Unsound

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AGILE GROUP #5 PROJECT:

‘Unsound’

15th February 2018

GaleriE106, E Block, Chelsea College of Arts,
16 John Islip St, London, SW1P 4JU

Each term we are required to participate in ‘agile sessions’, which are essentially used to get us thinking quickly, in order to curate an exhibition using an array of methods (whether that includes objects, artwork or readings) that encompass a theme or particular subject matter. Placed into small groups, the idea is to curate a smaller exhibition that showcases work in the GaleriE106 location in E Block of the Chelsea Campus. This is then critically reviewed and is opened up to a discourse and evaluation.

In my team of four, we had a keen interest to experiment with sound for our agile session. With the medium partly decided, we began to agree on a theme and concept for the show, along with any other sound works that we could potentially include within the agile.

Methodology

During our first meeting, one member of the team pointed out that they were exhilarated by an event they went to see at the British Library over the Christmas break. This was a conference attended by many public speakers, one of which was Royal College of Art lecturer, Nina Powers. At the event, Powers spoke about the role of the female voice within the public realm; for example, speaking specifically about the reassuring voices we hear on public transport which firmly alert us to be attentive during times of awareness.

Powers’ feminist lens provided our group with an intriguing starting point and interest within this subject matter, so we pursued to research further in order to agree on a concrete idea. The next meeting we had, we all became fascinated by the Her Noise Archive which was discovered whilst researching around Nina Powers and the work she had produced around this notion regarding the female voice.

Her Noise, which was originally initiated by Lina Džuverović and Anne Hilde Neset in 2001, both had a specific aim to create a lasting resource that collected materials investigating music and sound histories in relation to gender. In 2005, both Džuverović and Hilde Neset co-curated Her Noise, which, at first was an exhibition, that was continually built on their research. The exhibition initially took place at the South London Gallery, which then later moved to other institutions such as Tate Modern and Goethe Institut. For the purpose of the exhibition, both Džuverović and Hilde Neset brought together a wider network of female artists who use sound as their primary medium to investigate social relations, inspire action or uncover hidden soundscapes. The Her Noise show included newly commissioned works by artists such as Kim Gordon & Jutta Koether, Emma Hedditch, Christina Kubisch, and Marina Rosenfeld, as well as a variety of other talks and performances.

Whilst Her Noise also exists as a physical archive (which we discovered, is kept at the UAL London College of Communication Special Collections) it also includes on their website, key elements of the original project, video interviews with each artists, a behind the scenes documentary with both curators and other videos responses regarding the exhibition. With that in mind, we got in touch with the relevant people in charge of the Special Collections at LCC via email to see if we could visit the archive in person.

Whilst planning the agile, one member of the team mentioned a text written by Canadian theorist of communication, Marshall McLuhan, and believed that it could be extremely pertinent to include, especially in terms of coercing his ideas for the purpose of our show. Predominantly, in regard to the way that we send and receive information, which can be considered more important than the information itself. The particular text that we wanted to focus on was a chapter within his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man which was titled The Medium is the Message written in 1964.

One of McLuhan’s more basic validations and one that he highlights within this chapter is the light bulb. He explains that a light bulb is (“a medium without a message”) in the same way that a newspaper has separate articles, or a television has its own programmes, yet the light bulb has a medium that has a completely different social impact. This is, that a light bulb enables people to see and create spaces during night-time that would otherwise be unnoticed due to the darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content and states "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence”.

The way in which we believed McLuhan’s essay could be considered relevant to our agile is in connection with the Her Noise Archive, this is by the way people who visited the exhibition at the South London Gallery, claimed it at first didn’t appear to be an exhibition, but a workshop/practice studio. Visitors noted it wasn’t ‘pristine’ as there was plenty of activity throughout, so at times it appeared chaotic and unclear, however, the underlying message and impact was that each artist was investigating music and sound histories in relation to gender, bringing together female voices who use sound as a medium.

Following on from the brainstorming of ideas, we managed to get an appointment with LCC Special Collections which enabled us to visit the Her Noise Archive and see the material first hand. Throughout the visit we had already planned which sections we wanted to look at in particular as we felt it was important to be organised so we could make the most of experiencing the material, whilst be able to write notes and plan for what we wanted to use.

