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AIR Simon Whetham - Week Seven

Week seven (28 June – 4th July 2021)
Location: Marseille, France

Most of this week has involved creating sections or ‘scenes’ using the various assemblages I have constructed to begin to work on a loose structure for the performance piece.

I documented them with video and sound as I worked on them in order to demonstrate what I am doing but also to help with the structure, and to figure out how one can lead to another. The sections in the video documentation are in order of development only.

The two devices in the original setup (second double deck and the clunker) are now part of this iteration as I managed to burn out the small fan that made the rock move, and the cardboard box with the worm drive motor inside felt a little too basic to me. However I will keep the idea for another project.

Having contacted various artists and musicians in The Hague, I spoke to Arvind Ganga on Wednesday. He was introduced to me by Wen Chin Fu as someone who organises live events and is a musician himself.

He liked what he saw of the project from these pages and the video, so we chatted about the possibility of me performing in his Myriads series of events. Below you’ll find a brief transcription of our meeting.

I will perform at his studio at Helicopter on 21st July.

Geplaatst op 12.07.2021.

Auteur:
Simon Whetham

Marseille, France

Simon Whetham is our Artist in Residency from May until July 2021. He will use his residency to further develop the activation of discarded mechanical devices using sound impulses to be presented as a live performance. The first stage of this project was carried out during the residency at Ferme-Asile, Switzerland.
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This period of research involves collecting sounds from Marseille and Breda and utilising them in the activation of objects found or donated in both locations. The first six weeks will be carried out remotely with me recording sounds in Marseille and testing their properties in the studio. I am meeting with the team of Witte Rook on a regular basis to discuss the progress of the project, but will also be connecting with artists and organisations in The Netherlands to discuss all aspects of the project and find further opportunities to present the results.
During the final three weeks I will be in residence at Witte Rook, physically meeting everyone I have connected with and presenting the results in Breda and hopefully other places.