach to the podcast format for Somerset House Studios’ Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy series.   The multidisciplinary artist choreographs a DJ lecture mix that explores the theme of the body, using sonic forms that range from instruments and speech, to musicians, conductors, and listeners.  Oretha journeys through improvisational musical practices, audience culture, Black literature and emotional responses, layering music, speech and sound.  Listen as Oretha composes this sonic terrain, and bear witness to sound’s ability to move us emotionally, physically and socially, connecting us even when we are apart.   ABOUT THE ARTIST Shenece Oretha is a London based artist who interrogates the emotional, physical and relational sonic material of Blackness. In sharp contrast to the stark technological hardware often present in her installations, her work builds on the mobilising effects of Black oral traditions, celebrating the exchange and participation of intimate action, testimonials and emotional responses to generate expressions of collective imagination.   She has exhibited and performed her work both nationally and internationally. Recently her work ‘ Called to Respond’ was shown at Cell project space in 2020. Her first solo exhibition, TESTING GROUNDS, curated by Taylor Le Melle, was presented with Not/Nowhere at Cafe Oto, London (2019). Group exhibitions include 'Cinders, Sinuous and Supple', curated by Deborah Joyce Holman, Lausanne Les Urbaines, Switzerland (2019); 'PRAISE N PAY IT/ PULL UP, COME INTO THE RISE', South London Gallery, London; and 'BBZBLKBK: Alternative Grad Show', Copeland (both 2018). Presentations of performance work include 'Towards a black testimony', Stroom Den Haag curated by Languid Hands (2019); Wysing Polyphonic Festival, Wysing Art Centre, Cambridge (2018);'Congregation', ICA, London, (2017). 

A new artist-led podcast from Timur Si-Qin exploring how our health is intimately tied to the health of the natural world, as part of Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy. Drawing from religious history, contrasting western and Indigenous cultural relationships with nature, and the desired shift towards a spirituality of symbiosis, artist Timur Si-Qin unpacks the ideas at the centre of his upcoming essay Heaven Is Sick as well as New Peace - Si-Qin’s artwork, brand and ‘protocol’ developed in the wake of climate change. Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy is a dynamic programme of new commissions, films, workshops, and conversations considering both our individual health and collective wellbeing by exploring societal and ecological issues that affect both people and planet.    About the artist  Artist Timur Si-Qin’s interests in contemporary philosophy, the evolution of culture, and the dynamics of cognition take form in branded ecosystems and installations of 3D printed sculptures, light-boxes, and VR.    Si-Qin’s works seek to think beyond the anthropocentric dualisms at the centre of western consciousness. Si-Qin’s long term project is the proposal of a new secular faith in the face of climate change called New Peace. Drawing from disparate disciplines like the Anthropology of Religion, Marketing Psychology, and Object Oriented Ontology, Si-Qin understands spiritualities as cultural softwares capable of deep behavioral and political intervention. New Peace is thus a new protocol for the necessary renegotiation of our conceptual and spiritual relationship with the non-human. New Peace is an artwork, a brand, a sect, and self propagating memetic machine.  Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy is kindly supported by the Adonyeva Foundation. Music featured: Oliver Barrett - Solo Cello (Live at Cafe OTO)  Anthony Pateras & Vilerio Tricoli - Solo (Revox) A Paranoid Android - Walking Blind in New York Mystified - Mystic Steam KM Krebs - Etorpasle Eli Keszler - Solo - Live at Cafe OTO (Sat 25 May 2013)

Defrag was a series of talks curated by Jake Charles Rees for Somerset House Studios between 2017-2019, exploring how technology is changing the world we live in, including the way we produce and consume art and culture. This podcast revisits the live recordings in the form of an audio montage, meshing together a range of fragmented thoughts from guest speakers. It delves into the practices of the people using and critiquing some of the latest technologies and how these shape and augment our realities. Contributors Silkie Carlo, Big Brother Watch  Anne Duffau Bill Posters Libby Heaney  Shannen SP Kode9 Keiken  Elliot Burns, Offsite Project Raffaella Moreira, Multimedia Anthropology Lab Sophie Dyer of Airwars Hanna Rullman of Airwars Milena Marin, Amnesty International  Gabriela Ivens of WITNESS  Adbulwahab Tahhan James Stringer, Werkflow  The White Pube Charlotte Webb, Feminist Internet  Travis Alabanza  Seyi Akiwowo  Helen Brewer, Feminist Internet Clara Finnigan, Feminist Internet Caroline Sinders Rhiannon Williams, Feminist Internet Natalie Khan Commissioned and produced by Somerset House Studios Curated by Jake Charles Rees Podcast produced by Huw Thomas Sound design by Harry Murdoch and Huw Thomas

An hour long segment of reflections and music from Beatrice Dillon alongside the artists she invited to contribute to AGM – DeForrest Brown, Jr., Rian Treanor and Sarra Wild. Somerset House Studios celebrated four years of its dynamic resident artist community with the first online edition of its annual building takeover series AGM. Featuring performances broadcast live from Somerset House, as well as from across the UK and beyond, AGM 2020 premiered five new commissions from a specially curated line-up of artists and writers, including Aida Amoako, DeForrest Brown, Jr., Josiane M.H Pozi, Rian Treanor, Tyreis Holder, plus a performance from Sarra Wild; a line-up selected by a panel of existing and alumni resident artists: Beatrice Dillon, Jesse Darling, Klein and Larry Achiampong.  

Part of Mutant Promise's online series (https://auth-somerset.axis12.com/whats-on/mutant-promise) for progressive music-making, including introduction courses to coding and sound software, digital field recording, interior soundscape composition, and remote hardware workshops for DIY synth building at home.  Note: At 30.25 the artist uses the word 'centralised' in place of the intended word 'de-centralised'. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Jessica Ekomane (https://jessicaekomane.com/) is a French-born and Berlin-based electronic musician and sound artist. Her practice unfolds around live performances and installations. Her quadraphonic performances, characterized by their physical affect, seek a cathartic effect through the interplay of psychoacoustics, the perception of rhythmic structures and the interchange of noise and melody. Her ever-changing and immersive sonic landscapes are grounded in questions such as the relationship between individual perception and collective dynamics or the investigation of listening expectations and their societal roots. One of six composers chosen as collaborators by Natascha Süder Happelman for her installation at the German pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2019, her debut album, Multivocal was released on Important Records in 2019. Her work has been presented in various institutions worldwide such as CTM festival (Berlin), Ars Electronica (Linz), Dommune (Tokyo) or Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha). Annie Goh (https://www.arts.ac.uk/research/ual-staff-researchers/annie-goh) is an artist and researcher working primarily with sound, space, electronic media and generative processes within their social and cultural contexts. She is a Lecturer in XD Pathway in BA Fine Art at CSM and an Associate Lecturer in Sound Arts at LCC. Her work takes a critical approach to contemporary debates in the fields of digital technologies, media arts, generative and computational processes and communication studies, with a particular focus on sound, intersectional feminism, decolonial theory and the politics of knowledge production.

Revisit Open Your Palm, Feel The Dust Settling There, an audio work by artist and Savage Messiah author Laura Grace Ford, generated by psychogeographic walks – drifts – through the Latimer Road, Hammersmith and White City areas of West London. Originally comprised of three parts, the work is now available as a feature length podcast. Comprised of a conflation of spoken text and sound collage, Open Your Palm is an audio work responding to the psychic and emotional contours of the city,  Made from field recordings and fragments of found music, the spectral sectors of the city permeate across the work. The channelling of voices based on real encounters allows for an intersubjective relationship with the terrain, an approach to sound and text as a form of psychic ventriloquy. 00.00 Episode 1 14.28 Episode 2 27.41 Episode 3