(L-R) Sarah, Laura and myself at the UAL London College of Communication- Special Collections Archive Hub looking at the material from the Her Noise Archive (Photo credit: Cheryl Guo)

After looking at a large percentage of the video content (most of which were of the performances from the opening night at the South London Gallery) we discovered that a great proportion of the sound material that was specifically shown within the physical archive, was also accessible online on the Her Noise website which for us, was incredibly useful. This meant that we could use the sound material freely for the agile and focus on incorporating more of the other elements, that weren’t just about the sound performances; these being the essays and text that were integrated into the Her Noise catalogue.

The essays particularly caught our attention as they required you to personally engage and interact with the catalogue, meaning that you would be left with other thoughts and observations by writers and other contributing artists within the show. When reading them at the archive, it became apparent that the essays were used as an injection of additional dialogue for the overall discourse and conversation that the curators wanted to inhabit for the overall show. We were drawn to specific essays that projected the overall theme and message of the Her Noise exhibition; which was to reinforce both Džuverović and Hilde Neset’s ambition to investigate music and sound histories in relation to gender, and to evidently create a lasting resource.

As there were a few essays to pick from, we shortlisted the ones that we wanted to potentially express within the agile critique. The first selection, was an essay written by Christoph Cox titled: A La Recherche d’une Musique Féminine. Cox wrote about feminist efforts to recognize women as sound artists and composers. He believes that historically prominent female figures have often been overlooked, especially artists such as Pauline Oliveros (who he mentions within the essay). As a group we felt the text would provide a unique standpoint from a male perspective investigating female sound artists aiming to achieve exposure and recognition. As we were drawing out work that was produced to highlight the female voice, it felt fitting to include the perspective from a male writer, discussing this issue too as it was important approach this agile from a fair and equal position.

Other text works that we decided to ask the archive to photocopy were mainly other texts surrounding this theme of recognition and the female voice being overlooked and ignored. One of which was titled: Kim Gordon & Jutta Koether: Reverse Karaoke. I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar written by Jan Avgikos. Avgikos talks in this shorter essay about the lack of female artists (who in her eyes, are influential figures) being acknowledged within mainstream music. She mentions her frustration when coming across a historical survey on the television about the greatest rock bands- none of which were women. The heart of the essay reiterates the significance of what Kim Gordon and Jutta Koether are aiming to achieve within ‘Reverse Karaoke’ and Avgikos believes they are opening up new spaces to hybridise music and art.

Another essay we photocopied was titled: Q&A: Kim Gordon- Interview by Jutta Koether. The Her Noise contributors talk about Gordon’s process, where initial ideas for her work ‘Reverse Karaoke’ came from, her background in painting, previously being in a band, their collaboration together and other key moments in her career. This question and answer text was more a casual piece of writing which we felt could provide a way into the thought process of the artists, while also providing an awareness to the complex sound setup for ‘Reverse Karaoke’ and the technical implications both Gordon and Koether faced. We were very mindful that some of our fellow classmates might not have heard of any of these artists before, or the Her Noise exhibition for that matter, so we felt it was incredibly valuable to give context where it was needed and allow the viewer a way into the discussions and dialogue.

The final essay was by Drew Daniel, titled: Interactivity Thick and Thin which he wrote in 2006. In this essay, Daniel discusses the times we are living in today regarding the rise of the Internet, stating that the consequential result of it has led to what he calls “fake interaction”. This to us, was a fascinating and an essay, exploring current themes concerning interactivity and the means to be acknowledged and appreciated. We were certain that this essay could create an interesting discourse in combination with Marshall McLuhan’s text The Medium is the Message.

Within Daniel’s essay he quotes “I am now the commander of the spectacle” [1]which we believed related to this idea that McLuhan discusses about becoming producers and consumers of information; that we are instantly connected online via social media, meaning that we do less actual physical interaction, but online instead which Drew argues is disappearing in our modern-day society. The inclusion of McLuhan’s text evidently to us, showed purpose in relation to the theorist’s pre-internet ideologies which he concluded in 1967. His quotes show how prophetic they have turned out to be 53 years on in relation to the age we are living in today, and as we are looking at his essay from a modern perspective, it connects with arguments raised in Drew Daniel’s piece also.

After we had selected reading material from the Her Noise Archive our next task was to decide how we wanted it displayed. As for the selected texts from the Her Noise catalogue, we decided that by annotating each copy, incorporated our voice and our own interpretation of each text. These would then be exhibited as marked versions, giving to our audience a new dialogue created by us as curators. We realised this was a way of connecting not just the Her Noise exhibition and the voices that both curators wanted to elevate, but other contributors that wrote for the catalogue, as well as our own. This was a process we all sat down together and produced collectively, which involved reading and annotating thoroughly, having conversations and a dialogue within our own creative circle.

