10 Years Of BasementArtsProject
WE ARE STILL HERE
How aware are you of the sounds around you? And what do they look like if you close your eyes?
Be A Part of this
INSTRUCTIONS
Go For A Walk, take some materials to draw with
Choose a place to sit and close your eyes
Focus on the sounds around you and make a drawing in response to what you hear
Set your phone to record sound whilst you make your drawing, keep your eyes closed!
On Saturday 2nd April 2011 BasementArtsProject opened it’s doors for the first time with an exhibition by Kimbal Quist Bumstead. ‘This Is Our House’ was an exhibition, installation that cemented an experiment in family living and experimental art practice that has endured for 10 years. The project continues, and to celebrate this we have invited Kimbal Bumstead back to exhibit at BasementArtsProject once again . . .
The Virtual BasementArtsProject is now open to view. To enter, Click the button . . . .
Further Information
In place of what would have been a physical exhibition, and in light of the continuing restrictions, this April I will be ‘virtual’ artist-in-residence at Basement Arts Project. I am creating an audio-visual artwork that explores individual experiences of sonic environments through drawing and I would like you to help me make it!
For this project I am exploring how drawing, specifically the act of making marks on paper, can be used as a way to tune in to the sounds around you. I am interested in how the texture, shape, pattern and rhythm of ambient sound can be visually transformed into a variety of marks and drawn gestures.
I am inviting you to participate in this project by creating a ‘sound drawing’ with your eyes closed in a location of your choice, as well as recording a sample of sound in that same location.
I will ask you to take a photograph of the drawing you make and upload it along with the audio file to a google form.
I will use the images I receive to create a digital collage, layering drawings over each other as transparent layers, combining and modifying them to form what I am envisaging as some sort of map of an imaginary sonic landscape. Secondly, I will use this collage as a score from which to create a sound collage using the audio recordings as samples. I will be working with the details and textures both in the drawings as well as in the recordings by layering and modifying them. In a sense this process is about transforming sound into drawing, and then transforming drawing back into sound. To make this piece, I will only be working with the materials that are submitted by people, so please spread the word!
The artwork will evolve throughout April and the process can be seen and heard in the virtual Basement Arts Project exhibition space via this link:
Sounds great, How does it work?
Well, it's really simple and hopefully you will find it both interesting and fun.
Choose a place where you feel comfortable to close your eyes and would like to draw. It could be inside or outside, private or public. You can use any paper you have available whether it’s a sheet of paper, a notebook or even a napkin, and whichever drawing tools you prefer to use; pencil, pen, graphite, charcoal or crayon. I’ll be really happy to see a wide range of different materials and surfaces, so they do not need to be specific art materials.
For the drawing, close your eyes and tune in to the sounds of the world around you. Focus on the sounds that dominate, how can you render the audio landscape visually. Allow yourself to become distracted and focus in on smaller sounds and include these too. Let the sound guide you, and allow the act of making marks to help you tune in to specific sounds.
For the audio recording, you can use your phone unless you have a fancy recorder that you would like to use, but a phone is perfectly fine. There are two options depending on which one you feel most comfortable with, all are equally valid and it is up to you which one you prefer.
1. Record whilst drawing. (Bear in mind that you will have your eyes closed whilst drawing so only do this if you are in a place you feel safe to leave your phone unattended)
2. First make the recording and then make the drawing later whilst listening back to it using headphones. (For instance you could make a recording in a public place and then make the drawing at home)
UPLOAD YOUR DRAWINGS AND AUDIO RECORDINGS TO: GOOGLE DOC FORM
You will need to log in to your Google account to use this form, if you do not have a Google account you can email Kimbal directly or WeTransfer to hello@kimbalbumstead.com