Audiovisual Practice

  • Why do certain sounds seem to “fit” with certain images while others do not?
  • What can sound and image relationships tell us about the way we perceive the world?
  • How can we reintegrate performance into audiovisual practices?


These are some of the questions which drive our audiovisual research activities. Seeking to innovate through both practice-research and scholarly activities, our research in audiovisual practice seeks to interrogate the relationships between sound and image and to share outcomes to benefit both scholars and practitioners working with audiovisual media.


Outputs include:

Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices [AVAILABLE JUNE 2020]

https://www.routledge.com/Sound-and-Image-Aesthetics-and-Practices/Knight-Hill/p/book/9780367271466 Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices brings together international artist scholars to explore diverse sound and image practices, applying critical perspectives to interrogate and evaluate both the aesthetics and practices that underpin the audiovisual. Contributions draw upon established discourses in electroacoustic music, media art history, film studies, critical theory and dance; framing and critiquing these …

(I)MAGESOUND(S)

(I)MAGESOUND(S) is a project that embraces an expanded experience of the cinematic, locating historical and contemporary artists’ work alongside the work of Jim Hobbs and Andrew Hill. The concept for the programme was originally born out of a research project/commission by Mono No Aware and The New York Public Library (NYPL) for the Performing Arts, …

0 comments

SOUND/IMAGE 19

SOUND/IMAGE 19 – Exploring Sonic and Audio-Visual Practice Dates: 9-10th November 2019 This colloquium hosted by the School of Design of the University of Greenwich, explores the relationship between sounds and images, and the images which sounds can construct by themselves. —– —– —– Through a series of complementary strands – talks, screenings and loudspeaker …

0 comments

SOUND/IMAGE18 – November 10th / 11th

This weekend saw the fourth SOUND/IMAGE colloquium hosted in Greenwich and welcoming a host of international artists and thinkers focussing on the topic of sound and image composition and perception. Click here for the full programme and abstracts.

0 comments

Guest Lecture – Prof. Görne talks Crossmodal Metaphors in Sound composition for Image

We were delighted to welcome Prof. Thomas Görne from our ERASMUS partner HAW Hamburg to give a lecture to our Sound and Image students. Prof. Görne discussed how recent research in perceptual psychology can help inform Sound Design practice. http://www.aes.org/aes/thomasgoerne

0 comments

Paula Fairfield – Game of Thrones Sound Design

Emmy Award Winning Sound Designer, Paula Fairfield reveals how she designed sound for the iconic creatures in Game of Thrones. With surround sound examples and stems from major scenes in Season 7, Paula will discuss the evolution of creature sound sets: including the dragons, the wights, the Whitewalkers, the polar bear, the direwolves, and the …

0 comments

SOUND / IMAGE 2017

The Sound/Image colloquium explores the relationships between sounds and images, and the images which sounds can construct by themselves. Through a series of complementary strands – talks, screenings, loudspeaker orchestra concerts – we will bring together artists and experts to investigate sound and sound-image phenomena. This year we are delighted to invite Yves Daoust, Holly Rogers …

0 comments

Sound / Image 2016

SOUND/IMAGE COLLOQUIUM 2016 Sound/Image Colloquium: Exploring sonic and audio-visual practice On the 12-13 November 2016 we held another highly successful Sound/ Image colloquium. We invited speakers from over ten countries to share their work and ideas around audio-visual practice, exploring the relationships between sounds and images, and the images which sounds can construct by themselves. This …

Sound / Image – 2015

(November 2015) An international colloquium on sound and audio-visual practice. With talks from international experts, screenings and loudspeaker orchestra concerts from artists and composers. Click here for more info:

0 comments

Drawing towards Sound: Visualising the Sonic

(March / April 2015) An exhibition, with select performances, examining the interface between the visual and the aural through notation, documentation, performance and video/moving image. http://www.greenwichunigalleries.co.uk/drawing-towards-sound/

0 comments

Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices [AVAILABLE JUNE 2020]

https://www.routledge.com/Sound-and-Image-Aesthetics-and-Practices/Knight-Hill/p/book/9780367271466

Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices brings together international artist scholars to explore diverse sound and image practices, applying critical perspectives to interrogate and evaluate both the aesthetics and practices that underpin the audiovisual.

Contributions draw upon established discourses in electroacoustic music, media art history, film studies, critical theory and dance; framing and critiquing these arguments within the context of diverse audiovisual practices. The volume’s interdisciplinary perspective contributes to the rich and evolving dialogue surrounding the audiovisual, demonstrating the value and significance of practice informed theory, and theory derived from practice. The ideas and approaches explored within this book will find application in a wide range of contexts across the whole scope of audiovisuality, from visual music and experimental film, to narrative film and documentary, to live performance, sound design and into sonic art and electroacoustic music.

