Installations & Performances

Old Broadcasting House, Leeds, England 7th March

6:00pm : Drinks, snacks & chats
7:00pm : An Introduction by Mike Harding of Touch
7:10pm : A Journey South, with Chris Watson
8:30pm : Q&A
9:00pm : Close

***This event is now sold out***

Touch.30, in conjunction with the Oates100 Campaign and nti Leeds present an audio-visual journey to the South Pole with Chris Watson.

As part of the team for the David Attenborough BBC series “Frozen Planet”, Chris travelled to Antarctica to record the ambient sounds, the wildlife, the water – even the groaning of a glacier as it moves. Chris talks about his experiences there and brings the remotest continent to life with his stunning recordings.

Chris is is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. His recordings are used in TV, Radio and Film including contributions to the award-winning re-release of “A Great White Silence”, originally filmed during Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.

For Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative released on CD & Vinyl, such as his latest release “El Tren Fantasma”; viewed by one reviewer as “a benchmark in field recording not to mention a map of the soul, an insight into the human condition and a key to dreams”.

Chris has characterised his work as “putting microphones where you can’t put your ears” – come along to experience the incredible surround-sound results for yourself. This is part of a series of events intended to commemorate Captain Lawrence “Titus” Oates, who sacrificed himself 100 years ago in an effort to save the lives of his fellow explorers during Captain Scott’s attempt to be the first to the South Pole.

Generously hosted by nti Leeds at Old Broadcasting House with equipment loaned from Leeds Metropolitan University, this is a unique event to commemorate a true Leeds hero.

This is now sold out
Directions and parking: www.ntileeds.co.uk
All profits go to: Help For Heroes

Gina Czarnecki exhibition until 19 Feb ’12

A retrospective exhibition by this award-winning artist, featuring new commissions and other works being shown in the UK for the first time. Daily 10am – 6pm.

Related events

Fri 27 January 7.30 – 9.30pm

Chris Watson – Quarantine:
Founder member of influential Sheffield based music group Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. Here Watson presents the UK premiere of new album El Tren Fantasma and a live performance of his sound score for Quarantine, a video work by Gina Czarnecki.

To mark the start of the month of events curated by Nobel Prize winning author JMG Le Clezio in Le Louvre the author will deliver a presentation about his work in the auditorium this evening followed by a soundscape response to the writer’s work by Chris Watson.
This will be an Acousmatique diffusion of ‘Oceanus pacificus’ through a 24 channel system specially installed by GRM.
You can read The Louvre’s blog on soundlandscapes here

(Photo: Seán Mac an tSíthigh)

RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland
18h00 Monday 31st October 2011

Presented by Luke Clancy, Skelligs Calling offers a sonic portrait of Skellig Michael in the company of world-renowned recordist, Chris Watson. Surveying the sounds of this UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, Chris captures the gurgling of Storm Petrels – who nest at the island’s monastic summit – and the raucous music of Manx Shearwaters as they swarm around Christ’s Saddle in the dark. Producer: Kevin Brew.

Made by kind permission of the Commissioners of Irish Lights and The Office of Public Works.

This programme was made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Chris Watson will be keynote speaker at the 6th Audio Mostly, a conference on interaction with sound, in 7-9 September 2011. The conference, steered by the Interactive Institute, Sonic Studio in Piteå, Sweden, will be hosted by the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and held in co-operation with SIGCHI and the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM, New York, USA.

The Audio Mostly Conference series fosters the thoughtfulness for the unexploited potential of audio in computer-based environments and across many contexts. It aims to help open up this area of thinking by bringing together audio experts, game designers, content creators, and technology and behavioral researchers. The conference theme, this year, is “Sound and Context”. Chris’ background and the great appreciation his work enjoys among practitioners and researchers make him a natural fit in as a keynote speaker in this event.

www.audiomostly.com

White Noise

Hello. We might have only just met, but by the time we’ve spent 30 minutes together we will have lied to each other 3 times. So says Ian Leslie who will explain why we are all Born Liars. We also have Mary McCaughey, on the subject of the influence of art on architecture, her work, her love and her passion. And we have Chris Watson, the world’s premier nature-o-grapher, Chris travels the world putting his microphone where Attenborough fears to put his ears and will take us on his ‘Journey South’, an aural soundscape of the remotest continent.

Doors open at 7pm, prick up your ears for 8.

Chris Watson
Nature Disco

Watson is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and for Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. For example. the unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic . . .

Mary McCaughey
The Influence of Art on Architecture

Mary McCaughey developed the famed concept of English Garden Lounging. Her company is responsible for curating of art exhibitions in the most magical of settings. She’s curated-created for the The Tate the Turner Prize and for the . . .