The word ‘climatotherapy’ refers to a type of physical and mental treatment which utilizes the influence of climate on the human body, exemplified by treatments in the Dead Sea or at hot springs. Climatotherapy was an installation presented by Nozomu Matsumoto & Nile Koetting at ASSEMBLY in 2018, comprised of sound, light, smell, ikebana and virtual assistant Alexa is a key component, repurposed to generate live and enunciate various suggestions and tips throughout, what we should do, how we should live.   With these elements in dialogue, the installation became its own microclimate. Populated by household audio technologies, corporate messages weave through musical reproductions to create an ever-changing soundtrack for our relationship with ever-changing technologies. As our preference settings hack, repurpose and adapt our technological world into new causes, these devices become an aesthetic, a physical manifestation of the dialogue between mass industry and human environment. Climatotherapy questions how the human body is conditioned by its environment in the time and space of cloudified body, mind, and information. Part of the Deep Listen, a new series for Somerset House Studios in which we share  long-form audio content, new or archive, featuring interviews, discussions and creative responses to ideas of connection and commonality.  - Nozomu Matsumoto is a Tokyo-based artist and composer. His sound design work includes Nile Koetting’s “Sustainable Hours” at Maison Hermés, Tokyo 2016, and “FUKAMI, une plongée dans l’esthétique japonaise” at Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, Paris, 2018. Nozomu released his remarkable first vinyl “Climatotherapy” and début for UK based label The Death of Rave, 2018.   Nile Koetting is an artist working across installation, performance, scenography, sound and composition. His work and projects have been presented at Moscow Biennale 2017, ZKM Karlsruhe, Hebbel Am Ufer Theater, Western Front, Mori Art Museum, Maison Hermès Tokyo Fondation d’entreprise Hermès.   Together, Nozomu and Nile are founders of online sound curatorial platform EBM(T), collaborating and presenting works by various artists such as Shana Moulton  Lars Holdhus, aka TCF, Sam Kidel and Robin Mackay. EBM(T) curated a part from the show in “Tokyo Art Meeting VI TOKYO: Sensing the Cultural Magma of the Metropolis” at The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2015, also in 2017 EBM(T) co-curated a music and art festival “INFRA インフラ”  presenting artist’s work in a museum, gallery and clubs in Tokyo. This episode reflects upon a performance installation presented at ASSEMBLY 2018, developed from a release by Nozomu on The Death of Rave. Co-produced with Music Hackspace.

The first in our new Pause series, THE UN-NOW NOW is a new commission by Studios artist Vivienne Griffin. Our programme I Should Be Doing Something Else Right Now takes its title from another of Vivienne’s works.    This sound work is the culmination of a group workshop hosted by the artist in January, exploring dissonance, vocal fry, polyphonic harmonies, speaking in tongues and drone. Working with The Seer on vocals, accordion and electronic noise, Anya Palamartschuk, vocals and cornet and Joshua Fay electronic samples and vocals, Vivienne brings together their contributions in post-production for this collaborative composition. The voiceover lists the 59 slogans of Lojong, a Tibetan Buddhist mind training practice from the 12th century.   The original script for the workshop was taken from Dharma Punx NYC; a secular Buddhist podcast by Josh Kordan. Lyrics from songs by Bjork and Madonna and 12 step fellowship addiction recovery acronyms. AA  ACA  CA  CLA  CMA  CoDA COSA  COSLAA DA EA  FA FA  FAA  GA  HA  MA  NA  N/A Nar-Anon (https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/7GJwCV5juzlrVIGbRBt?domain=en.wikipedia.org) NicA  OA  OLGA  PA RA  SA  SAA  SCA  SIA  SLAA  SRA  UA  WA 

A performance by Jacob Samuel and Samir Kennedy featuring a collage of interviews with Beatrice Dillon, Coby Sey, Ines Camara, Scott Pattinson, Tadej Vindis and Vanessa Omoregie (Camgirls Project). The piece looks into the existence of infinity in the present moment, the relationship of tech and the image of the body, the future of prophecies between them. Originally performed live for RADIO ASSEMBLY, part of ASSEMBLY in 2018, five days of sound and performance at Somerset House Studios. - Deep Listen is a new series for Somerset House Studios in which we share  long-form audio content, new or archive, featuring interviews, discussions and creative responses to ideas of connection and commonality. 

Are you feeling Hyper Functional? Vivienne Griffin, Florence Peake, Rowdy SS & Rebecca Bellantoni respond to the idea of wellness, described as the optimization of mental and physical wellbeing. Time and again we find we cannot measure up to impossible demands, frustrating ourselves. Those who do not or cannot conform to wellness culture risk the contempt of those on its tyrannical treadmill. Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy took place during January and February 2020 at Somerset House Studios with a programme that asked us to reconsider well-being in new and unexpected ways, a refreshing antidote to the vast wellness industry that has fuelled societal pressures to conform, often creating an unrealistic and anxiety-inducing desire to be healthy, happy and productive. UN–NOW is a group workshop by Vivienne Griffin where voices were digitally modified in unison to explore dissonance, vocal fry, polyphonic harmonies, speaking in tongues, drone, noise and fake laughter.  Florence Peake presents CAVE. There is a tidal cave on the Jurassic coast, South West England. It is a site of retreat and refuge from the world for only 3 hours before it is again submerged by the sea. A place of dark, wet sanctuary, the cave has become Peake’s lover.  London is noisy; sirens, drilling, honking, shouting, the endless grind of traffic. The Tube. From stress, to heart disease to type 2 diabetes, research suggests noise pollution creates problems for people's health. For 10 years Rowdy SS has been recording London's damaging noise, in this new work he remixed an archive to create a soundscape for healing. Produced by Femi Oriogun-Williams for Reduced Listening. Commissioned by Somerset House Studios.

For ASSEMBLY, Karen Gwyer approached the street noises as drums. Building over the course of the performance, Karen will use and process the ambient sounds to create a multilayer, polyrhythmic piece created from the more punchy and identifiable sounds as well as distorting the general hum. The mood and intensity will shift as the performance progresses. On top of the rhythmic street sounds, layers of synths will build to create a moving yet sobering composition that draws on Karen’s own emotions around her 12 years as a Londoner, both the pain and relief of leaving, and the conflict of looking at it now from afar. Pedestrians, traffic, roadworks, protest; the corner of Somerset House where Waterloo Bridge meets Embankment is a hive of often unpredictable activity and noise. Acknowledging and working with this to define a compositional framework, Marclay invited a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoors inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances. Karen Gwyer was born in the southern US and raised in the north. Now based in Berlin after more than a decade in London, she shifts between pumping, thickly melodic, just left-of-techno dancefloor vibes and diversionary acidic psychedelia in her expansive, largely analogue live electronic performances. To date, she has released a handful of acclaimed recordings on Don’t Be Afraid, Nous Disques, Opal Tapes and Kaleidoscope, among others. She has produced remixes for labels such as InFiné, Software, and Public Information, and has created a number of commissioned pieces for Berlin’s Pop-Kultur festival and Open Music Archive in London. Christian Marclay’s ambitious and accomplished practice explores the juxtaposition between sound, photography, video and sculpture. His installations display provocative musical and visual landscapes and have been included in exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris and Kunsthaus Zurich. More recently, he exhibited The Clock at the Tate Modern (debuted at White Cube in 2010) – an artwork created from thousands of edited fragments, from a vast range of films to create a 24-hour, single-channel video. Podcast produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios. ASSEMBLY Production by Music Hackspace and sound system by Call & Response, with sound and interaction programming from Black Shuck and Preverbal Studio. Lighting design by KitMapper. ASSEMBLY is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, The Adonyeva Foundation and the John. S Cohen Foundation.

Pedestrians, traffic, roadworks, protest; the corner of Somerset House where Waterloo Bridge meets Embankment is a hive of often unpredictable activity and noise. Acknowledging and working with this to define a compositional framework, Marclay invited a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoors inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances. Studios resident Lawrence Lek is an artist, filmmaker and musician whose virtual worlds and animated films create alternate versions of real places. For ASSEMBLY he invited collaborators Seth Scott and Robin Simpson to present a site-specific simulation that acts as an uncanny virtual and sonic double of the performance space. Their performance, Doom, reflects the atmosphere during the Extinction Rebellion protests when Waterloo Bridge – which the Lancaster Rooms overlook – was closed to traffic and filled with warning signs of the coming apocalypse. Christian Marclay’s ambitious and accomplished practice explores the juxtaposition between sound, photography, video and sculpture. His installations display provocative musical and visual landscapes and have been included in exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris and Kunsthaus Zurich. More recently, he exhibited The Clock at the Tate Modern (debuted at White Cube in 2010) – an artwork created from thousands of edited fragments, from a vast range of films to create a 24-hour, single-channel video. Podcast produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios ASSEMBLY Production by Music Hackspace and sound system by Call & Response, with sound and interaction programming from Black Shuck and Preverbal Studio. Lighting design by KitMapper. ASSEMBLY is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, The Adonyeva Foundation and the John. S Cohen Foundation.