This book is ideal for artists, composers and researchers investigating theoretical positions and compositional practices which bring together sound and image.

(I)MAGESOUND(S)

(I)MAGESOUND(S) is a project that embraces an expanded experience of the cinematic, locating historical and contemporary artists’ work alongside the work of Jim Hobbs and Andrew Hill. The concept for the programme was originally born out of a research project/commission by Mono No Aware and The New York Public Library (NYPL) for the Performing Arts, as part of the annual Cinema Arts festival MONO X.

Working with the NYPL for Performing Arts film archive, contemporary individual artists, musicians and film distributors, the original project created a programme that brought together a variety of approaches to cinema, ranging from single screen films to more performative and expansive works. Its intention was to celebrate the relationship between image and sound, and emphasise the collaborative and generative possibilities between artists of different disciplines.

In this spirit, for the 2019 tour, Hobbs and Hill have chosen to invite additional musicians/artists from each city where the project will be performed. For the Leeds event, artist and University Academic Fellow Sam Belinfante will join to offer additional sonic elements throughout the evening.


PERFORMANCES


The programme is divided into four movements:

  1. Nature Morte, Jim Hobbs (10 minutes)

2. Score and (Re)Score, various artists:

•Mary Ellen Bute, Rhythm in Light, 1936, 5 mins (new live score)

•Stan Brakhage, Garden of Earthly Delights, 1981, 2 mins (silent)

•Bruce Conner, Cosmic Ray, 1961, 4 mins (original score)

•David Leister, Headgear, 1998, 6 mins (new live score)

•Guy Sherwin & Lyn Loo, Washi 1, 2014, 4 mins (new live score)

•Hiroshi Yamazaki, Heliography, 1979, 6 mins (original score)

•Ben Rivers, House, 2006, 5 mins (new live score)

3. Projections, Andrew Hill (10 minutes)

4. Vientos Fuertes (Strong Winds), Jim Hobbs (15 minutes)



PUBLICATIONS

(I)MAGESOUND(S) – eContact! 19.2 — Light+Sound / Lumière+son (October / octobre 2017) – https://econtact.ca/19_2/hill-hobbs_imagesounds.html

Maison des Arts Sonores – Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

Date: Wednesday 18th March 2020

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Location: St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London

Tickets: £5 or offer £30 for 7 Concerts in the Loudspeaker Concert Series

Tickets available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/maison-des-arts-sonores-loudspeaker-orchestra-concert-tickets-73452647847

Artistic director Julien Guillamet presents a diverse concert of electroacoustic and acousmatic works developed by the composers and partners of the Montpellier based maison des artes sonores.

maison des artes sonores is a center for the development of applied research on electroacoustic practices. Supporting contemporary music and musical creation based in Montpellier, maison des artes sonores facilitates the creation, production, transmission and dissemination of new musical and sound works in public concerts promoting and building awareness of contemporary repertoire. The House of Sound Arts creates links with various local and international contemporary music and art organizations (museums, universities, conservatories, ensembles and orchestras, associations and other schools).

The Loudspeaker Orchestra presents immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design, sonic art and electroacoustic music. Regular concerts, featuring work by international artists alongside students of Sound Design, take place in and around Greenwich.

Further Concert Dates: http://bit.ly/2MnRdGf

Theremin Centenary Concert (w. Lydia Kavina) – Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

Date: Wednesday 19th February 2020

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Location: St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London

Tickets: £5 or offer £30 for 7 Concerts in the Loudspeaker Concert Series

Tickets available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theremin-centenary-concert-loudspeaker-orchestra-concert-tickets-73451016969

Virtuoso Lydia Kavina leads a Theremin ensemble in a diverse programme celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the invention of the Theremin.


Theremin Centenary Concert – 19th February 2020

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of this iconic electronic instrument, this concert featured new compositions and historically important works, showcasing the history of a century of theremin music.

— Concert Programme —

  • Introduction – Lev Theremin & Ensemble
  • Chase – Andrew Knight-Hill – [PREMIERE]
  • The Swan – Camille Saint-Saëns Arr. Lydia Kavina
  • Free Music 1 & 2 – Percy Grainger
  • Rhythmicon Ensemble – Lydia Kavina
  • Hyperdrone #2 – Anna Triosi – [LONDON PREMIERE]
  • Mixing Radio – Lydia Kavina
  • Theremin Breaks – Mishael Holdbrook [PREMIERE]
  • Theremin Film Music – Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, Howard Shaw
  • Sirenscapes – Nadine Schütz – [WORLD PREMIERE]

