A life of its own

Where does it come from? Or, as my inner sub-editor would insist I put it (would insist it be put?): from where does it come?

With photography, it seems at times to be a simple matter of ‘capturing a moment’, a scene, a pre-existing slice of life that is there to be witnessed, with the click of a shutter button all that’s required to transfer this graspable, definable, readily perceivable moment to film – or, increasingly, pixels. But of course in that instant a multitude of decisions are being made. For every shutter speed selected countless more are discarded. The edges of the selected scene are determined in part by the parameters of the lens, in part by the judgment as to where the ‘interest’ and 'story' begins and ceases to exist.

How many details are allowed to be brought in? Where will the focus be? What level of implied movement will be allowed, how much will the illusion of time passing be sutured to what is a medium that is necessarily timeless, frozen, terrifyingly still? Because a photograph is implication, a visual fragment redolent of so much more, a form of suggestion that awakens the absent senses to their possibilities, the sound and smell and taste that all existed in that moment.

Working with sound is almost the converse. From the very beginning we are blind. Or, more accurately, we must render ourselves blind to what we have the luxury of being able to see. Again, decisions must be made, certain aspects must be elevated over others. Working with voices, we need to understand that once these voices are recorded, removed from the circumstances and environment of their instantiation, all that is left is disembodied sound that will bear to varying degrees a resemblance to their uttering, but carrying no trace of the visual cues of social interaction.

With ‘found sound’, the exhilaration of the city or exhalation of the earth, there is always a question as to how much of that environment we are trying to evoke, or how much we are content for it to be divorced from its moment of production. On one hand it will depend upon our purposes, our intentions, yet on the other there is always this – regardless of what we may have in our own mind, the message or story we are trying to project, once we use it, release it back into the wild amidst all the other sounds, it will once again take on a life all of its very own.

With the act of writing, it appears even more is left to chance, whim or personal idiosyncrasy. From a seething multitude of words we pluck a random selection and string them into what is hopefully a coherent whole. Like side-show contortionists they twist and turn, toss and tumble, reflecting not a moment or reality, but the inner workings of an imagination run amok.

Yet on closer inspection, one wonders if that is indeed the case. These words are all being drawn from somewhere; they are being placed one after another not as random artefacts, but as known objects being used in a familiar fashion. To make any sense, we rely on certain patterns and concepts, a shared agreement on what is and is not acceptable, understandable. Of course all these rules can be broken, but one wonders if the same is not true of photography, sound, painting, drawing, sculpting, music.

I think it is and it isn’t; there are perhaps common points, cross-over moments, shared traits. But – rather more excitingly - each has its own strengths and weaknesses, each holds a power and a mystery that the others can but struggle to emulate, necessarily failing, falling, yet standing up, dusting themselves off again and jumping out once more into that unknown, where they will either briefly touch that which they seek, or fall into a beautiful mess while striving.

It is this mystery and the opportunity to create work that will take on an unpredictable life of its own that has drawn me to the life between buildings project, as well, of course, as the opportunity to work closely and creatively with Danielle, Rhiannon, Julian and Serena - special people whose own work and ideas and passions I have long admired. I can’t wait to see what happens as we bring all these aspects together, discovering what new spaces are created when all these voices and fragments and ideas collide, coalesce and combine.

- Benjamin