Artist and producer Beatrice Dillon’s new piece for ASSEMBLY, infraordinary, combines installation and performance, in which specially composed sounds are triggered using the system’s Kinect camera, alongside a live controlled sound mix of the street. Inspired by writer Georges Perec’s concept of the ‘infra-ordinary’ - taking account of the micro events of the everyday - the performance attempts to examine and reframe the rhythmic patterns of the street outside. Pedestrians, traffic, roadworks, protest; the corner of Somerset House where Waterloo Bridge meets Embankment is a hive of often unpredictable activity and noise. Acknowledging and working with this to define a compositional framework, Marclay invited a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoors inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances.  Beatrice Dillon is an artist and music producer who has produced solo and collaborative releases across Boomkat Editions, Hessle Audio, The Trilogy Tapes, PAN, Timedance and Where To Now? Recent performances include Barbican Centre, Tokyo’s wwwX, MUTEK Montreal, Dekmantel, Documenta Athens, Cairo’s Masåfåt Festival, Norway’s Insomnia and Documenta Athens. With a background in fine art, Beatrice has produced sound and music commissions for Outlands Network, Lisson Gallery, Études Paris, AND Festival, Somerset House and has collaborated with visual artists and choreographers across ICA, TATE, Southbank Centre, York Mediale, Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneva, MACVAL Paris, Nasher Center Dallas and Mona Tasmania amongst others. She was the recipient of Wysing Arts Centre’s artist residency, is a resident at Somerset House Studios and presents a show on NTS Radio. Christian Marclay’s ambitious and accomplished practice explores the juxtaposition between sound, photography, video and sculpture. His installations display provocative musical and visual landscapes and have been included in exhibitions around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris and Kunsthaus Zurich. More recently, he exhibited The Clock at the Tate Modern (debuted at White Cube in 2010) – an artwork created from thousands of edited fragments, from a vast range of films to create a 24-hour, single-channel video. Podcast produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios ASSEMBLY Production by Music Hackspace and sound system by Call & Response, with sound and interaction programming from Black Shuck and Preverbal Studio. Lighting design by KitMapper. ASSEMBLY is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, The Adonyeva Foundation and the John. S Cohen Foundation.

Developed in residence at Somerset House Studios, visual artist Sam Williams (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/sam-williams-roly-porter) and musician Roly Porter (https://www.instagram.com/rolyporter) present Salvage Rhythms, a collaboration resulting in a performance and film drawing on systems of archaeology, mycelial networks, composting and non-human relationships to explore different possibilities of survival and connection. Sam and Roly will present a newly commissioned film Salvage Rhythms at Somerset House Studios in 2020, which collages together sound and movement from their performance of the same title at AGM (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/agm) , with original and found footage; animation and photography to create a dense and decaying compost of human and non-human entanglement. Salvage Rhythms features as part of I Should Be Doing Something Else Right Now (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/gallery-31-i-should-be-doing-something-else-right-now) , the second season at Somerset House Studios' new permanent exhibition space, Gallery 31, from 23 Jan – 31 May 2020. Produced by Femi Oriogun-Williams for Reduced Listening. Commissioned by Somerset House Studios

From this year’s Wysing Polyphonic festival, artists Annie Goh and Natalie Hyacinth (Sonic Cyberfeminisms), Emma Smith, Zuir and Roy Claire Potter and NSDOS explore the idea of silence in relation to Audrey Lorde’s seminal text ‘Your Silence Will Not Protect You.’  Somerset House Studios were invited to guest curate the 2019 edition of Wysing Polyphonic. Considering the legacy of Wysing Arts Centre as a place where artists meet and experiment, the programme explored connection beyond the physical: connection as a channel of communication; an incantation, returning, or heralding; the calling on an ‘other’ or unknown to understand different worlds and possibilities.  Produced by Femi Oriogun-Williams for Reduced Listening. Commissioned by Somerset House Studios

Conversations about language. Artist Nick Ryan (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/nick-ryan) presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination. In this bumper final episode of the series, Nick Ryan continues his search into the meaning of language with Anthropologist Dr Jerome Lewis, asking why and where language began. A Reader in Social Anthropology at University College London, Jerome has 25 years of research experience working with The Bayaka hunter-gatherers in the Congo Basin researching child socialisation, play and religion; egalitarian politics and gender relations; and language, music and dance. Jerome takes Nick on Journey into the forest, tracing the origins of language, as he explains ‘radical egalitarianism’, polyphonic singing, survival from predators, ‘costly signalling’ and how to call fish with your voice underwater. With thanks to the Pitt Rivers Museum and Reel to Real project for use of the Bayaka recordings used in this episode. - The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators for RE:COGNITION, an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically. In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS until 05 Jan 2020 at Gallery 31 (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/gallery-31-bonds) , Somerset House Studios (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/somerset-house-studios) ’ new permanent exhibition space. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.  Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multi-sensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.  Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.  Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.

Conversations about language. Artist Nick Ryan (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/nick-ryan) presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination.  The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators for RE:COGNITION, an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically. Neil Bennun is a BAFTA winning author, actor and experimental theatre maker who has written extensively for video games and interactive and digital narrative projects. In his book, “The Broken String: The Last Words of an Extinct People” (published by Penguin in 2005) Neil uncovered the stories of the first people of South Africa from the brink of extinction - a world of sorcerers, hunters and artists with vivid stories to tell. Nick and Neil discuss evolution, the origins of language and symbol, hacking and why Homer referred to the Sea as ‘wine-dark’, as Nick delves deeper in his mission to build a machine in which a human communication can be translated into a universal representation in non-verbal sound. - In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS until 05 Jan 2020 at Gallery 31 (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/gallery-31-bonds) , Somerset House Studios (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/somerset-house-studios) ’ new permanent exhibition space. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.  Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multi-sensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.  Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.  Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.

Conversations about language. Artist Nick Ryan (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/nick-ryan) presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination.  The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators for RE:COGNITION, an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically. Angela Terrill is a Linguist and is known for her comprehensive study of Lavukaleve, a Papuan Language spoken on the Russell Islands in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. Lavukaleve is described as an ‘isolate’ language, bearing little relation even to other languages in the Solomon Islands, despite having existed for many thousands of years. Through her knowledge of studying this unique language, Angela is able to share much about how a spoken language is formed, used and develops over time. The conversation has interesting implications for Nick in the creation of his Machine as Angela shares fascinating examples of both the cultural specificities of Lavukaleve and some qualities and functions of language that may be universal. _ In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS until 05 Jan 2020 at Gallery 31 (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/gallery-31-bonds) , Somerset House Studios (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/somerset-house-studios) ’ new permanent exhibition space. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.  Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multi-sensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.  Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.  Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.

Conversations about language. Artist Nick Ryan (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/nick-ryan) presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination.  The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators for RE:COGNITION, an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically. In this episode Donald Hoffman, Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, puts forward the radical proposal that everything we perceive as reality, in fact bears little relation to the ‘real’ world in which we live. His work is based on evolution and rigorous modelling, and reflects on Nick’s mission to build a machine that translates spoken language into the audible sensation of its meaning. Don is an author of over 100 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence, and his new book, The Case Against Reality.  _ In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS until 05 Jan 2020 at Gallery 31 (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/gallery-31-bonds) , Somerset House Studios (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/somerset-house-studios) ’ new permanent exhibition space. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.  Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multi-sensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.  Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.  Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.

Artist Nick Ryan (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/nick-ryan) presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination. RE:COGNITION is an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically: an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination. The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators. It will guide listeners through aural exploration into AI, linguistics and semiotics.  In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS at Gallery 31 (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/gallery-31-bonds) , Somerset House Studios (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/somerset-house-studios) ’ permanent exhibition space which opens September 2019. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.  Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multisensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.  Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.  Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.

