ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [28 November 2009]

I'm just finishing my 1st semester at SAIC and it has been both calm and hectic.

When I arrived I felt extremely fortunate to be within the school and to have the opportunity for another period of time to dedicate to the development of my art practice. Then again I feel that I am out of my depth, in regards to moving from Scotland, attending a university again and making new work.

It has taken me longer to adjust to being out with the UK than I previously thought it would. I'm trying to continue to make what I set out to make and enjoy the security and the critique environment within my department. I don't want negative feelings and homesickness to affect what I create and how I do it.

# 2 [10 December 2009]

Reflections and Thoughts...

Be aware of the sonic limitations of spaces.

Consider audio from two pieces competing with one another and one becoming the dominant sound within a space.

Regard how one section of speech can come to dominate and colour an entire work for some viewers.

-Critique notes to myself

# 3 [29 January 2010]

How are field recordings thought of within a gallery environment as stand alone works?

How would field recordings be received when many artist performances that I’ve experienced have been solely synthesized sound works?

How would the cultural or historical contexts of a piece be referred to and presented within a live performance?

# 4 [29 January 2010]

Are Field Recordings My Friend or My Foe?

As the title of this blog suggests, I have a big question on my mind. I have traveled from video to sound, to installation and back to video and now I’m again using video and sound. My work takes a documentary stance in that I don’t synthesize and invent sounds but rather, record from life and present my findings objectively alongside photography or video works.

I haven’t used synthesizing very much, although I have had a recent adventure involving Pd (puredata) though an audio workshop. Pd is an open source program for sound design where users build map-like structures and create sound-producing objects, filters and controls. This was my first foray into utilising my computer to create sound with no reference to the field so to speak. I found this process quite strange and I struggled with what I felt was a lack of reference and context in what I was making over the two week workshop. I feel that my art practice needs a cultural or historical reference point gained from field recordings as I present sound the way I hear it within an environment or space.

I find that the issue of reference and specificity presents itself to me within live performance and installation environments. As an artist using field work as a significant component of my practice, I find the idea of a live performance quite an anxious one. One event that comes to mind was the exhibition Waveforms 09 at Heaven Gallery, Chicago. There was a range of work from artists including kinetic sculpture, video installations and a program of performances by artists. The sound performances were all of an abstract nature using synthesizing and constructed objects and instruments with one exception. The artist Bethany Childs collaborated with a poet by accompanying her spoken word with a composition of field recordings mirroring the dialogue. I found this work to be the most interesting and challenging, as I was presented with various sounds to work through and to assign a context and meaning related to the spoken word.

I find that I am fascinated and drawn to the beauty within field work, and with the sound remaining as it is within the real world.

www.heavengallery.com

www.bethanychilds.blogspot.com

www.kimwalker4.blogspot.com

www.puredata.info

# 5 [10 February 2010]

Pause - imagination.

Think about decisions of an ideological nature and decisions of a phonological nature.

The truth within sound...?

- Critique notes to myself

# 6 [17 February 2010]

I Found Salvation at Clybourn, Audio Recording

Conversation obscured, eavesdropped / Push environmnet, duration, spatial elements, near and far, return to the location / Hyper-real

Work in Progress, Video

Abstraction / Escape the origins of the material / move amongst the image itself / Screen and re-shoot

Les LeVeque

Martin Arnold

Helen Mirra

Diane Nerwen

# 7 [27 March 2010]

New Audio is now online at SoundCloud

http://soundcloud.com/kim-walker

# 8 [31 March 2010]

I would urge all students, like myself, to try to use tutorials and advising as a very positive experience, even though some readings of work could be regarded as negative. This is a chance for a more experienced artist to share their working practice and techniques with you and to focus your attention onto elements that you may miss. I try to use this opportunity frequently as one to reflect on issues regarding my work, even though they can be emotionally draining.

One issue that came up and until it was pointed out by Mary, I hadn't really noticed. In general we discussed my use of a heavily reduced palette with regards to image and sound. With this technique, how can I push the edge of discomfort and recognition to reduced levels, by subtracting either video or audio content?....and adding mystery....

# 9 [9 September 2010]

A Self-reflexive Summer

The first week is over as is the summer. Time spent: cooking // visiting // re-vitalising // reflecting // walking // thinking // connecting

Time and space is invaluable, as a period where trains of thought and, inevitabily, various projects begin to come together and adhere to each other.

Ethnographic and anthropological practice focusing on a place and specific location expressed through sound and image making.

Art and the everyday, theoretical and conceptual interrogration and direction.

...I didn't make anything, I indicated...

- Annette Messager

# 10 [23 September 2010]

LM ...what I like about your work is this reflection and familiarity...it's dealing with the everyday and sometimes that can be smug, you know?

It's not derogatory, more like a celebration...

KW I'm beginning to understand the connections, its like it's sitting right in the middle of a document and a conctructed fiction.

KW With HD I'm not sure if that polished, pristine image would suit this work... it would seem like a movie or something...

LM Yeah, it's would be too slick. The surface is not polished and that's what re-inforced this documentaty element. It makes your editing descisions, what you want to show us the elements that provide the magic. It makes them very considered and formalised.

Notes / summery of advising conversation