Listening Session II
An overloaded transmission from a quasi-personal stellar source
A live, long form radio broadcast from Flat Time House in collaboration with Resonance 104.4fm
Adam and Jonathan Bohman, Daniela Cascella, William Furlong, Ken Hollings, Elisa Kay, Roberta Kravitz, Noa Latham, Richard Thomas, Athanasios Velios, Patrick Wildgust, Mark Peter Wright (UK)
Curated by Lucia Farinati and Richard Thomas with the assistance of Gareth Bell-Jones
Flat Time House, London, 29 July - 1 August 2010
...
A three-day event of conversations, readings and site interventions exploring Flat Time House as a broadcast unit and meeting place, extended in time.
For An overloaded transmission... artists, writers, academics, practitioners, musicians and archivists were invited to inhabit Flat Time House and discuss distinct notions of time in their various practices. Prompted by John Latham's 1975 essay Time-Base and Determination in Events and his 'Time-Base Theory', An overloaded transmission... responded to the conceptual structure of Flat Time House as a living object and the event as a transmission.
The relationship between archive, time and sound embodied by Latham's archive has been looked at, as well as concepts of time that bring together literature, art, music and science.
In Latham's 1975 essay, he describes how the obscure literary style of James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake allows the work to function, portraying the book as a 'quasi-personal stellar source'. In response, each room and part of Flat Time House has been used for recording conversations on site and broadcast on Resonance 104.4fm.
In addition, Sound Threshold specially commissioned two new audio-event pieces: Not Speaking the Language, an outdoor sound installation by artist William Furlong with the recorded voice of John Latham, and Re-hear, a new composition by sonic artist Mark Peter Wright using field recordings before and during the event, mixed and played live on air with the conversations.
Live and pre-recorded material for the An overloaded transmission... broadcast:
- The archive of John Latham, interview with Athanasios Velios (Flat Time House Archivist) by Lucia Farinati and Richard Thomas, Camberwell College of the Arts, 28 July 2010
- A guided tour of Flat Time House, Elisa Kay (Flat Time House Curator) and Patrick Wildgust (Curator Shandy Hall), Flat Time House, 30 July 2010, recorded by Richard Crow
- Laurence Sterne - Tristram Shandy, Patrick Wildgust in conversation with Daniela Cascella and Lucia Farinati, "The Hand", Flat Time House, 30 July 2010, recorded by Richard Crow
- Letter to Lucia Farinati, Daniela Cascella, "The Brain", Flat Time House, 30 July 2010, recorded by Richard Crow
- The Navy Letter, musicians Adam and Jonathan Bohman performing a letter by John Latham to his Mother and Father, "The Hand" and "The Body Event", Flat Time House, 30 July 2010
- Who is John Latham?, short interview with artist William Furlong by Richard Thomas, "The Hand", Flat Time House, 31 July 2010
- Audio Arts, Lucia Farinati in conversation with artist William Furlong, "The Hand", Flat Time House, 31 July 2010
- Government of the First and Thirteenth Chair, artist Roberta Kravitz reading the script written by John Latham, "The Hand", Flat Time House, 31 July 2010
- Ruminations on Tristram Shandy, Richard Thomas in conversation with writer Ken Hollings, Resonance 104.4fm studio, 1 August 2010
- Introduction to An overloaded transmission... by Richard Thomas and Lucia Farinati, Resonance 104.4fm studio, 1 August 2010
- Introduction to a recorded interview with Flat Time Archivist's Athanasios Velios by Gareth Bell-Jones, Resonance 104.4fm studio, 1 August 2010
- Introduction to a recording by Noa Latham, by Lucia Farinati and Gareth Bell-Jones, Resonance 104.4fm studio, 1 August 2010
Unless otherwise stated the recording sessions, post production and related commentary were made by Richard Thomas, either at Flat Time house (30 - 31 July 2010) and/or during the live broadcast on Resonance 104.4fm, 1 August 2010.
The eight tracks from the work Re-hear by Mark Peter Wright were played at various points during the live broadcast.