#5 Apparatus: Equipment, methods, original recordings since used in tracks. Ceremony at temple starting, Ubud; machine? - unknown; instrument recording in Rotterdam; playing the organ; yangqin recording; unknown machine, Arctic; Unknown; Unknown; playing the piano, London; Greek wedding, Thessaloniki; crickets at night, Canada; running water, unknown; organ; fire safety training; unknown; kemence recording; vocal recording - unknown; exhibition; violin sampling; radio set in a gallery; gallery, Tokyo; violin recorded at home, wind chimes on a mountain on Teshima Island. Drawing inspiration from a story during a journey to the abandoned Arctic settlement of Pyramiden, Ubi Sunt is the culmination of years of collected sonic moments. It was said that from this archipelago in the far north, left behind by all of its 1000 inhabitants for over a decade, ‘ghost’ radio signals had suddenly been detected. A singer whose family were from the original town had been sent an anonymous cassette tape, with recordings of them picked up from the region. Ubi Sunt is a new audio work by Flora Yin-Wong, commissioned by Somerset House Studios, composed of a tetralogy of sound pieces that abruptly jump between, cut up and stitch over six years of recordings captured in known and unknown locations - unlabelled and often lost sources. The connection between memory, emotion, and recorded moments that have accumulated on an iPhone is something that everyone could have their own version of. Hundreds of these snippets represent connections between the recall of memories, alternate worlds and spaces intangible, yet can be connected to across physical spaces. In collaboration with artist Go Watanabe, the series will be accompanied by artwork that adopts the underlying themes via the camera work of the film. The scene slowly moves horizontally from left to right, which reminds of the viewer the movement of playing cassette tapes, or driving a car through a road. Household objects are placed as if they are constructing a town. The objects were developed submerged in natural light from a window, but for this piece, the shade remains on the surfaces in a new space of absolute darkness. The remaining shadows are the metaphor of memories that carried from the past, said to emerge as ghosts. Varying from the sound of deep crunching snow in a forest in Hokkaido, Turkish EDM on the car radio, the rush of a reservoir in rural Wales, Buddhist monks chanting in Hangzhou, K-Pop in a teen clothing store in Seoul, and old vocal recordings - fragments that shift from the highly personal, nostalgic, to the extremely banal, or contrived and obnoxious are momentarily placed together. Flora Yin-Wong is a London-born, Chinese-Malaysian artist working with field recordings, dissonance, and influences from contemporary club culture. 

#4 Orison: Efficacy of Prayer and Pilgrimage. Kecak performance, Indonesia; instrument recordings; gamelan from a banjar in the street, Bali; monks in Cantonese, Po Lin monastery; Chinese temple, unknown; Unknown - Tokyo; chants, Sha Tin; prayer, unknown; yangqin recordings; gong recording, Tirta Empul water temple ceremony; unknown; Bali airport; train journey - unknown; monk on car radio, Martyrria, Crete; gong recordings. Drawing inspiration from a story during a journey to the abandoned Arctic settlement of Pyramiden, Ubi Sunt is the culmination of years of collected sonic moments. It was said that from this archipelago in the far north, left behind by all of its 1000 inhabitants for over a decade, ‘ghost’ radio signals had suddenly been detected. A singer whose family were from the original town had been sent an anonymous cassette tape, with recordings of them picked up from the region. Ubi Sunt is a new audio work by Flora Yin-Wong, commissioned by Somerset House Studios, composed of a tetralogy of sound pieces that abruptly jump between, cut up and stitch over six years of recordings captured in known and unknown locations - unlabelled and often lost sources. The connection between memory, emotion, and recorded moments that have accumulated on an iPhone is something that everyone could have their own version of. Hundreds of these snippets represent connections between the recall of memories, alternate worlds and spaces intangible, yet can be connected to across physical spaces. In collaboration with artist Go Watanabe, the series will be accompanied by artwork that adopts the underlying themes via the camera work of the film. The scene slowly moves horizontally from left to right, which reminds of the viewer the movement of playing cassette tapes, or driving a car through a road. Household objects are placed as if they are constructing a town. The objects were developed submerged in natural light from a window, but for this piece, the shade remains on the surfaces in a new space of absolute darkness. The remaining shadows are the metaphor of memories that carried from the past, said to emerge as ghosts. Varying from the sound of deep crunching snow in a forest in Hokkaido, Turkish EDM on the car radio, the rush of a reservoir in rural Wales, Buddhist monks chanting in Hangzhou, K-Pop in a teen clothing store in Seoul, and old vocal recordings - fragments that shift from the highly personal, nostalgic, to the extremely banal, or contrived and obnoxious are momentarily placed together. Flora Yin-Wong is a London-born, Chinese-Malaysian artist working with field recordings, dissonance, and influences from contemporary club culture. 

#3 Argot: Language, the way mankind communicates through voice and mainstream culture. Early south-east Asian music; kecak performance at sunset, Uluwatu, Indonesia; record played in Hong Kong; car radio, UK; man in the street with a boombox, London; Mark Leckey interview; extreme spin class, London; Harrods video; wedding; club, unknown; family in Hong Kong; TV channel, hotel in New York; Unknown; Gig, unknown; car radio, Mariah Carey; gym class; bar, Mayfair; HXE in club; something outside the window; radio in Indonesian taxi; restaurant, China; store, Hong Kong; Unknown; gallery, last London; girl in car at 6am in Vienna on the way back to the venue (sorry). Drawing inspiration from a story during a journey to the abandoned Arctic settlement of Pyramiden, Ubi Sunt is the culmination of years of collected sonic moments. It was said that from this archipelago in the far north, left behind by all of its 1000 inhabitants for over a decade, ‘ghost’ radio signals had suddenly been detected. A singer whose family were from the original town had been sent an anonymous cassette tape, with recordings of them picked up from the region. Ubi Sunt is a new audio work by Flora Yin-Wong, commissioned by Somerset House Studios, composed of a tetralogy of sound pieces that abruptly jump between, cut up and stitch over six years of recordings captured in known and unknown locations - unlabelled and often lost sources. The connection between memory, emotion, and recorded moments that have accumulated on an iPhone is something that everyone could have their own version of. Hundreds of these snippets represent connections between the recall of memories, alternate worlds and spaces intangible, yet can be connected to across physical spaces. In collaboration with artist Go Watanabe, the series will be accompanied by artwork that adopts the underlying themes via the camera work of the film. The scene slowly moves horizontally from left to right, which reminds of the viewer the movement of playing cassette tapes, or driving a car through a road. Household objects are placed as if they are constructing a town. The objects were developed submerged in natural light from a window, but for this piece, the shade remains on the surfaces in a new space of absolute darkness. The remaining shadows are the metaphor of memories that carried from the past, said to emerge as ghosts. Varying from the sound of deep crunching snow in a forest in Hokkaido, Turkish EDM on the car radio, the rush of a reservoir in rural Wales, Buddhist monks chanting in Hangzhou, K-Pop in a teen clothing store in Seoul, and old vocal recordings - fragments that shift from the highly personal, nostalgic, to the extremely banal, or contrived and obnoxious are momentarily placed together. Flora Yin-Wong is a London-born, Chinese-Malaysian artist working with field recordings, dissonance, and influences from contemporary club culture. 

#2 Remains: Fragments of memories, friends, voices. Unknown - Berlin?; Unknown; Car radio - South London; club, Hong Kong; club, Greece; car radio, UK; Paris, France; car factory, Belgium; gallery, Paris, Sai Wan, Hong Kong; store, Seoul, South Korea; car journey, Hong Kong; London; Chicago; Tokyo supermarket, Japan; taxi, Hong Kong; traffic, Bali; Billie Piper, Unknown; escalators district, Hong Kong; tunnel, London; Camden gig; gallery, Paris; Soundcheck - unknown; Turkish wedding, London. Drawing inspiration from a story during a journey to the abandoned Arctic settlement of Pyramiden, Ubi Sunt is the culmination of years of collected sonic moments. It was said that from this archipelago in the far north, left behind by all of its 1000 inhabitants for over a decade, ‘ghost’ radio signals had suddenly been detected. A singer whose family were from the original town had been sent an anonymous cassette tape, with recordings of them picked up from the region. Ubi Sunt is a new audio work by Flora Yin-Wong, commissioned by Somerset House Studios, composed of a tetralogy of sound pieces that abruptly jump between, cut up and stitch over six years of recordings captured in known and unknown locations - unlabelled and often lost sources. The connection between memory, emotion, and recorded moments that have accumulated on an iPhone is something that everyone could have their own version of. Hundreds of these snippets represent connections between the recall of memories, alternate worlds and spaces intangible, yet can be connected to across physical spaces. In collaboration with artist Go Watanabe, the series will be accompanied by artwork that adopts the underlying themes via the camera work of the film. The scene slowly moves horizontally from left to right, which reminds of the viewer the movement of playing cassette tapes, or driving a car through a road. Household objects are placed as if they are constructing a town. The objects were developed submerged in natural light from a window, but for this piece, the shade remains on the surfaces in a new space of absolute darkness. The remaining shadows are the metaphor of memories that carried from the past, said to emerge as ghosts. Varying from the sound of deep crunching snow in a forest in Hokkaido, Turkish EDM on the car radio, the rush of a reservoir in rural Wales, Buddhist monks chanting in Hangzhou, K-Pop in a teen clothing store in Seoul, and old vocal recordings - fragments that shift from the highly personal, nostalgic, to the extremely banal, or contrived and obnoxious are momentarily placed together. Flora Yin-Wong is a London-born, Chinese-Malaysian artist working with field recordings, dissonance, and influences from contemporary club culture. 