Ian Leslie
Born Liars

Ian Leslie is a writer who lives in London. BORN LIARS, his book about the role of lying in our lives, will be published in Spring 2011. Ian’s first book, TO BE PRESIDENT, was described by Sky’s Adam Boulton as “the most comprehensive account yet of the historic 2008 presidential election”. He has contributed pieces to The Guardian, The Times and Prospect. He’s appeared as a talking head on BBC News, Sky News, Radio 4 and Five Live. He is somewhat uncomfortable about referring to himself in the third person.

13th May – 9th July 2011 at Newlyn Art Gallery

Down There Among The Roots features the sound recordings of BAFTA award-winning Chris Watson, and the site-specific clay installations of recent V & A artist-in-residence Phoebe Cummings.

Through the exhibition both artists investigate the passage of time in relation to specific geographical locations; revealing aural and visual elements that are often overlooked. The lower gallery space will be filled with the haunting sounds of Chris Watson’s recordings of wires and water, sounds which were captured by burying equipment below the ground and submerging hydrophones within the ocean. The room will be dark except for a spotlight illuminating Phoebe Cummings’ miniature landscape, intricately crafted by the artist from un-fired clay.

The upper gallery’s light, airy space has influenced the second of Phoebe’s specially commissioned pieces. This will be a large, clay installation comprised of exquisite small scenes and life-size fragments informed by details from the Cornish landscape, such as satellite dishes and palms. Alongside this will be Chris’ second piece, recorded in the air, which will create an immersive acoustic environment. The exhibition culminates in The Studio cafe which will be filled with telecommunication artefacts and books that shed light on some of the inspirations behind the work.

Co-curated by students from MA Curatorial Practice at University College Falmouth (UCF), this is the third year of a successful collaboration with Newlyn Art Gallery. As Blair Todd, Exhibitions Curator/Deputy Director at Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange says: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with the MA Curatorial Practice course at UCF. This is the third year of tutoring, mentoring and assisting the students to realise a public exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery. Down There Among The Roots proves again the commitment and ambition of both the course and the gallery to bring the best of national contemporary art to the region.”

Down There Among The Roots 13th May – 9th July 2011 Preview 12th May 7 – 9pm
Newlyn Art Gallery, New Road, Newlyn, Penzance TR18 5PZ
Opening hours: Monday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm, Sunday: Closed Free Admission

Inspace

Dialogues proudly acknowledges the support of the Sound Design and Digital Composition and Performance MScs, the Informatics Forum, and the HSS Knowledge Transfer Office at the University of Edinburgh.

The University of Edinburgh’s Inspace is a public engagement facility that explores the cultural significance of informatics and new media practice. Inspace is home to a joint research partnership between the School of Informatics and New Media Scotland.
You can read more about Chris’s trip to Edinburgh here, and you can read an extended version by Neil Cooper on his blog.

ORF have made an announcement of his performance in Krems and a short portrait of Chris Watson.

A Journey South

Chris Watson was not only co-founder of legendary Sheffield art-rock band Cabaret Voltaire, he is meanwhile also one of the most renowned collectors of animal and nature field recordings. His album “Weather Report” from 2003 is, according to the Guardian, one of the 1000 albums to hear before you die. For the donaufestival he has prepared an installation and a live-performance. As part of the former, “Sea Ice”, he captured the melting of Antarctic ice in five collaged soundtracks, while the latter, “A Journey South”, sees the familiar sounds of Europe slowly dissolving into dark and beautiful soundscapes at the end of the world.

www.donaufestival.at

Anatomy Theatre & Museum

Programme:

A free programme of talks, performances, sound and film installations bringing together students, academics, artists and the public in long-table discussions and presentations to explore the figure of the cave from pre-history to post-humanism.
Chris opens the program at 1600 HRS on Monday 14th February

Curators:

Dr. Catalin Partenie (University of Quebec at Montreal & National School of Political Studies and Administration, Bucharest) and Alan Read (Professor of Theatre, King’s College London)

Entrance:

All CAVES events are free to staff, students and public alike, however so we can arrange sufficient catering, please register by sending an email to anna.ashton@kcl.ac.uk with CAVES in the title and details of which events you would like to participate in. In the unlikely event of excessive numbers, entrance will be arranged on a first come first served basis. We would like to apologise in advance should this inconvenience anyone.

Setting the scene for the Virgin – A tour of paintings with sound and candlelight

Imagine yourself beyond the walls of the Gallery with this special low-lighted tour of some of the most beautiful paintings in the collection…

Join lecturer James Heard to discover more about the original settings of the paintings and the symbolism within them. Your procession through the Sainsbury Wing galleries will come to life through contemporary interpretations by sound artists Chris Watson and Simon Fisher Turner. The tour will include four paintings, ending in front of a candlelit scene of the Coronation of the Virgin.

The WIRED Lab, in association with The British Council proudly present….

