Taylor Dupree and Christopher Willits - Listening Garden

Listening Garden was developed as a sonic alteration of two quiet indoor/outdoor tea spaces installed at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media in Yamaguchi, Japan in June of 2004. The audio installation was designed to heighten visitor's senses and alter the sonic space as they sat, read, or had quiet conversation amonst the trees. Taylor Deupree and Christopher Willits composed a number of short, randomly sequenced multi-channel soundworks using guitar and electronics. The fragments of sounds, while both gentle and subtly rich, are intentionally weathered, eroded and understated, generating a sonic bridge between the digital world of sound and the audiosphere of nature.

The audio on this CD is built from location recordings taken in the garden over the course of a week during the exhibit. The environmental and incidental sounds played a large part of the physical work and are captured and utilized in the recording. Listening Garden is meant to enhance the experience of simply sitting and enjoying one's place in time.

This CD is best heard in a similar situation and at a low background level. Headphones are not recommended.

LineRecords

Hockney: The ipod has turned people off art

David Hockney's claim is that the young generation's involvement with auditory stimulae - as represented by the iPod - results in a decline in their understanding and appreciation of visual art. "We are not in a very visual age," he said. "I think it's all about sound. People plug in their ears and don't look much, whereas for me my eyes are the biggest pleasure. You notice that on buses. People don't look out of the window, they are plugged in and listening to something."

The proliferation of portable listening devices cannot, of course, be denied. But I see no evidence that Hockney is right in suggesting that, if the iPoddists weren't listening, they'd be gazing around in some meaningful way that increased their sensitivity towards the visual arts. They might be reading instead or, more likely, staring vacantly around, absorbing nothing. Besides, why does it have to be an either-or? Who is to say that the youth on the bus listening intently to his plugged-in tunes will not, later in the day, be looking at something that stimulates his visual senses? I know many under-30s whose enthusiastic adoption of earphone music has not in the least interfered with their enjoyment of other arts.

from the Guardian 13.06.07
Full Article

Shadowed Spaces Tour, Scotland July 2007

There are places in the towns and cities where you live that exist not by planned design, but by circumstance. Their elusive ambience attracts those with nowhere else to go, and those who wish to go elsewhere.

overlooked bypassed unwatched detached unconsidered shadowed

They offer respites from society and routine. They are found by necessity, by those driven by desire, more than destination. Shadowed Spaces is a tour of nooks and crannies like these, in your towns and cities: forgotten steps that lead nowhere, alleyways, old railway tunnels. We’ll place musical performances in these spaces that will hopefully help us to think about the continued need for a sense of privacy in public.

http://www.arika.org.uk/shadowedspaces/2007/about/