#1 Terrene, 'of, or like earth', focuses on the physicality of land and air.  Dungeness, UK: wind, gravel, Hokkaido, Japan: crows in the mountain, snow, Polyrrhenia ruins, Crete: aquaduct at night, Ubud, Bali: running stream, insects in rice paddy fields, Budapest, Hungary: tunnel, Chicago: subway, Unknown, Hong Kong: construction in distance, Belgium: car warehouse, Unknown: thunderstorm, snow.  Drawing inspiration from a story during a journey to the abandoned Arctic settlement of Pyramiden, Ubi Sunt is the culmination of years of collected sonic moments. It was said that from this archipelago in the far north, left behind by all of its 1000 inhabitants for over a decade, ‘ghost’ radio signals had suddenly been detected. A singer whose family were from the original town had been sent an anonymous cassette tape, with recordings of them picked up from the region. Ubi Sunt is a new audio work by Flora Yin-Wong, commissioned by Somerset House Studios, composed of a tetralogy of sound pieces that abruptly jump between, cut up and stitch over six years of recordings captured in known and unknown locations - unlabelled and often lost sources. The connection between memory, emotion, and recorded moments that have accumulated on an iPhone is something that everyone could have their own version of. Hundreds of these snippets represent connections between the recall of memories, alternate worlds and spaces intangible, yet can be connected to across physical spaces. In collaboration with artist Go Watanabe, the series will be accompanied by artwork that adopts the underlying themes via the camera work of the film. The scene slowly moves horizontally from left to right, which reminds of the viewer the movement of playing cassette tapes, or driving a car through a road. Household objects are placed as if they are constructing a town. The objects were developed submerged in natural light from a window, but for this piece, the shade remains on the surfaces in a new space of absolute darkness. The remaining shadows are the metaphor of memories that carried from the past, said to emerge as ghosts. Varying from the sound of deep crunching snow in a forest in Hokkaido, Turkish EDM on the car radio, the rush of a reservoir in rural Wales, Buddhist monks chanting in Hangzhou, K-Pop in a teen clothing store in Seoul, and old vocal recordings - fragments that shift from the highly personal, nostalgic, to the extremely banal, or contrived and obnoxious are momentarily placed together. Flora Yin-Wong is a London-born, Chinese-Malaysian artist working with field recordings, dissonance, and influences from contemporary club culture. 

How do we surf and ride the wave of existence? Breaking down the work of Maurice White, Marvin Gaye, Buju Banton, Tupac Shakur, and Matana Roberts, Somerset House Studios resident Nadeem Din-Gabisi explores the artists that have inspired him artistically, serving as influence to his new multi-media project, POOL.   POOL examines the mental health issues of many young Black men, born in inner and outer London. Touching on personal moments of trauma and happiness, POOL seeks to find peace within these moments, asking: how can we maintain ourselves in spite of all the external factors faced?  Nadeem Din-Gabisi's work is centred around the re-presentation of the black image, pertaining to people of African Descent and the limitlessness of what it means to be black, other and more than that. His practice has been influenced by many years of work as a youth and play worker. Nadeem has recently completed his Masters in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, performs regularly as part of the musical phenomenon Steam Down, and currently hosts a monthly radio show on NTS Radio. Nadeem has recently been collaborating with fellow artist Hadiru Mahdi at the George Padmore institute to realise an artistic response to their archive.   A Reduced Listening and Somerset House Studios production. Produced by Femi Oriogun-Williams, hosted by Nadeem Din-Gabisi.  

How can we use technology to nurture a more inclusive culture in digital art, electronic music, and beyond? In June 2019, Somerset House Studios partnered with Mutek and the British Council to host the Amplify Residency, bringing together eleven female and non-binary digital artists and electronic musicians from across world for a week of talks, presentations and performances. Artists in residence rkss, Ale Hop, Sabrina Ratte and Milena Pafundi reflect upon (Inter-), a 2-day programme of installations, presentations, panel discussions and live performances exploring image, sound and digital art. Ursula K. Le Guin wrote that “technology is the active human interface with the material world”. From the digital tools that platform and enable activism, to architecture that tacitly governs our movement through space, technology has changed the ways in which we create, communicate and relate to each other.  (Inter-) is born out of Amplify, an ambitious initiative that connects an active network of female-identifying artists and curators working in the digital arts and immersive storytelling sectors in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and the UK. Amplify took place for the first time during MUTEK Montréal in 2018, followed by editions at Mutek in Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Eleven artists from the UK and Americas were in residence at Somerset House for 5 days, including Milena Pafundi and Prifma from Argentina, Edna King, x/o, Push 1stop & Wiklow, RAMZi, and Sabrina Ratte from Canada, Ale Hop and Analucia Roeder will represent Peru and from the UK, Marija Bozinovska Jones and rkss. In Partnership with British Council and MUTEK. Canadian Amplify artists are supported by the British Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. A Reduced Listening and Somerset House Studios production. Produced by Jessie Lawson. Mixing by Steve Wyatt. 

Musician, producer, DJ and Somerset House Studios resident Nabihah Iqbal invited artist and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans to share and discuss the music that is most important to him in front of an intimate audience. The talk and collective listening experience was part of the Glory to Sound series - talks, live shows and club nights, with the aim to experience and explore music from different perspectives, and to think about what it means to us. Wolfgang Tillmans Born in 1968 in Remscheid, Germany, Wolfgang Tillmans studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design in Bournemouth, UK, from 1990 to 1992. In 2000, Tillmans was the first non-British artist and the first photographer to receive the Turner Prize. In 2013 he was appointed member of the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2015, he was awarded the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. Since the early 1990s, Tillmans’s work has been the subject of prominent solo exhibitions at international institutions; in recent years at Kunsthalle Zürich (2012), Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2012–2013), Kunstsammlung Düsseldorf – K21 in Düsseldorf (2013), the National Museum of Art in Osaka (2015), Serralves Museum in Porto (2016), Tate Modern in London (2017), Fondation Beyeler in Basel/Riehen (2017), Kunstverein in Hamburg (2017) and Carré d’Art – Musée d’art contemporain in Nîmes (2018), amongst others. In the beginning of 2018, Tillmans opened solo exhibitions at Musée d’Art Contemporain et de Multimédias in Kinshasa, at Circle Art Gallery and at GoDown Arts Centre Nairobi and at Johannesburg Art Gallery, the first stops of an exhibition tour of Africa and Asia organised by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen. Since the 1990s Wolfgang Tillmans has produced numerous publications and editorials, nearly all conceived and designed by the artist himself. Since 2016, Tillmans has put renewed focus on his enduring interest in music, producing his own songs and music videos, as well as making live appearances as a musician and DJ. He has operated the nonprofit exhibition space Between Bridges since 2006. First located in London until 2011, he reopened it in January 2014 in Berlin. Wolfgang Tillmans lives and works in Berlin and London. Nabihah Iqbal Many musicians like to speak of versatility, but Nabihah Iqbal has better grounds than most. She boasts an MPhil (focused on African history) from Cambridge, has worked in human rights law and has a black belt in Karate. Formerly known as Throwing Shade, she has ditched that moniker to embrace the name she was born with. She released her debut album ‘Weighing of the Heart’ in December 2017 and has since garnered huge critical acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork, Dazed, The Observer, Q Magazine, BBC Radio 1 and 6Music. Since 2013, Nabihah has hosted a bi-weekly show on NTS Radio exploring the musical traditions of different countries, and released a string of EPs on labels Ominira, No Pain in Pop and Ninja Tune. She collaborated with Chinese artist Zhang Ding for the ICA, been commissioned by Tate to compose music for the Turner Prize, worked with Wolfgang Tillmans as part of his Tate Modern exhibition and was recently involved in a group performance at the Barbican as part of its major Basquiat retrospective. Other live highlights include performing at K11 Art Institute in Shanghai, Synthposium in Moscow, Inner Varnika festival in Australia and SXSW in Austin, TX.