At this point, we already knew that we could access the sound works online via the Her Noise website, but it was more a question of which one to select for the exhibition as there were a lot of performances to choose from. In the end, we decided to select Kim Gordon and Jutter Koether’s work, ‘Reverse Karaoke’ which was essentially the original 5-minute sound performance which they recorded at the opening for Her Noise at South London Gallery.

We were drawn to this piece in particular as Gordon questions the ownership and longevity of sound. She invited the visitor to record their own version alongside her pre-recorded vocal track containing her own voice. ‘Reverse Karaoke’ demonstrates the process of music making and the importance of being in the moment, especially for a one-off performance. This idea of ephemerality becomes important in relation to performing sound work and questions who ultimately takes ownership of the work.

By including this piece in the agile, we are showing that not all exhibitions have to be visual and highlighting that most of what is captured of the Her Noise Archive were the traces that are left of the sound performances. We decided that we would play ‘Reverse Karaoke’ out loud during the agile critique as it adopts its own presence in a new context. Ultimately, we are working with a living, evolving archive, with the intention that it remains an active space, operating as a starting point for new investigations, research and exploration.

Whilst concluding our final annotated copies for the agile, another member of our team came across an essay by Tara Rodgers which was titled: Towards a Feminist Historiography of Electronic Music[2]. Within this essay she projects her arguments surrounding feminism within art; exploring the origins of electronic music, examples of women with electronic music whilst also discussing in great depth, American composer, John Cage who produced of the most noteworthy works titled 4'33"- the “silent piece”.

Evidently Cage was one of the leading figures in the pioneering of electronic music, and what became apparent to us when reading the essay was how accepted this type of practice was, in the 1950s, especially for male composers. However, when more female composers started emerging, (for example, Mira Calix, Annea Lockwood, Laetitia Sonami, who Rodgers mentions specifically in the essay) the female attitude within sound art started to materialize and that was how the standards of male-defined technologies innovation did not apply equally to women. We believed that essay covers a wide breadth of valuable information from the perspective of a multi-instrumentalist composer and historian of electronic music and sound.

To finalize our show, we browsed through the online archive once more and came across a group podcast, by students studying on the BA Sound Arts and Design course at LCC. The podcast titled: ‘Still Waiting Discussion Group’ is a student-led research group that emerged through the shared desire to address the lack of diversity experienced on the BA course and throughout their curriculum. The group use the form of the podcast medium, to address talks about transmedia and showcases artists working alongside electric and experimental music, they also adopt discussions around being transgender; expressing the struggles, inner thoughts and experiences.

Within the ‘Still Waiting’ page on the Her Noise website there are currently three episodes which cover a range of topics from decolonising language, interviews with a student’s mother in regards to music she collected as a migrant between multiple locations across the globe and a mix of transgender media collected by one of the students. We decided to select Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley as it was one of the main episodes that demonstrated the voices of artists who were working with electronic and experimental music, which we believed communicated with the other essays, within the agile, especially in relation to gender and soundscapes involving a variety of mixes.

‘Still Waiting’ commenced in 2017 and the podcast is most recent work included within our agile session. We believed the podcast medium is a personal approach to discussion-based works as it allows the listener to connect through the use of apps and social media platforms.

Screenshot of audio trace of Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley (2017) part of a widen project of LCC students collective Still Waiting and their discussion group, duration 48:03 (Image credit: Her Noise)

By introducing the podcast within our agile incorporates a new dimension to accessing people’s opinions, voices and personal accounts through the use of this broadcast medium.

We felt by including headphones attached to the piece would be beneficial for the listener, as it allows them to be separated at that specific time during the agile and they could come and go as they please. Following on from our discovery of the podcast, we began to write the press release for the agile.

PRESS RELEASE:

UNSOUND

Thursday February 15th 2018

GaleriE106, Block E, Chelsea College of Arts, 16 John Islip St, London, SW1P 4JU

Curated By: Laura Callegaro, Cheryl Guo, Evie Knighton and Sarah Anne Millet

Unsound utilises the GaleriE106 space as a way to explore and present research into the Her Noise archive. Through the sessions selection of critical analysis, along with archival sound material and new sound engagements, Unsound aims to question the medium of sound through the female voice.