Rolling Stock
20TH NOVEMBER

A series of art happenings on a vintage train moving through the landscapes of Junee (SW NSW)

Featuring Chris Watson (UK), Renny Kodgers, Kate Murphy, Alan Lamb, Dave Noyze, PVI Collective, Public Assembly, Shannon O’Neill and more…

View poster here

TICKETS ON SALE NOW: www.rolling-stock.org

Chris Watson Live Audio performance

Evening also includes performances by the WIRED Lab.
When: Wednesday 24th November 2010, 7pm
Where: Chauvel Cinema, Paddington Town Hall, Corner of Oxford St & Oatley Rd,
Paddington, Sydney.
Cost: Adult $15, Concession $10
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: www.stickytickets.com.au

24TH NOVEMBER
Chris performs “A Journey South”
View poster here
You can read press and radio coverage here

Radio

14.11.10

Interview on ‘Canvas’ arts program on FBI radio, Sydney
24.11.10
ABC 1 hour interview with Margaret Thosby
21.11.10
JJJ Soundlab program with Fenella Kernebone
18.12.10
ABC Radio National ‘New Music Up Late’ special on Rolling Stock, 2 hour program featuring interviews with Chris and participating artists.
TBA
ABC Radio National ‘The Night Air’ prerecorded a special focus program with Watson, but this has not aired yet, will keep you posted on its broadcast date.

Press

23.11.10
Review in The Australian national newspaper

From 29 May to 5 September 2010, co-producers Sound and Music and Forma presented Chris Watson’s sound installation Whispering in the Leaves in the Palm House at Kew Gardens, part of Kew’s Summer Festival.

Chris Watson is a renowned sound recordist and BAFTA winner for his work on the BBC documentary The Life of Birds. In this video he talks to long-time colleague Sir David Attenborough about their experiences sound recording in the wild. The talk was held on 10 August at the Royal Institution of Great Britain and was kindly chaired by Richard Ranft, Head of the British Sound Archive.

Please note this is an excerpt of a 1.5 hour talk.

www.whisperingintheleaves.com
www.davidattenborough.co.uk

Tickets are now available for this live performance of The Bee Symphony from York Concerts at The Rymer Auditorium

The Bee Symphony

Celebrating the bee in science and art

Friday 17 December 2010 at 7.30pm
Rymer Auditorium

The Bee Symphony, consisting of recordings of bees by Chris Watson (‘The Life of Birds’, ‘The Life of Mammals’, ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ and ‘Life in Cold Blood’), Mike Harding (Touch) and a vocal score by Marcus Davidson (Spire) will be performed live by Chris Watson and five singers from the University of York, conducted by Marcus Davidson. The Symphony was originally commissioned as part of Pestival and performed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.

“The theme of the evening is really for people to become immersed in the sounds and rhythms of the insects.” Chris Watson

In addition to The Bee Symphony the programme will feature other sound performances and talks by scientists on current research on bees and the current perils that they face.

Updated details of the full programme

For the final event of the Chromatologies Festival 2010, renowned wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson has kindly agreed to hold an additional session open to the general public. He will present his sound recordings of wildlife and natural environments entitled ‘The Songs of Summer’:

“Throughout May and June the British Isles resonate to some of the strangest and most beautiful sounds on earth; the voices, rhythms and music of our wildlife. In an acoustic journey from the vast seabird cliffs in the far north via a suburban garden pond to nocturnal soloists hidden in deep cover somewhere within Home Counties woodlands. Chris Watson celebrates the sonic biodiversity found across our unique landscapes.”
The event is very family friendly and we hope all age groups will attend and enjoy Chris’ beautiful work.

The session will take place on Friday 1st October at Rotherham Central Library and Arts Centre, Walker Place, Rotherham S65 1JH.

Doors open at 6:45 and the session will start at 7pm, so arrive promptly.

Entrance is free but please email info@chromatologies.com to let us know if you plan to come so we know roughly how many people to expect.

About Chris Watson:

Chris Watson is a world leading, and BAFTA award winning, sound recordist with a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, television & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary and is well known for his work with Sir David Attenborough. His recorded works, noted for their exceptional detail and beauty, were listed in the Guardians ‘1000 albums to hear before you die’.
“Calling Chris a sound recordist is a bit like saying George Best could kick a ball about, or Michelangelo was handy with a paintbrush.” Daily Telegraph 24th August 2010.

for further information see:
www.chromatologies.com

On the 10th August 2010, as part of Chris Watson’s Whispering in the Leaves project, Watson and Sir David Attenborough will be appearing together, in conversation, at The Royal Institution, London at an event entitled “Calls of the Wild”.

Chris Watson’s wildlife sound recordings are perhaps best known through his work with Sir David Attenborough on BBC television series including The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth and Life in Cold Blood.