The importance of Queer spaces Since 2006 London alone has lost more than half of its LGBTQIA+ spaces. In this episode we explore what it means to be queer and the act of queering itself. Speaking to creatives and activists who are finding new ways of transforming and performing in Queer spaces, and why these spaces are so vital to the city and its future.  Contributors Amy Lamé  Amy Lamé (https://twitter.com/amylame?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) is the night Czar of London, appointed in 2016 by Sadiq Khan. She is co-founder of the Olivier Award-winning arts company and club night Duckie (http://www.duckie.co.uk/saturdays) , and co-founded RVT Future, a voluntary LGBT+ community group campaigning to preserve the iconic Royal Vauxhall Tavern (http://www.vauxhalltavern.com) . She broadcasted for a decade on BBC Radio London, and now hosts Sunday afternoons on BBC6 Music.  Lucas LaRochelle Lucas LaRochelle (http://lucaslarochelle.com) is a multidisciplinary designer and researcher examining queerness, technology, and architecture. They are the founder of Queering The Map (https://www.queeringthemap.com/) , a community generated counter-mapping project that archives queer moments, memories, and histories in relation to physical space. Queering The Map received an Honorary Mention for the 2018 Prix Ars Electronica, was longlisted for the Lumen Prize for Digital Art and the Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards, and is included in the Library of Congress LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive. Nadine Artois of Pxssy Palace  Nadine Artois (https://www.instagram.com/nadineartois/?hl=en) is a queer, femme, Desi DJ, community leader and cultural consultant based in London who has been working at the intersection of nightlife and activism since 2015. They co-founded Pxssy Palace (https://www.instagram.com/pxssypalace/?hl=en) , a collective that creates spaces which prioritise QTIPOC as well as educating wider audiences so that queer, trans & intersex people of colour can live their lives with more authenticity and acceptance . Jim MacSweeney  Jim MacSweeney is the manager of London’s only LGBTQ+ bookshop, Gays the Word (https://twitter.com/gaystheword?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) and has been for nearly 30 years. Located in Bloomsbury and founded in 1979, Gays the Word has been an iconic venue selling a wide range of books and serving as a meeting point for communities and organisations - including Lesbians and Gays Support the miners in the early 80s, and most recently TransLondon.  Ingo Cando  Ingo Cando is the founder & creator of Wotever World (https://woteverworld.com/) , which includes Bar Wotever a Queer cabaret hosted every Tuesday by the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (http://www.vauxhalltavern.com) , the Queer Fayre, FMAS, Non Binary Cabaret and much more. Ingo is also a LGBTQIA+ Social Consult for venues and organisations. Hosts Clara Finnigan & Conor Rigby   Feminist Internet is a group of artists and designers working to advance internet equalities for women and other marginalised groups through critical practice. In this podcast series, the group will explore the theme of Recoding Spaces, both online and offline, with the aim of diversifying internet spaces metaphorically, physically and digitally, intercepting homogenous zones and breaking the filter bubble. The podcast aims to not only expose these spaces, but to regenerate them in new and inclusive ways.  The Feminist Internet Podcast, commissioned and produced by Somerset House Studios with the support of the UAL Creative Computing Institute. Producer: Eleanor Scott Sound Design: Harry Murdoch

Has the internet truly brought autonomy to musicians?  The Internet has changed the way we make, share and listen to music. Now, more than ever, female and non binary artists should have the opportunity to be heard on their own terms. But what are the effects of algorithm led streaming sites on artist autonomy, our listening habits and the value of music? In this episode we speak to those in and around the music industry who are challenging the way we make and consume music in the age of streaming.  Contributors Liz Pelly  Liz Pelly (https://twitter.com/lizpelly) writes about music, culture, streaming and the internet. She is a contributing editor at The Baffler, (https://thebaffler.com/) where she writes a column about how the world of music is being reshaped by the platform economy. Her byline has also recently appeared in the pages of Bitch, Frieze, and Logic Magazine. In 2018, she received a Reeperbahn Festival International Music Journalism Award for The Year's Best Work of Music Journalism. She lives in New York.  Terry Tyldesley Terry Tyldesley is chair of the board of new ethical music streaming platform Resonate. (https://resonate.is) Resonate is a co-operative platform on a mission to rewire the music industry so that everyone has a voice, not just corporations. Terry is also a songwriter and producer, and frontrunner of electro-punk band Feral Five (https://feralfive.bandcamp.com) . She produced and curated Music Tech Festival (https://musictechfest.net) Berlin.  Moonbow of SIREN Collective  SIREN (https://twitter.com/sirenldn?lang=en-gb) is a collective focused on challenging and re-defining current preconceptions within dance music. Their parties, zine, mix series, monthly NTS Radio show (https://www.nts.live/shows/siren) and workshops are musical and political platforms for women & non-binary people, and prioritise accessibility. Expanding upon this work is their recent video series project "The Shape Of Sound" (https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/assembly/siren-shape-of-sound) which was created in collaboration with Somerset House Studios. Mick Grierson  Mick Grierson is Research Leader at UAL Creative Computing Institute. (https://www.arts.ac.uk/creative-computing-institute) His research explores new approaches to the creation of sounds, images, video and interactions through signal processing, machine learning and information retrieval techniques. He is working on an AI sound project in collaboration with Massive Attack, to be unveiled as part of the unprecedented Barbican exhibition AI: More Than Human (https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2019/event/ai-more-than-human) in May 2019.  Hosts Clara Finnigan Clara is a writer, podcaster and founding member of the Feminist Internet. Clara’s work is focused on facilitating alternative and under represented dialogues in new and accessible ways. She is also the co-founder and editor of a new music journalism platform, Hook - which explores how music is made, how it is consumed, and what it does to us emotionally, socially and physically. Rhiannon Williams Rhiannon is a poet and writer, and a founding member of Feminist Internet. She is a  researcher with Arup’s Foresight Department, and her first poetry collection, Saturnine/Saturnalia (https://store.eyewearpublishing.com/products/saturnine-saturnalia) , was published last year. She writes about gender, technology, sexuality, music, and conflicted space.  Feminist Internet is a group of artists and designers working to advance internet equalities for women and other marginalised groups through critical practice. In this podcast series, the group will explore the theme of Recoding Spaces, both online and offline, with the aim of diversifying internet spaces metaphorically, physically and digitally, intercepting homogenous zones and breaking the filter bubble. The podcast aims to not only expose these spaces, but to regenerate them in new and inclusive ways.  The Feminist Internet Podcast, commissioned and produced by Somerset House Studios with the support of the UAL Creative Computing Institute. Producer: Eleanor Scott Sound Design: Harry Murdoch