The Her Noise archive, initially initiated by Lina Dzuverovic and Anne Hilde Neset in 2001 was a space to investigate music and sound histories in relation to gender. Additionally, Dzuverovic and Hilde Neset co-curated the Her Noise exhibition at South London Gallery in 2005, which continued the examination and exhibited women artists who uses sound as the medium of their work. The exhibition acted as an opportunity in which to present and continue to build on their research of sound and gender through performance, interaction and symposiums. Building from and including materials from the South London Gallery exhibition Her Noise archive aims to create a lasting resource in sound by creating a living and evolving archive, with the intention that the archive remains an active space, operating as a starting point for new investigations, research and exploration.

Through the use of the archive Unsound aims to question the immateriality of sound, and in particular, the traces of and disembodiment of the feminised voice. Furthermore, the session also presents an investigation into the parameters of sound art and its medium of presentation. By including a selection of annotated critical and theoretical texts, our agile session not only highlights the lens and approach taken to their research but presents the session as an activated research space, which the viewer is able to engage with the curatorial investigation in relation to gender and sound.

Unsound brings together sound archival material from the Her Noise exhibition that, in connection to the selected text, highlight and question how sound is archived and how these traces of sound and performance transform over time. As well, the exhibition brings forward the feminist lens that was central to the original Her Noise exhibition and archive. Which aid in pointing to the problematics for women in sound mediums and implications of the disembodied female voice. Continually, including recent investigation work and output from the archive Unsound emphasizes the different approaches and vehicles for sound as a medium. As well, this inclusion illustrates what problems women still face within sound art and address how the parameters and issues for women in sound have shifted since the original exhibition interaction of Her Noise.

List of works:

Audio trace of Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley (2017) part of a widen project of LCC students collective Still Waiting and their discussion group

Annotated copy of McLuhan, M (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, Penguin Books

Annotated copy of Sterne, J (2012) The Sound Studies Reader: Toward a Feminist Historiography of Electronic Music written by Rodgers, T, London: Routledge

Annotated copy of selected essays from Her Noise: Exhibition Catalogue, Dzuverovic, L & Hilde Neset, A (2005)

Enviroment’s audio trace of the performance Kim Gordon, Jutta Koether and Jenny Hoyston | Reverse Karaoke 2005, from the exhibition Her Noise, South London Gallery

Site map for list of works

We decided to title the snow ‘Unsound’ as it is a clear reference to the neglected female consideration and voice within sound works. This connects particularly to the Tara Rogers’ essay and particularly to the curatorial motivation that is embedded within the Her Noise exhibition.

Due to the minimal aspect of the show, our install process was fairly quick and straightforward. This is because we had already prepared the annotated reading material in previous meetings together which meant that the final task we had to do undertake was to book out some speakers for the ‘Reverse Karaoke’ piece and also some headphones for the podcast as this is how we wanted to distribute both sound works.

Sarah (left) and myself (right) moving the plinth in preparation for the install of our agile session ‘Unsound’ (Photo credit: Cheryl Guo)

Install shot of left hand side of the GaleriE106 space- (L-R) ‘Unsound’ Press Release in frame, selection of press releases on ring clip which was a more casual way of displaying our copies and Audio trace of Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley (2017) part of a widen project of LCC students collective Still Waiting and their discussion group assisted with headphones from CLS @ Chelsea College, placed on top of a plinth (Photo credit: myself)

Pano installation shot of ‘Unsound’ (L-R) ‘Unsound’ Press Release in frame, selection of press releases on ring clip which was a more casual way of displaying our copies, Audio trace of Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley (2017) part of a widen project of LCC students collective Still Waiting and their discussion group assisted with headphones from CLS @ Chelsea College, Cheryl, Sarah (centre) annotated copies of McLuhan, M (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, Penguin Books, Sterne, J (2012) The Sound Studies Reader: Toward a Feminist Historiography of Electronic Music written by Rodgers, T, London: Routledge and selected essays from Her Noise: Exhibition Catalogue, Dzuverovic, L & Hilde Neset, A (2005) Laura and Environment’s audio trace of the performance Kim Gordon, Jutta Koether and Jenny Hoyston | Reverse Karaoke 2005, from the exhibition Her Noise, South London Gallery assisted with speakers from CLS @ Chelsea College (Photo credit: myself)

