Seeing Sound

22 – 24 October 2010

Presented in conjunction with Supersonic Festival, Seeing Sound was an exhibition exploring the ways in which we experience sound as light, movement, noise and colour.

Spanning 40 years the programme drew together historical and contemporary moving image works including: Benedict Drew, Writing Music (2008); Ben Russell, Black & White Trypps No.3 (2007), Juneau Projects, A Rich Future is Still Ours (2003), Stefan and Franciszka Themerson, The Eye and The Ear (1944–45) and Tony Conrad’s seminal work The Flicker (1966), a 30-minute film exploring the possibilities for harmonic expression using a sensory mode other than sound.

A programme of performance was presented alongside the exhibition including Lärmlicht #2 (for percussionist, 4-channel tape and 8 lightbulbs) by classical percussionist Joe Snape. The piece is the first an ongoing series which explores the expressive potential of light in the context of musical performance.

Also at VIVID was a rare performance of Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music commissioned by Capsule and performed by Mr. Underwood following his Noise Box Workshop at VIVID. Originally scored “For Microphones, Amplifiers, Speakers and Performers” this adapted version was performed using four Noise Boxes/ Optical Theremins and four torches.