Shaking off the shame of womxn's rage It has been argued that 2018 was the year womxn’s rage filled our screens, and a pivotal time for womxn freely expressing their anger. In this episode, we talk about whether as womxn we are beginning to shake off the shame that comes with being angry, explore different types of anger but crucially, question who in our society is allowed to be angry, and who is not. Contributors  Charlie Craggs  Charlie Craggs is a trans activist and author of the book “To My Trans Sisters”. She is the founder of Nail Transphobia, an organisation and campaign which aims to educate people on trans issues and make new allies through giving manicures. Charlie is #1 on the Guardian New Radicals List of British Social Innovators, and a brand ambassador for the London Trans Clinic.  Seyi Akiwowo Seyi Akiwowo is the Founder and Executive Director of Glitch, a growing not-for-profit advocacy, campaigning and training organisation that aims to end online abuse. She has spoken all over the world, including in Washington DC, Istanbul and Geneva. Seyi was invited back to Geneva to present at the 38th United Nations Human Rights Council on online-gender based violence. Soraya Chemaly Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer and media critic whose writing appears regularly in national and international media including The Atlantic, Quartz, TIME, the Guardian and the New Statesman. She speaks frequently on topics related to inclusivity, free speech, sexualized violence, data and technology. She recently published the book “Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger”.  Kate Durbin  Kate Durbin is a Los-Angeles based artist, writer and filmmaker. Her work explores popular culture, gender and digital media. We spoke to her about her latest piece, a short film called ‘Unfriend Me Now!’ that examines the role how Facebook’s algorithm has spurred increasing political polarisation, and how that polarisation - and namely, rage - has been co-opted by corporate interests. Hosts Clara Finnigan  Clara is a writer, podcaster and founding member of the Feminist Internet. Clara’s work is focused on facilitating alternative and under represented dialogues in new and accessible ways. She is also the co-founder and editor of a new music journalism platform, Hook - which explores how music is made, how it is consumed, and what it does to us emotionally, socially and physically. Sabrina Faramarzi  Sabrina Faramarzi is a journalist, futures researcher and trend analyst, as well as one of the founding members of Feminist Internet. Her work explores patterns across lifestyle and society, as well as women’s issues and internet culture. She has written for The Guardian, Wired and VICE, amongst others and has spoken at conferences and events across Europe, Middle East and Asia.  Feminist Internet is a group of artists and designers working to advance internet equalities for women and other marginalised groups through critical practice. In this podcast series, the group will explore the theme of Recoding Spaces, both online and offline, with the aim of diversifying internet spaces metaphorically, physically and digitally, intercepting homogenous zones and breaking the filter bubble. The podcast aims to not only expose these spaces, but to regenerate them in new and inclusive ways.  The Feminist Internet Podcast, commissioned and produced by Somerset House Studios with the support of the UAL Creative Computing Institute. Producer: Eleanor Scott 
Sound Design: Harry Murdoch

Is a Feminist Alexa possible?  The voice of Alexa is everywhere. It is estimated that 70% of recorded voices in the UK are female or female sounding. But what are the consequences of having such gendered voices encoded into our space? And what is the potential of voice technology outside of commercial contexts? In this episode, we speak to the learning partners and students of the UAL Feminist Alexa workshop to explore what voice technology could be, and why we need an alternative to the default Alexa.  Contributors  Alex Fefegha  Alex is the co-founder & head creative technologist at Comuzi, a future focused creative technology agency, working at the intersection of emerging technology and humans. Some of Comuzi's clients include Nike, ASOS, Uber, BBC, University of Arts London, Ustwo, Moramma and the NHS. Josie Young  Josie Young advocates for designing Artificial Intelligence (AI) products and systems using ethical and feminist principles. In 2017, she developed and tested a design process for building feminist chatbots. Josie works in London at Methods, leading work to understand the most ethical and appropriate ways to deploy AI in the public sector.  Charlotte Webb  Dr Charlotte Webb is co-founder of Feminist Internet and acting course leader at the Creative Computing Institute, UAL. Recently nominated by the Evening Standard as one of the most influential people in Technology and Science in London, she is passionate about making the internet a more equal place through creative, critical practice.  Hosts Clara Finnigan Clara is a writer, podcaster and founding member of the Feminist Internet. Clara’s work is focused on facilitating alternative and under represented dialogues in new and accessible ways. She is also the co-founder and editor of a new music journalism platform, Hook - which explores how music is made, how it is consumed, and what it does to us emotionally, socially and physically. Eden Clark  Eden is a digital collage artist, performer, and a founding member of feminist internet. Her practice uses a character (@femminancybitch69) to parody [post] feminist narratives that infiltrate popular culture and capitalist marketing strategies. Her interests lie in high-femme pop culture, memes, and how to make the internet a fairer place for all! The Feminist Internet Podcast, commissioned and produced by Somerset House Studios with the support of the UAL Creative Computing Institute. Producer: Eleanor Scott 
Sound Design: Harry Murdoch -- Here is the re-launch of the first Feminist Internet podcast episode, Recoding Voice Technology. Following its initial launch, we were made aware that one contributor has separately expressed views we do not align ourselves with. After much discussion and in recognition that this inclusion has upset some in our networks, we support the decision to remove this contributor’s segment from the episode. Enjoy! 

Dating apps, gamification and blockchain technologies. Marija Bozinovska Jones and Dr Alessandro Gandini address how dating apps influence the forming of technologically-mediated intimate relationships in a project exploring what decentralised organisational models bring into online dating cultures. As part of this project Athame, a LARP (Live Action Role Play) which was conceptually created by artist collective OMSK Social Club, and based on research informed by Technologically Fabricated Intimacy by Marija Bozinovska Jones and Dr. Alessandro Gandini was hosted at Somerset House Studios on 17, 18 and 19 January 2019. The podcast was recorded prior to the LARP event and some details may have changed since the recording.  Academics and artists work together to offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. Now in its second year, the King’s College London x Somerset House Studios scheme sees Studios residents receive support to collaborate with King’s researchers, with each artist-academic partnership creating projects that test ideas and offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/kings-college-london-x-somerset-house-studios-scheme-2018

A live art-science research event from Thought Collider and Dr Charlotte Wells including a series of public experiments, performances and discussions, 3 Days of Fat focuses on the construction of an island of fat. Inspired by Fatberg, an ongoing artistic research project by Thought Collider and artist Arne Hendriks, 3 Days of Fat brought the artists and the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s together with a diverse range of guests and the public, to experience and discuss our complex relationship with fat as substance. Academics and artists work together to offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. Now in its second year, the King’s College London x Somerset House Studios scheme sees Studios residents receive support to collaborate with King’s researchers, with each artist-academic partnership creating projects that test ideas and offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/kings-college-london-x-somerset-house-studios-scheme-2018

A collaboration between FRAUD and Dr Btihaj Ajana, Euro-vision examines the archaeology of operations of predictive technologies and how these structure the emergence and evolution of migrant flows. Academics and artists work together to offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. Now in its second year, the King’s College London x Somerset House Studios scheme sees Studios residents receive support to collaborate with King’s researchers, with each artist-academic partnership creating projects that test ideas and offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/kings-college-london-x-somerset-house-studios-scheme-2018

Ted Hunt and King’s Professor in Philosophy of Mind Matthew Soteriou couple the practice of design and philosophy to actively ask: to what extent does the way we represent time reflect mind-independent, objective features of temporal reality, and what is subjective in our representation of time? What is fixed and what is malleable?  Academics and artists work together to offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. Now in its second year, the King’s College London x Somerset House Studios scheme sees Studios residents receive support to collaborate with King’s researchers, with each artist-academic partnership creating projects that test ideas and offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/kings-college-london-x-somerset-house-studios-scheme-2018

With the aim of encouraging a co-production of indigenous and scientific knowledge to tackle climate extremes, filmmaker Maeve Brennan and researchers from King’s Department of Geography, Dr Camilla Audia and Frances Crowley, researched the knowledge and expertise held in Burkina Faso’s rural households; homes that are subject to the most immediate and dramatic effects of climate change. Academics and artists work together to offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. Now in its second year, the King’s College London x Somerset House Studios scheme sees Studios residents receive support to collaborate with King’s researchers, with each artist-academic partnership creating projects that test ideas and offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/kings-college-london-x-somerset-house-studios-scheme-2018

Highlights from ~> RADIO ASSEMBLY, broadcast from Somerset House Studios with artist shows, discussions, sonic explorations and music from ASSEMBLY and beyond. In November 2018, Somerset House Studios presented the inaugural ASSEMBLY with five days of sound and performance extolling the best in contemporary electronic and experimental music and the makers behind it. Bringing together Studios artists, international talent and forward-thinking audiences, ASSEMBLY’s multi-disciplinary programme presented newly commissioned works alongside several first performances and UK premieres. Listen back to the full selection of shows ~> www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/assembly/radio-assembly Produced by Reduced Listening for Somerset House Studios.

Somerset House Studios resident Jacob Samuel, one half of Album Corp, talks bots, Oasis and recent projects including If You Die in Roblox You Die IRL, and making music with musician/saxophonist Ben Vince.  Recorded earlier in the summer Jacob Samuel introduces the concept underpinning the work If You Die in Roblox You Die IRL, an adaptive audio/visual installation by Album Corp presented at the exhibition Complex Value$. With visuals and text by Jacob Samuel and music by Klein, the virtual world constructs and dissembles itself according to the statistics created by live birth and death rates. Based on online gaming environments and on what is left over by these when they cease to be used.  Album Corp is a collaboration between South London based artist Klein and musician Jacob Samuel. Their practice explores sounds, the movement within sisterhood and the idea of vulnerability with youth.