Environment’s audio trace of the performance Kim Gordon, Jutta Koether and Jenny Hoyston | Reverse Karaoke 2005, from the exhibition Her Noise, South London Gallery assisted with speakers from CLS @ Chelsea College (Photo credit: myself)

Audio trace of Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley (2017) part of a widen project of LCC students collective Still Waiting and their discussion group assisted with headphones from CLS @ Chelsea College, placed on top of a plinth (Photo credit: myself)

Annotated copies of McLuhan, M (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, Penguin Books, Sterne, J (2012) The Sound Studies Reader: Toward a Feminist Historiography of Electronic Music written by Rodgers, T, London: Routledge and selected essays from Her Noise: Exhibition Catalogue, Dzuverovic, L & Hilde Neset, A (2005) (Photo credit: myself)

Evaluation

In our critique we received feedback regarding the overall tone of the exhibition, how we executed the material and whether or not we achieved what we aimed to do within our press release. As the sound material only consisted of two works, it required the audience to navigate fairly quickly from work to work. Our curatorial decision to place the essays within the middle of the GaleriE106 space on a large plinth was to create a central discussion point that acted as a core to unite both of the sound works and the texts.

The main bulk of the conversation throughout the critique was regarding John Cage and the conversations surrounding experimental and electronic music. As we then went on to explain in greater depth the discussion points within the other essays, other members of the audience would pitch in and relay their own thoughts regarding each essay which is essentially what we wanted to encompass within the agile. It was recognised and accepted from the very start that our agile would be a discussion-based exhibition, that is drawing from carefully selected sources, recalling the themes around the neglected female voice, demonstrations of active artists creating sound work to explore gender and social relations and pre-internet philosophy surrounding the modern attitude regarding interactivity; becoming producers and consumers of information.

Members of the audience before the critique engaging with the material within ‘Unsound’ (forground) Annotated copies of McLuhan, M (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects, Penguin Books, Sterne, J (2012) The Sound Studies Reader: Toward a Feminist Historiography of Electronic Music written by Rodgers, T, London: Routledge and selected essays from Her Noise: Exhibition Catalogue, Dzuverovic, L & Hilde Neset, A (2005) and (background) Audio trace of Episode 3 | A Variety of Transgender Media Collected by Robin Buckley (2017) part of a widen project of LCC students collective Still Waiting and their discussion group assisted with headphones from CLS @ Chelsea College, placed on top of a plinth (Photo credit: myself)

It was evident that our exhibition covered an array of areas and could quite easily become overwhelming and seem highly complex and unattainable, but what I felt did the agile justice was inputting our own voice and opinion into everything we discussed and included within the show. This was through the annotated essays, which effectively broke down the key discussion points we wanted to address. The majority of the audience were particularly curious with this approach to the essays, and most spent a good amount of time reading through them and taking in our own additional notes that we included.

At the end of the critique, we discussed a few fundamentals that we should be aware of for the next agile, in reference to the space. A key element that we overlooked was the size of the plinths and ensuring that the ones we did select, fitted into the spaces accordingly and accurately. We felt these minor details did not impact how the show was read, but it was important to be made aware of them, especially when thinking about curatorial decisions regarding furniture and positioning of plinths or vitrines for future projects.

To conclude, as this agile session was an envisaged research-based exhibition our methodology and contribution to understanding what we were discussing was extremely vital. We were able to fully demonstrate our research skills within this project, as we had to work quickly and be able to articulate what we discovered to the rest of the group so that we all clearly understood. For example, ‘The Medium is the Message’ by McLuhan was a text that only one of us in the team briefly studied prior to studying our masters, so it required us all to all work collectively to try to and analyse his writing, taking from it, what we wanted for the agile.

We offered an alternative way to using the GaleriE106 space by only including sound-based works, accompanied with written texts that we interpreted and annotated ourselves in our own words. We had to fully embrace an array of other people’s opinions of the subject surrounding the female voice within sound art, and its dismissal, while offering new insights by a variety of authors and artists.

As we didn’t want the agile to be heavily dominated by material, choosing to include the two sound pieces, and have them either playing through headphones or speakers was an appropriate decision as we didn’t want the viewers to become too distracted by the work. Much how the Her Noise exhibition was displayed, was a space for activity, almost as if it was a workshop environment where you had to briefly familiarize yourself by reading through the notes on the texts and then use the archival material that we provided in the space, so the viewer could eventually get a sense of what we were trying to evoke with the assistance of minimal works.