A Song for Barrow AFC
Though it is intended that the residency will have several outcomes, its main aspect will be the creation of a piece of experimental music based around the idea of a football as a performance.
Below is some background information on a few of the artists and composers that have influenced my thinking on the project so far:
Dick Raaijmakers – Ping Pong: a piece of music made by attaching two contact microphones to a table tennis table. Each side of the table is pitched a semi-tone apart and the piece is performed through the act of playing a game of table tennis.
Graphic Scores – examples of many of the most pioneering graphic scores can be found at the Pictures of Music site: www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/picturesofmusic/
One score I've been particularly interested in is Treatise by the english composer Cornelius Cardew. “There are few more impressive-looking conceptions than Cornelius Cardew's Treatise (1963-7), a 236-page graphic score of exquisite intricacy. Questions of what to play and how to play it are left to the performer(s)' discretion; though, as here, a degree of pre-performance planning helps reinforce the very definite continuity in texture and dynamics that the individual pages suggest. ”
"Robert Rauschenberg's Open Score was performed on October 14th, 1966. It began with a tennis game between Frank Stella and his tennis partner, Mimi Kanarek, on a full-scale court laid out on the Armory floor. Rauschenberg had adopted one of the oldest forms of performance that everyone recognizes, a tennis match, and made it into dance. He also used the game 'to control the lights and to perform as an orchestra.' Each time Frank or Mimi hit the ball a loud BONG vibrated around the Armory and the sound of each BONG switched off one of the lights illuminating the court…"
Sightlines Digital Arts Commission
at Barrow AFC
After considering applications from over 40 artists, the Sightlines selection committee comprising John Hall, David Ingham, Supporter and Unison rep Alec Proffit and photographer Stuart Clarke from The Homes Of Football Gallery in Ambleside, have chosen Glenn Boulter to work in around the club over the next few months and to deliver a piece of work for installation at the start of the 2008-9 season. The project is being led by artist and Barrow supporter John Hall with the support of Arts Council England, Cumbria Arts In Education, Aim Higher , Barrow Borough Council and parner schools from accross Cumbria.
Says John "We were impressed by the quality and scope of Glenn's work which includes Printmaking, Sound Design and editions of Artists books and CDs, and with the imagination and wit with which he approaches his subjects. I'm really looking forward to working with him and watching things develop."
Sightlines' theme is Football, Art and Community, and the project so far has seen John exhibit his own work at Barrow's Artgene gallery, present a series of experimental music pieces drawing on the sounds of match day at Barrow, Kendal, Carlisle, and Workington. There has also been an exhibition of giant Subbuteo players made by local schools at The Nest and The Homes Of Football gallery.
This second phase of Sightlines has been running since autumn, and has seen John work with locally based artists Kate Davis and Shaun Blezard on a variety of football related sound recording projects in schools , including a session with Poet and Broadcaster Ian McMillan who worked with a group of St. Bernard's students on the mysterious history of Barrow AFC legend, Al Mobility.
Glenn saw the 4-1 win over Gainsborough the other week, and was taking photographs during last night's game against Northwich. You can follow the progress of the project on this blog and if you have any questions or comments on the project, contact John at [email protected]
John Hall
