Sound
is inherently and unignorably relational: it emanates, propagates, communicates,
vibrates, and agitates; it leaves a body and enters others; it binds and
unhinges, harmonizes and traumatizes; it sends the body moving, the mind
dreaming, and the air oscillating. It seemingly eludes definition, while
having profound effect. Sound teaches us, by always being temporal, spatial,
and relational, that space is more than its apparent materiality, that
knowledge is festive, alive as a chorus of voices, and that to produce
and receive sound is to be involved in connections that make privacy intensely
public.
Brandon
LaBelle is an artist and writer working with sound and the specifics
of location. Through his work with Errant Bodies Press he has co-edited
the anthologies “Site of Sound: Of Architecture and the Ear”,
“Writing Aloud: The Sonics of Language”, “Surface Tension:
Problematics of Site” and "Radio Territories". He initiated
and curated the Beyond Music series and festivals from 1997 – 2002
at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center in Los Angeles, and in 2001 he
organized “Social Music”, a radio series for Kunstradio ORF,
Vienna. Throughout the 90s he played drums in various bands in Los Angeles,
notably Farflung and Purse, and worked as idbattery (with l. chasse) producing
experimental performances and field recordings. His work has been featured
in exhibitions and festivals internationally, including "Sampling
Rage"(1999) Podewil Berlin, “Sound as Media”(2000) ICC
Tokyo, "Bitstreams"(2001) Whitney Museum New York, “Pleasure
of Language”(2002) Netherlands Media Institute Amsterdam, and “Undercover”(2003)
Museet for Samtidskunst Roskilde, and his writings appear in various books
and journals, including “Experimental Sound and Radio” (MIT),
“Soundspace: Architecture for Sound and Vision” (Birkhäuser)
and "Reinventing Radio" (Revolver). He presented a solo exhibition
at Singuhr galerie in Berlin (2004), and an experimental composition for
pirate drummers as part of Virtual Territories, Nantes (2005). His ongoing
project to build a library of radio memories, “Phantom Radio”,
was presented fall 2006 as part of Radio Revolten, Halle Germany and at
Casa Vecina, Mexico City in 2008. He is the author of “Background
Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art” (Continuum 2006).