Sounds of Spurn

Alice Fox is a textile artist who I’ve collaborated with several times in the last few years. She has just completed a period as artist in residence at Spurn Point, creating an impressive number of textile pieces inspired by the landscape.

Textures of Spurn, lighthouse installation

I had the pleasure of recently putting together a presentation from her photographs and from a small selection of field recordings by Nigel Morgan. The sonic element remixes the ‘sounds of Spurn’ with some subtle processing. It  is not intended to accompany the presentation per se: in the gallery context the audio and presentation are not synced, but are intended to run asynchronously. You can see/listen here:

Having completed the residency, Alice is touring the exhibition, starting at the Meeting Room Gallery, South Square, Bradford.

This is the second piece of audio I’ve done for digital photo-frames in a gallery setting – the other one being the electroacoustic rendition of Nigel Morgan’s Sense of Place: Four Seasons for Solo Guitar, as a companion to Jilly Edwards‘ exhibition of the same name at High Cross House.

Tuba Veneris: Come Buy, Come Buy

Trident Books is a small publisher and bindery based in Seattle. Their books are often bound in small batches: in the past this has (unsurprisingly) led to some issues of supply versus demand. Fortunately Trident Titles are now available through a number of independent sellers as well as via eBay as and when they are bound.

At the time of writing, Trident is currently offering 8 copies of the hardbound Tuba Veneris: Libellus Veneri Nigro Sacer, attributed to John Dee. You can get them here for a very reasonable $66 each. This is probably the most complete edition of a text that has fascinated me for at least a decade (I discuss the poetic elements in the essay published in Mandragora). It comprises of a wonderful, appropriate and sensitive translation by Michael Putman, along with the Latin transcription and a facsimile of the original MS, along with other materials including a lengthy (40 page) essay entitled The Magic of the Tuba Veneris penned by… myself.

It’s a beautifully produced and typeset volume, which I am proud to have been involved with. To prove, there are some nice photos by Layla (working in less than perfect conditions) after the break!