Author: Elliot Armitage-Woods

Henke’s work truly fascinates me, and really encourages me to step out of my comfort zone when making sonic work.

His use of code and hardware design is mind-blowing, and whilst crafts such as coding appear extremely daunting to me, it makes me feel like maybe I could incorporate such a practice into my work. His DIY sound approach creates a mechanical backbone to his sonics, like machinery working underneath to power what is there at the top, except that said machinery isn’t purely underlying, something I never thought would sound as good as Henke makes it sound.

His use of location-specific work really speaks to me too, the idea of a piece of art only being able to become its true, most perfect form, in a specific space, and nowhere else is an idea I feel like intertwines with my work slightly. There’s a sweet arrogance to that tendency and Im all for it.

Combining club and contemporary culture within his work, Henke is able to convey the atmospheres of both worlds, using spatial/multi-channel techniques. A true pioneer.

In early 2020, Dutch multi-media artist Irma de Vries started Studio Irma.

Irma de Vries graduated from the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in the field of video and audio. During her studies she worked as an DJ in several clubs and festivals. After her graduation she worked for several famous artists and movie directors as an animator & video-editor. The last few years, she has worked as a solo artist and won several video-mapping awards, and her work was shown in different museums and light festivals. Contemporary Dutch artist Studio Irma creates digital immersive art exhibitions, spaces, artworks and experiences. With a devoted multi-disciplinary team, they combine augmented reality, videomapping, sculpture, computer animation, painting, and digital techniques to imagine the unforgettable.

Connectivism: ‘is a theoretical framework for understanding and learning in a digital age. It emphasizes how internet technologies such as web browsers, search engines, and social media contribute to new ways of learning and how we connect with eachother’. We take this definition offline and into our physical world. Through compassion and empathy, we build a shared understanding, in our collective choice to experience & interact with art. Our perception is a mix of thought and sight. and our mind has the power to influence – negatively or positively – what we see in the mirror. It is in this conscious decision to reflect, that we can and continue to grow. Studio Irma is a revolutionary dreamer who engages digital technologies to connect humanity. Through space, color, technology, movement, and YOU – the active participant, Studio Irma’s body of work reveals a more hopeful and connected future.

Witnessing these creations in such a revered professional context really inspired me. It is exactly the sort of thing I want to do, and to see someone execute similar creative tendencies so precisely was extremely encouraging.

Outside of an academic context, I have learnt that artistically, I want to be able to get to a position where I am allowed to do it my way, in my vision, and stay true to myself. I obviously realise that to make any sort of living, I may have to sacrifice my artistic morals occasionally, but I think by keeping the work unapologetically true to oneself is a good place to start.

this may prove difficult, and finding funding/grant opportunities that align with my artistic profile may be hard to come by, but you have to start somewhere. Furthermore, residency and grant placements with briefs or certain requirements will push me out of my comfort zone, and into different conceptual landscapes.

further investigation

Electric Indigo’s nomadic style of existence and creativity speaks to me for some reason.

As an individual I thoroughly crave stability, but I have quickly come to learn that as a self proclaimed ‘sonic and visual artist’, such needs are extremely unrealistic. The idea of moving to and from country with equipment and tight budgets/grants (whilst probably a little more strategically difficult due to Brexit) seems to evoke a different kind of nervousness within me, it is perhaps tinged with curiousness and a little bit of desire, but until I am placed in such a situation it will be hard to know.

There seems to be quite a lot of depth and artistic agency within a practice such as Dj’ing, but with their sonic techniques, each set is interesting and unique in its own way. Their founding of ‘female:pressure’ is really inspiring too, as I have recently taken on ‘eyesinmyart’, a less certified, sonic version of a production company. I one day hope for it to be as special as Indigo’s community.

What would I like to do?

Over the past 3 years, I expected my creative tendencies and passions to have been fixated on sound. What I have instead found is that, due to the extent to which us students are allowed freedom when concerning final year projects, I have become greatly fixated on camera work, videography and cinematography.

I understand that a craft such as cinematography is, although of similar worlds. quite a different medium of creative expression, as oppose to the Sound Arts world. Hopefully my work is able to combine the two crafts, something I have attempted with my portfolio project ‘awaiting room’.

Harris’ visiting lecture drove me to analyse some of her installation work, and subsequently be inspired.

From a whales’ back – shifting audience perspective, similar forms of media and display to my own work. Using sound and light to manipulate the viewer. Tonal shifts are particular to receiver.

Intensity and Immersion. Both qualities of her work, and both intertwine to compliment the experience. ​

Curated environment ​

Evocation​

Transportation using multi-media ​

Creating meaning and understanding

Lluvias de Mayo/Rains of May

• Using light to evoke emotion and memory
• Designing the space as an invitation.
• Making the audience the focal point of the installation.
• Aligning historic and emotive concepts with nature.
• Delicacy

Memoria Del Hierro

• Another use of historical contexts to paint mental pictures.
• Sculpture as an object for visceral transportation (common theme), as well as a sonic device.
• Another form of Invitation. Something quite intimate and selfless about this particular way of approaching work.

aside from all the technical skills I have picked up on this course – a list that would look fairly complete, perhaps the biggest learning curve for me was how to take my work and myself as a creative, as seriously as possible.

I have been able to polish my craft, pick up and become obsessed with new ones (videography) and create professional documents placing myself firmly in the world of sonic and visual art.

This is what I am valuing most. not simply benign validation, but an upturn in artistic and personal confidence, which intertwine to make the artist.

-network(ing)

-key people

-mobility

-productiveness/pro-activeness

-maintaining/forming relationships

-curation/collaboration

Elliot Woods 

Sound-work (field recording etc)/Audio-Visual work/Installations 

Sonic pieces- sc 

Visual pieces – yt/ gallery space (1), or not shared. 

Immersion, Evocation and ? 

Why (art)- Expression and homage  

What (playing)- Cinematography, audio-visual installation, creative sound work  

Why (medium & material)- It makes my brain move. Mentally appealing. I want people to feel things through my art, as I do with theirs.  

What (themes & patterns)- Light/Color, Ego & Indulgence vs Truth & the Natural world, continuous use of natural resource, cross modal combinations, raw instruments & old voice recordings/conversations 

Is (influence)- Sonically; Eno and Martinez. Visually; Refn, Turrell, Eliasson  

Why (unique)- the origin of idea, how it represents me, vulnerability and making sure you can see what’s behind all of it. Automatic Writing.  

What (exploration/communication)- Memory and Emotion (the triggering of), connecting dots through time (conscious and subconscious)  

Elliot Woods is an (emerging) sound and visual installation artist. The work combines practices of cinematography and synthesis/audio creation, whilst manipulating the audience’s current/apparent state of mind and the subsequent triggering of their memory & emotion. The sonic aspects of the work can be found on SoundCloud, and the visual facets are found on YouTube. Exploring the hypnotic nature of slow media, and the tranquility of ambient synthesis, the work stretches across different modes and mediums, combining camera work, moving photography/image and cinematography with modular, granular and spontaneous synthesis. While indulgently designing and filming appealing closed/open spaces, the sonic accompaniment ultimately manipulates the audiences’ thoughts and feelings toward the footage displayed. Each idea (both sonic and visual) and subsequent realization stem from a deeply personal experience, which has then been brought to life and expressed through the various mediums mentioned above.