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 performative field recordings. His installation
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 have been included
in various books and journals, including “Experimental Sound and
Radio” (MIT) and “Soundspace: Architecture for Sound and Vision”
(Birkhäuser). 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. He is the author of
“Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art” (Continuum 2006).