—- The Performers —-
–Theremin Ensemble —
Lev Theremin
Lydia Kavina
Charlie Draper
Terry Bowler
Greta Pistaceci
Alina Islamova
Susi O’Neill
Sam Enthoven

–Electronic Sound–
Mishael Holdbrook
Nadine Schutz

–Prepared Piano–
Anna Triosi

–Video & Sound Projection–
Andrew Knight-Hill
Reid Dudley-Pearson



Lydia Kavina is one of the leading performing musicians on the theremin. She began studying the theremin at the age of 9 under the direction of Léon Theremin. Lydia’s most notable recent works were solo performance in Danny Elfman’s UK concert tour with BBC concert orchestra and London Concert orchestra (2013-2014), as well as the theremin solo in ”The Little Mermaid”, a ballet by Lera Auerbach, choreographed by John Neumeier, in Copenhagen New Opera House, Hamburger Staatsoper and Beijing Tianqiao Theater, (2005-2015). Lydia played for a number of film soundtracks including “Ed Wood” and “eXistetnZ” with music by Howard Shore and ”The Machinist” by Roque Banos.

The Loudspeaker Orchestra presents immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design, sonic art and electroacoustic music. Regular concerts, featuring work by international artists alongside students of Sound Design, take place in and around Greenwich.

Further Concert Dates: http://bit.ly/2MnRdGf

Explore Ensemble – Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

Date: Tuesday 28th January 2020

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Location: St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London

Tickets: £5 or offer £30 for 7 Concerts in the Loudspeaker Concert Series

Tickets available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/explore-ensemble-loudspeaker-orchestra-concert-tickets-73447991921


Concert Programme

Featuring works for instruments and live electronics, reimagined and adapted for
loudspeaker orchestra, from stereo to 16.1 surround.

– Natasha Barrett Sagittarius A*
For solo violin and live electronics
2017, 32 minutes

[Interval]

– John Croft Intermedio III
For solo bass clarinet and live electronics
2012, 8 minutes

– Kaija Saariaho Petals
For solo cello and live electronics
1988, 9 minutes

– John Croft …ne l’aura che trema
For solo alto flute and live electronics
2010, 13 minutes

– Luigi Nono A Pierre. Dell’azzurro Silenzio Inquietum
For bass flute, contrabass clarinet, and live electronics
1985, 10 minutes

Soloists of Explore Ensemble:
Taylor MacLennan – flutes
Alex Roberts – clarinets
Sarah Saviet – violin
Deni Teo – ‘cello
Nicholas Moroz – artistic director & electronics


Explore Ensemble immerses instruments and audiences among a live 3D loudspeaker orchestra to present the London premiere of Natasha Barrett’s ‘Sagittarius A*’ and rare modernist works reimagined with ambisonic technology .

Explore Ensemble work at the radical frontiers of new music, offering audiences outstanding performances of internationally acclaimed composers, advocating music rarely heard in the UK, and working closely with composers on new works to foster a repertoire for the future. Described as ‘Indefatigably outstanding’, Explore Ensemble have featured at several editions of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival while performing alongside the EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, as well as feature on BBC Radio 3, at London’s Principal Sound Festival, Cafe OTO, Kings Place, the Royal College of Music, and outside of London in Manchester, Leeds, Oxford, and Germany.

The Loudspeaker Orchestra presents immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design, sonic art and electroacoustic music. Regular concerts, featuring work by international artists alongside students of Sound Design, take place in and around Greenwich.

Further Concert Dates: http://bit.ly/2MnRdGf

Gerriet K. Sharma & Angela McArthur – Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

The Aesthetics of Sound As Space Gerriet K. Sharma & Angela McArthur

Date: Wednesday 4th December 2019

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Location: St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London

Tickets: £5 or offer £30 for 7 Concerts in the Loudspeaker Concert Series

Tickets available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gerriet-k-sharma-angela-mcarthur-loudspeaker-orchestra-concert-tickets-73446712093

Gerriet K. Sharma and Angela McArthur present a concert of works composed for the IKO icosahedral loudspeaker. It uniquely inverts outside-inside spatial sound phenomena, creating a compelling sound experience.

Gerriet K. Sharma is a composer and sound artist with extensive experience in a wide range of artistic practices. Working with engineers he helped develop the IKO technology, applying artistic research practice to strengthen and perfect the design. Sharma was Edgard Varèse guest professor (DAAD) at the Electronic Studio of TU Berlin. Angela McArthur is artist-in-residence at the Institut für Elektronische Musik (IEM) in Graz. She has had recent exhibits at Ars Electronica (in collaboration with the BBC), Tate Modern (in collaboration with Nathaniel Mann) and Sheffield DocFest.