Archival Material for An overloaded transmission... broadcast:
- Noa Latham in conversation with John Latham, a re-discovered cassette recording made by Noa Latham at Flat Time House, circa 1981
- William Furlong in conversation with John Latham at the Venice Biennale, 2005, Audio Arts CD, vol. 23 no. 4
- An archive recording by William Furlong of APG members John Latham, Barbara Steveni and Ian Breakwell at Documenta 6, Kassel, 1977, Audio Arts Magazine Cassette, vol. 3, no. 4
With the kind support of Sound and Music, Flat Time House, ICR Distribution, Sonic Studios
www.flattimeho.org.uk
www.resonancefm.com
www.laurencesternetrust.org.uk
www.ligatus.org.uk/jla/
Richard Thomas and Lucia Farinati, Introduction to An overloaded... transmission (excerpt)
Elisa Kay, A tour of Flat Time House (excerpt)
Athanasios Velios in conversation with Lucia Farinati and Richard Thomas, The archive of John Latham (excerpt)
Adam and Jonathan Bohman, The Navy Letter
Lucia Farinati in conversation with William Furlong, Audio Arts (excerpt)
Patrick Wildgust in conversation with Daniela Cascella and Lucia Farinati, Laurence Sterne (excerpt)
Roberta Kravitz, Government of the First and Thirteenth Chair (excerpt)
Richard Thomas in conversation with Ken Hollings, Ruminations on Tristram Shandy (excerpt)
Daniela Cascella, Letter to Lucia Farinati (excerpt)
Not Speaking the Language
William Furlong (UK)
Curated by Lucia Farinati
"The Face", Flat Time House, London, 29 July - 1 August 2010
...
In 1977 John Latham visited Kassel, Germany in order to contribute to Joseph Beuys's Free International University. William Furlong was also present to record Latham and other members of the Artists Placement Group (APG) Ian Breakwell and Barbara Steveni. This audio work is derived from another recording made some thirty years later at the Venice Biennale in 2005. Here Latham's voice is rhythmically layered, with resonant words and sentences separated and highlighted through various treatments including repetition and juxtaposition. Latham's parallel use of language is reflected in this piece, where meanings are embedded and elliptical rather than overt or expressed in linear literary modes.
Not Speaking the Language is a multi-channel sound installation. It was presented in the front garden of Flat Time House, also known as "The Face".
The following Audio Arts recordings by William Furlong with John Latham were also displayed in the exhibition at Flat Time House:
- John Latham at the Venice Biennale, 2005, Audio Arts CD, vol. 23 no. 4, 2005
- Ian Breakwell, John Latham, Barbara Steveni at Documenta 6, Kassel, 1977, Audio Arts Cassette vol. 3, no. 4
- John Latham at the Lisson Gallery, London 1987, Audio Arts Cassette vol. 8 no. 2&3
With the kind support of Sonica Studio.
Excerpt from Not Speaking the Language by William Furlong
Re-hear
Mark Peter Wright (UK)
Flat Time House, London, May - July 2010
...
As part of the research and the events curated at Flat Time House, Mark Peter Wright was commissioned to create a new work that interrogated the role of audio documentation in artistic practice.
Over the period of two months, Wright documented the ambiences and the environmental sound of the house (home and studio of the late British artist John Latham, which opened to the public in 2008 as an exhibition space and as a archive/research centre).
During the production at Flat Time House, Wright focused his recordings on various surfaces, textures and ambient situations in order to capture a sense of the house audibly breathing and filtering the environment through its very architecture.
Creaking floorboards, distant voices, scrapping leaves and draining water, all illuminate the acoustic moments that constantly contract and expand into, and out of the house itself.
By documenting and re-imagining environmental sound and acoustic space within the context of archival production Re-hear has contributed to the critical re-framing of the notion of 'documentation as production' originally based on the idea of exploring documentation as a form of artistic and collaborative practice in itself.
Recordings of surfaces and ambiences in and around Flat Time House by Mark Peter Wright
Played at various points within An Overloaded Transmission... live broadcast on the 1st August 2010
Tracks:
1 - The Face (7.18)
Recorded with the giant pages of the book sculpture outside the front of the house. The recording captures the sound of passers by and general ambiance from a unique acoustic point of view.
2 - The Mind (7.03)
A distant television heard through the walls of the front room, the Mind.
3 - Floorboards (10.15)
Recorded over various days, these closely mic'd floorboard creeks document the footsteps of those that have walked through the house and the archive.
4 - Hand (13.31)
A very low level, possibly electrical hum recording taken from within the room titled, the Hand. This recording is also punctuated by the phantom printer!
5 - Looking Out (5.29)
Recording from the Hand listening out of the glass towards the garden. It captures the resonant vibrations of airplane traffic more than anything.
6 - Leaves on Window (16.34)
External sound of leaves scrapping at the window pane of the Hand. A Gentle breeze dictates the events.
7 - Water Pipe (6.00)
Dripping water running through a pipe towards the rear of the garden.
8 - Re-hear (22.23)
A recording of Lucia (Farinati) and William (Furlong) from the perspective of the Tree eves-dropping and documenting the conversation as the leaves constantly scrap and re appropriate our sense of perspective and space
(Total duration 87mins 53 seconds)
With the kind support of Sound and Music.
Floorboards by Mark Peter Wright
