I have started developing a project to transform the distribution of chewing gum splats on the pavement into a piece of music. I’m creating visual scores of a walk through Preston with video and photography. Wherever the chewing gum intersects an imaginary piano keyboard a note is recorded. i am hoping to collaborate with a small group of musicians to develop the project further with a view to using other elements of the walk as inspiration for the score – such as the intersection of paving stones, textures, cigarette butts etc.
The project is a development from I print I made of a table which was used for cutting paper. Its full of cuts and scratches and I wondered if it was possible to print it. After inking up the table and taking a relief print onto a sheet of newsprint all the visible sctarches were there plus many others that coudn’t be seen.
On reflection the print revealed areas of unconciously collaborative activity and is a document of the use of this table by hundreds of people over many years.
Whilst thinking about this print I had been looking for other places that contained something similar. Which is when I noticed the chewing gum. This seemed to contain many of the ideas I’d found in the table.
Initially I painted the chewing gum outside the PR! gallery in Preston bright pink as an installation for an exhibition. Further reflection led to seeing the distribution as a musical score such as you might find on a computer sequencer or automatic piano which these sequencers are based on. As a producer of electronic music its been easy to see the potential for translating this into a score which could be performed either by a small group or an orchestra.
So the plan at the moment is to begin working with a small group of musicians and use a walk in town as the inspiration for a collaborative work. I’ll be spending the next few weeks working on the visual score and hopefully enlisting some collaborators.