The Loudspeaker Orchestra presents immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design, sonic art and electroacoustic music. Regular concerts, featuring work by international artists alongside students of Sound Design, take place in and around Greenwich.

Further Concert Dates: http://bit.ly/2MnRdGf

SOUND/IMAGE 19

SOUND/IMAGE 19 – Exploring Sonic and Audio-Visual Practice

Dates: 9-10th November 2019

This colloquium hosted by the School of Design of the University of Greenwich, explores the relationship between sounds and images, and the images which sounds can construct by themselves.

—–

—–

—–

Through a series of complementary strands – talks, screenings and loudspeaker orchestra concerts – we bring together artists and experts to investigate sound and sound-image phenomena.

Special Guests:

Annette Vande Gorne, composer and artistic director of the international festival L’espace du son, brings her extensive ouvre to London to present a concert of multichannel acousmatic.

Tickets for Annette Vande Gorne’s Concert ONLY: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/annette-vande-gorne-loudspeaker-orchestra-concert-tickets-73442286857

Terry Flaxton has worked for decades with sound composition, photography and film. His work today focuses on durational forms of the digital including sound, video, print and installation.

Conference Dinner:

There will be a 3 course conference dinner, price £45 per person on Saturday 9 November, 8.30pm which can be booked when selecting tickets.

Provisional Programme can be viewed here (will be subject to change): http://bit.ly/2kRAqSc

Further information: https://blogs.gre.ac.uk/sound-image/

Should you have any questions or queries please contact the conference team by email: Sound-Image@greenwich.ac.uk

Annette Vande Gorne – Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

Date: Saturday 9th November 2019

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Location: University of Greenwich, 10 Stockwell Street, London SE10 9BD

Tickets: £5 or offer £30 for 7 Concerts in the Loudspeaker Concert Series

This event will be included in the cost of the SOUND/IMAGE19 Conference ticket which can be booked here: https://sound-image-19.eventbrite.co.uk

World leading composer Annette Vande Gorne presents a concert of multichannel acousmatic works as part of SOUND/IMAGE19. The artisitic director of the international festival L’espace du son brings her extensive ouvre to London.

Annette Vande Gorne can be heard in concert (more than 500) in many European countries, as well as Canada, China and South America, presenting repertory works of acousmatics in addition to her own works, usually on a 80-loudspeaker acousmonium. Her music focuses on the sounding energies of nature; she uses natural sounds and transforms them in studio to create an abstract, expressive, and non-anecdotal musical language. The relationship between text and music is another subject she often explores. She produced an acousmatic opera “yawar fiesta” which completely renews the genre while creating a link with the past. She studied classical music at the Royal Conservatory of Mons and Brussels, and with Jean Absil (fuga, instrumental composition). She also studied electroacoustic composition with Reibel and Schaeffer at the Paris National Conservatory. She is the artistic director of Brussels’ international acousmatic festival L’espace du son, and of the international competitions Espace du son (spatialization) and Métamorphoses (acousmatic composition). Vande Gorne founded and still leads the non-profit association Musiques & Recherches, and the studio Métamorphose d’Orphée (founded in 1982). She is the publisher of the electronic Lien and of the Electrodoc documentation center www.musiques-recherches.be She taught electroacoustic composition: Royal Conservatories of Liege, Brussels and Mons where she created a complete electroacoustic department in 2002. Professor emeritus since 2016.

The Loudspeaker Orchestra presents immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design, sonic art and electroacoustic music. Regular concerts, featuring work by international artists alongside students of Sound Design, take place in and around Greenwich.

Further Concert Dates: http://bit.ly/2MnRdGf

INA GRM Groupe de Recherches Musicales – Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

Date: Wednesday 6th November 2019

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Location: St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London

Tickets: £5 or offer £30 for 7 Concerts in the Loudspeaker Concert Series

—–

INA / GRM – Groupe de Recherches Musicales, visit us from Paris to present a rare London concert featuring a programme of acousmatic music featuring both new works and seminal compositions.

Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) was founded in 1958 and is a pioneer and world leader in the research and development of sound arts and electroacoustic music. The GRM has a long and illustrious history of composition and research, currently a part of INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel), it presents regular concerts electroacoustic music and develops the GRM Tools, a suite of software plugins for sound transformation and design. This concert programme brings together contemporary works with seminal compositions demonstrating the breadth and depth of GRM’s contribution to contemporary electronic music.

The Loudspeaker Orchestra presents immersive acoustic experiences through programmed concerts of multichannel sound design, sonic art and electroacoustic music. Regular concerts, featuring work by international artists alongside students of Sound Design, take place in and around Greenwich.

Further Concert Dates: http://bit.ly/2MnRdGf