In and Out of Synch

A 16mm moving image work and expanded cinema performance co-commissioned by Tate Modern and Arnolfini. Shot at the post-production facilities of Pinewood studios, London, the close-up sequences feature abstract patterns of optical sound encoded as light, printed onto the soundtrack area of the filmstrip. The film features the quivering light of a 16mm mono and a 35mm stereo optical sound camera, providing a seismic glimpse at a sound-wave in formation, on occasions flashing like a stroboscopic Rorschach inkblot. Performances: Tate Modern Oil Tanks (London 2012); Arnfolini (Bristol 2012); Kunstnernes Hus, (Oslo 2013). Exhibitions: Two-person exhibition at Castlefield Gallery, (Manchester 2013). Screenings: Mini-retrospective screening and in conversation with Lis Rhodes, Tate Britain (London 2014); Mini-retrospective screening, DIM Cinema, The Cinematheque (Vancouver 2015); Mini-retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery (London 2016); Mini-retrospective screening, Gertrude Contemporary (Melbourne 2016).

Oramics: Atlantis Anew

A moving image work co-commissioned by the Science Museum (London), with extensive unprecedented access to the Oramics archive at Goldsmiths College and the Science Museum. Conceived of as an Artist's film in homage to Daphne Oram, the pioneer of British Electronic Music and co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic workshop in 1958, the film features a close-up encounter with her unique invention, the Oramics Machine, housed at the Science Museum in London. Oram used drawn sound principles to compose ‘handwrought' electronic music, and yet the visual nature of her work remains largely unseen and unsung. Exhibitions: ‘Oramics to Electronica’ Science Museum (London 2011-14); solo exhibition as part of the International Rotterdam Film Festival (2013); group exhibition ‘The Sight of Sound’, Deutsche Bank VIP Lounge, Frieze Art Fair, NY (2012); ‘Samsung Art+ Prize’ BFI Southbank, London (2012). Screenings: mini-retrospective at the Lincoln Centre, NY, as part of the New York Film Festival (2013); Jarman Award Tour screenings (2012, venues included Whitechapel Gallery, London; FACT, Liverpool; CCA, Glasgow; The Northern Charter in partnership with CIRCA projects; Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; Watershed, Bristol; Duke of York Cinema, Brighton); Mini-retrospective screening and in conversation with Lis Rhodes, Tate Britain (London 2014); Mini-retrospective screening, DIM Cinema, The Cinematheque (Vancouver 2015); Mini-retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery (London 2016).

Sound Seam

A moving image work based on research with neurologists and audiologists, collectors and archivists. The film gives voice to the idea that every surface, in particular parts of our anatomy, is potentially inscribed with an unheard sound or echoes of voices from the past. The soundtrack’s musical composition is interlaced with a voice-over which draws on Rainer Maria Rilke’s text 'Primal Sound', where he reflects on the possibility of playing the coronal suture of a skull with a phonograph needle. The film uses microscopic photography, scanning electron microscopy, and sounds of otoacoustic emissions to uncover haunting aural bonescapes. The voiceovers too are recorded using old sound technology as a filter - writing and over-writing of wax cylinder to create unexpected scratches, glitches, loops and echoes. Exhibitions: shown as multi-channel sound/film installation AV festival (Newcastle 2010); solo exhibition at Wellcome Collection (London 2010-11); group exhibition ‘Samsung Art+ Prize’ BFI Southbank (London 2012); group exhibition ‘Transcendence’, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2014); solo exhibition as part of the International Rotterdam Film Festival (2013); group exhibition ‘The Sight of Sound’, Deutsche Bank VIP Lounge, Frieze Art Fair, NY (2012). Screenings: mini-retrospective at the Lincoln Centre, NY, as part of the New York Film Festival (2013); Jarman Award Tour screenings (2012, venues included Whitechapel Gallery, London; FACT, Liverpool; CCA, Glasgow; The Northern Charter in partnership with CIRCA projects; Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; Watershed, Bristol; Duke of York Cinema, Brighton), Whitechapel Gallery, London; FACT, Liverpool; CCA, Glasgow; The Northern Charter in partnership with CIRCA projects, Newcastle (special Q&A Aura Satz with Rebecca Shatwell, director of AV festival); Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; Watershed, Bristol; Duke of York Cinema, Brighton; Mini-retrospective at Tate Britain (London 2014); Mini-retrospective screening, DIM Cinema, The Cinematheque (Vancouver 2015); Mini-retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery (London 2016). Publications: ‘Sound Seam’ booklet with contributions by Steven Connor and Tom McCarthy (2010).

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic Aberration is a film installation which explores the early technologies of colour filmmaking drawn from the archives of George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Featuring vibrant close-ups of eyes from fledgling archival experiments in colour film, Chromatic Aberration turns the cinematic lens in on itself: from the prosthetic recording eye of the camera, to an evocation of the abstract inner screen of one's eyelids. Early 1920s colour film footage - mainly tests shots featuring members of George Eastman's family as well as Hollywood stars of the time - is shot in such a way so as to reveal the inherent chromatic fringing, distortion and misalignment. Using specialist equipment at the BFI National Archive, London, the footage is reworked through the use of extreme close-up and magnification, honing in on the eyes. The installation evokes an imagined abstract colour world, a flickering eyelid trapped in a mechanical peephole. Exhibitions: Solo exhibition as film installation at Tyneside Cinema (Newcastle, Oct-Nov 2014); Solo exhibition at George Eastman Museum (Rochester, New York, Jan-April 2015), including a second work on display. Film festivals nominations for competitions: Winner of Best Vanguard Film Competition in Lima Independiente International Film Festival (Peru). Nominations: Filmadrid festival (Spain); Curtas Vila do Conde film festival (Portugal); Festival du Nouveau Cinema (Canada); Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic ); International Film Festival Bratislava (Slovenia). Additional screenings at International Rotterdam Film Festival (Netherlands); European Media Art Festival (Germany); BFI London Film Festival (UK); Mini-retrospective screening at DIM CINEMA, The Cinematheque (Vancouver May 2015). Reviews and interviews in Artforum, The Wire Magazine, After Image, Studio International. Public lectures: with Prof. Sarah Street at Tyneside Cinema (Nov 2014); Royal Academy visiting public lecture (Nov 2014); ‘The Laughter of Things’ symposium, International Film Festival Rotterdam and Piet Zwart Institute (Jan 2015); George Eastman Museum and Rochester University (April 2015). Acquired by the George Eastman Museum for their collection.

CULTIVATING THE O-SHAPED ENGINEER

With roots in the realm of construction, products and the physical world, it is not surprising that design and engineering education is grounded within the paradigm of consumerism and growth, perpetuating an unsustainable system. With a primary sustainability focus on material improvements, students are rarely asked to question the context into which their designs will fit, or to explore how their designs can promote a different (more sustainable) future rather than just a less unsustainable one. While we remain within this economic paradigm, even the T-shaped designer, with a broad general knowledge and deep expertise in one specific area, at best has potential to reduce negative environmental impact rather than to create positive social and environmental benefit. As such, the T-shaped engineer is allowed little opportunity to creatively explore more sustainable alternatives using systems-level thinking. This paper explores how we can prepare the next generation of designers and engineers to maximise their inherent skills to address the most intractable global issues, currently considered outside of their traditional remit. It questions the notion of the T-shaped designer, and proposes instead the O-shaped designer whose primary concern is circular systems, worldviews, synergies and relationships. The paper examines some of the tools used in depth, explaining some unexpected but essential components. Through two case studies it will show how their application is generating sustainable innovation and delivering new O-Shaped calibre of design engineers, ready to rebuild the future.