Friday 18th January
I finished the speaker today, with a strip of old cork tile around the edge, much like a 70s synth! I filmed a short demonstration of the differences caused by the various glasses; it also looks a bit 70s, in a ‘Look Around You’ kind of way. I think I mentioned this at the start of my residency: that it seems to be the way my performances (and documentation) are going. The retro ‘science-for-schools’ look. Maybe I should just embrace it and start to dress the part too. It’s not so much for referencing nostalgia (which is too easy and superficial), but more referencing the kind of programme that turned science experiments into performed demonstrations. The attempt, perhaps, to make physics glamorous… I think this appeals to me because I am teaching myself how these fundamental electronics and physics experiments work; I am still learning, I like learning, and I want my art practice to demonstrate this. I want to show everyone who sees or hears my work that they can do it all too; that everything’s been learnt through experiment. When I play objects I want them to sound like the aural equivalent of a microscope revealing the ‘true nature’ of the thing.