Somerset House Studios resident Gaika talks to Novara Media’s Ash Sarkar about the politics of sound system culture, Windrush and SYSTEM, a month-long audio visual installation, exploring themes of immigration, cultural expression and raw technical prowess which is at the heart of sound system culture through archival source material, commissioned by Boiler Room. SYSTEM at Somerset House Studios until 26 August www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/system-by-gaika BIOGRAPHIES Ash Sarkar is a writer, broadcaster, journalist and lecturer living in London. She is a Senior Editor at Novara Media, where her work focuses on race, gender, class and power. As part of her work, she has appeared on numerous panels, hosted live events, and interviewed frontbench politicians on everything from foreign policy to football opinions. Ash supports Tottenham Hotspur, and has never knowingly kissed a Tory. Gaika is a multidisciplinary recording and visual artist, working across genres and platforms to create compelling audiovisual experiences. The technically complex worlds Gaika creates merge the futuristic with contemporary culture, with his 2016 debut mixtape Blasphemer shifting the paradigms of what it means to be a black musician in Britain today. Recorded at Somerset House Studios on 15 Aug 2018.

Introducing Somerset House Studios residents OOMK (One of my Kind), an art publishing collective run by Sofia Niazi, Rose Nordin and Heiba Lamara. Founded in 2016, the trio publishes a biannual zine focussed on women, art and activism and curate and programme publishing events exploring the role of arts in social practice, alternative education and centring marginalised voices through print. In July 2018, OOMK co-curate PROCESS!, a new two-day print publishing festival interrogating the making of independent media.

London-based musician Nabihah Iqbal joined Imran Perretta for the second event in the Listening Party series. Curated by Somerset House Studios resident Imran Perretta, the series brings together an array of artists and musicians, each exploring the unique sonic and visual cultures that underpin their practice. The artists will explore their deepest cuts, from music videos obsessions to unreleased album tracks, each meditating on the influences that have shaped their identity and their creative output.  Many musicians like to speak of versatility, but Nabihah has better grounds than most. She boasts an MPhil (focused on African history) from Cambridge, experience working in human rights law and a black belt in Karate. Formerly known as Throwing Shade, she’s ditched that moniker to embrace the name she was born with. Readying her debut album for Ninja Tune, “Weighing of the Heart” it’s a big statement in two ways: first, because she’s taken her real name to stand proudly as a female British Asian artists making music and, secondly, because she’s moved her music in a bolder, more expansive direction. The Listening Party Series culminates in an event at the Deadhouse on Friday 29 June, with exclusive DJ sets from Imran Perretta, Nabihah Iqbal and a headline DJ set from Manara.

Episode 3 of ‘Open Your Palm, Feel the Dust Settling There’ - a new three-part audio work by artist and Savage Messiah author Laura Grace Ford, generated by psychogeographic walks – drifts – through the Latimer Road, Hammersmith and White City areas of West London. Ford lives in a social housing block where concerns persist about the safety of cladding. Post-Grenfell, narratives were imposed and voices were excluded. Drifts through living rooms, abandoned buildings, and back rooms of pubs allow stories to proliferate from a network of hidden interiors; walking becomes a political strategy, a way of engaging with the collective intensities held in the fabric of a place. From this process of tuning into these collective channels, Grenfell Tower emerges as a dominant thread in the spatial narratives uncovered on these walks. This series is a mapping of the repercussions and tremors radiating from this moment; most audible in the nomadic and transient zones, Wormwood Scrubs, Hammersmith Hospital, the spaces underneath the Westway. Laura will present a live audio visual performance of the work on 27 June at Somerset House Studios.  https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/open-your-palm-feel-dust-settling-there

‘Open Your Palm, Feel the Dust Settling There’ - a new three-part audio work by artist and Savage Messiah author Laura Grace Ford, generated by psychogeographic walks – drifts – through the Latimer Road, Hammersmith and White City areas of West London. The series reconnects Ford with the counter-narratives of Latimer Road by walking with a personal network of squatters, activists and soundsystems, as well as friends made during a decade of public sector work in the area. In 2005, Ford captured the affective currents of the Latimer Road area in her zine Savage Messiah where she connected with flashpoints of counter-cultural intensity. The new work is both a lament and the channelling of an incendiary pulse, it is a retracing of steps, a map of warnings left unheeded. Laura will present a live audio visual performance of the work on 27 June at Somerset House Studios.  https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/open-your-palm-feel-dust-settling-there

A new three-part audio work by artist and Savage Messiah author Laura Grace Ford, generated by psychogeographic walks – drifts – through the Latimer Road, Hammersmith and White City areas of West London. Comprised of a conflation of spoken text and sound collage, Open Your Palm is an audio work responding to the psychic and emotional contours of the city. Made from field recordings and fragments of found music, the spectral sectors of the city permeate its three episodes. The channelling of voices based on real encounters allows for an intersubjective relationship with the terrain, an approach to sound and text as a form of psychic ventriloquy.  Laura will present a live audio visual performance of the work on 27 June at Somerset House Studios.  https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/open-your-palm-feel-dust-settling-there

Ewa Justka is a polish electronic artist, instrument builder and electronics teacher based in London. As part of a residency with Music Hackspace she has run a series of workshops on DIY synth design, prototyping and PCB which culminated with a live event co-curated with EVOL. This podcast explores her residency though interviews with Ewa, Music Hackspace, and course participants. This is the first in a series of 3 month residencies by Music Hackspace in which Artists are encouraged to explore their ideas, creative practice, and to develop their skills through connecting with and contributing to the Music Hackspace community. From 2017 to mid 2019, Music Hackspace is a resident of Somerset House Studios and over this time holds a studio space in the Studio’s vaults. Music Hackspace is a platform for experimenting and interacting with sound and technology. It incorporates diverse methodologies and aim to create an open playground and exchange of ideas and sounds that embraces new and old technologies. The Music Hackspace programme is produced and curated by Tadeo Sendon and Susanna Garcia. Podcast produced by Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios

A new series delving into the influences of British-South Asian artists. Curated and hosted by Imran Perretta. For the first event, Imran was in conversation Paul Purgas, a multidisciplinary artist working with sound, performance and installation. Paul is also one half of Emptyset, a London/Berlin based production project formed in 2005 with James Ginzburg. The Listening Party series brings together an array of artists and musicians, each exploring the unique sonic and visual cultures that underpin their practice. In conversation with Somerset House Studios resident, Imran Perretta, the artists will explore their deepest cuts, from music videos obsessions to unreleased album tracks, each meditating on the influences that have shaped their identity and their creative output. Next up: Nabihah Iqbal on 25 May.

Associate Artist Jennifer Walshe presents her project Aisteach, the fictional Avant-Garde Archive of Ireland. Recorded during the 2018 edition of Sonic Acts Academy, Amsterdam where Walche was performing and screening the film An Gléacht alongside Mario de Vega. Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde is a fictional history of the musical avant-garde in Ireland which spans 187 years, and is housed at aisteach.org, the website of the Aisteach Foundation, a fictional organisation which purports to be ”The Avant-Garde Archive of Ireland.” For the project, Walshe engaged a huge team of collaborators and created compositions, recordings, scores, articles and ephemera. An Gléacht Outsider artist Caoimhín Breathnach (1934–2009) lived as a recluse in the Irish village of Knockvicar for all of his life. Breathnach’s artistic practice focussed on the creation of ‘subliminal’ tapes and films, which he believed possessed the capacity to shift consciousness. In these works, Ogham magickal scales, crystallography, astronomy, folklore, and natural phenomena are combined with found audio and visual material to produce an idiosyncratic and esoteric system of correspondences. Breathnach spent the last years of his life planning a film called An Gléacht. The work was to combine subliminal tapes and films with filmed footage showing a sequence of occult rituals at sites in Ireland ranging from the Hellmouth door in the Caves of Kesh to the Tobernalt holy well. In 2015, the Cork Film Festival commissioned Jennifer Walshe – Breathnach’s great-niece – to complete An Gléacht. The film has been shown worldwide with live musical accompaniment from musicians, including Okkyung Lee, David Grubbs, Toshimaru Nakamura, Martin Taxt, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Chris Heenan, Tomomi Adachi and more.