In this discussion, illustrated with tropical rainforest recordings used in Watson’s Whispering in the Leaves installation at Kew Gardens, Chris Watson and Sir David Attenborough talk about the animals heard in the piece, their experiences of filming and recording them, and the changing environment of the rainforest through the day.

For further information and ticket sales click here
www.davidattenborough.co.uk

Chris Watson also held a two-day workshop at Kew Gardens, which you can read about here.

You can read more about this here

Wednesday 28th July 2010 – 8:30pm – 10€ – Abbeystrewry Church

Skibbereen Arts Festival is delighted to see the return of sound recordist and artist Chris Watson to present a selection of audio recordings in the atmospheric Abbeystrewry Church.

As David Attenborough’s sound man, Chris Watson is frequently to be found in inhospitable parts of the globe, capturing the sound of monsoon downpours in tropical rainforests, or recording the sounds of activity inside termite mounds in the stifl ing deserts of Namibia. This year Watson has been in the North Pole and the Antarctic to record sounds for the television series ‘The Frozen Planet’.

For this special live event Chris will be in conversation with Presenter Luke Clancy and Producer Kevin Brew from RTÉ Radio 1’s Sound Stories programme, to discuss the sounds, silences and unique atmosphere that is to be found at both ends of the world.
“I was out in the midnight sun, standing on just two metres of frozen sea ice, 12 kilometres from land, with 750m of ocean beneath my feet, recording pods of killer whales surfacing to breathe in a narrow crack in the sea ice, just three metres away”. (Chris Watson)

More info can be read here

Chris Watson’s Whispering in the Leaves is an extraordinary sound installation, using recordings and natural history broadcast to transport us to the far-flung, dense rainforests of South and Central America. Throughout the summer festival, Kew Garden’s Palm House will be diffused with the dawn and dusk choruses of the myriad of creatures native to these lush tropical landscapes. A highly sensory experience, Whispering in the Leaves is a remarkable demonstration of the power of sound to evoke inaccessible and captivating locations.

Whispering in the Leaves is a powerful sound work derived from Watson’s extensive archive of wildlife and on location recordings in Central and South America – habitats that host over half of the planet’s wildlife. Diffused through the tropical foliage of Kew Gardens’ iconic building the Palm House, the surround soundtrack of wildlife dawn and dusk choruses will be transmitted at hourly intervals throughout the day for 15-20 minute durations – the approximate time taken in the rainforest for the transitions from darkness into light, and from daylight to dark. The sound pieces feature the calls and voices of thousands of species, including the howls and shrieks of black howler and spider monkeys, the musicality of diverse birdsong and the shimmering and hissing of tree frogs and cicadas.

A highly sensory and captivating experience, Whispering in the Leaves is a remarkable demonstration of the power of sound recordings and natural history broadcast to transport us to far flung, inaccessible and often extraordinary locations.

Chris Watson will perform a live sound mix in which audio recording of a three or four-hour period across late afternoon, sunset and into the night will be compressed into around twenty minutes. Featuring recordings of a tropical thunderstorm and ending with the deep, lush sounds of the nocturnal insect chorus, the performance will create an intense auditory narrative for the audience.

Whispering in the Leaves is co-produced by Sound and Music & Forma. Originally commissioned by AV Festival 08.

www.whisperingintheleaves.org
www.soundandmusic.org
www.forma.org.uk
www.kew.org

and you can read reviews in

Gramophone
The Daily Telegraph
Culture24

and The Guardian audio piece by Pascal Wyse here
and a review in Frieze by Daniela Cascella here
and in The New Scientist here

[pic: Fabio Lugaro]

Friday 14th May 2010 7-7:30pm
Room 34
Admission free

“Musician and leading wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson will discuss the sounds of wildlife and weather in The Cornfield and the changes in sound pollution since Constable’s time. He will end with a performance of the piece he has written in response to this painting for the new Sounds of the Gallery Tour.”

Chris writes: “Gazing through the woodland and out into the cornfield creates for me a wonderful and seductive sense of perspective. The mature trees frame a pastoral scene which is in turn bridged by clouds.

I can hear birdsong billowing from the leaf cover and a great spotted woodpecker drumming on the trunk of a skeletal tree which temporarily distracts the Border collie from it’s herding duties. Unseen and almost unheard a freshwater spring bubbles into the drinking pool, a resource that is shared by animals and people alike on days such as this. From behind, a gushing breeze ripples through the tree canopy and out across open fields where ripe corn heads swish and sigh on dry stems, their slow rhythm accompanying a skylark singing from high above, a pin point of silver sound lost to all sight, in a pewter sky.

In the early 19th Century Constable could not only see into the distance but also hear it. From his memory no doubt the warm song of a yellowhammer and drifting tones and the church clock would carry far in the humid air. Noise pollution was yet to reach rural Suffolk revealing a quality of sound that has, like the landscape, passed into history.”