Interview with Akio Suzuki

Taking his lead from nature, the Japanese sound artist on his latest performance at the North East festival, which sees him finding ‘sound spots’ around Newcastle city centre

Akio Suzuki began experimenting with sound in the 1960s and is now recognised as a forerunner of the international sound-art scene. Despite of his numerous exhibitions and performances across the globe, Suzuki is a modest man modest who lives a humble life closely connected to nature. His gentle personality is reflected in the meditative nature of his work, which encourages listeners and viewers to experience an alternative perspective of the world.

This month, Akio Suzuki brings his work to Newcastle upon Tyne for AV Festival 14: Extraction. The biannual festival runs throughout March, and marks Suzuki’s first major solo exhibition in the UK featuring new work inspired by his visit to the North East coast. In keeping with the central focus of the festival, a re-imagining of the geologic through the exploration of the earth’s raw materials, Suzuki has created original artworks, both visual and aural, that make use of stones taken from the local pebbled beaches.

Millie Walton: When did you first begin experimenting with sound?

Akio Suzuki: Originally I was studying architecture, but somehow I gave that up and became a sound artist. I’m not really sure how it happened! [Laughs] As an architect I was always working in a space and developed a fascination with the relationship between sound and space – that’s really the foundation of my art.

Millie: All of your sound is created using instruments you have constructed by hand, the most significant of these being ‘Analapos’… how was the idea conceived?

Akio: I didn’t learn about sound in school, but from nature. Nature was my teacher. I would immerse myself in the surrounding environment and play around with natural sound phenomenons. For example, I would go to the mountainside or shout across the valley and listen to the way the sound came back. My interest in natural echoes then led me to start thinking about an instrument that could also create that kind of sound.

At the time I was collecting lots of junk in my studio, pieces of metal I found on the streets, and then one day when I was playing around with a metal can I attached a metal coil, and found that together they could create an echo effect similar to that of nature. So it was really by chance that I conceived the basic idea of analapos. I am always searching for these chance encounters and moments in life. It’s a bit like chemistry between objects, similar to that between a man and a woman. Sometimes there’s chemistry, sometimes there isn’t. If you just take a metal can it doesn’t make a sound but if you just attach a coil it creates a sound.

Millie: In the late 80s, for the ‘Space in the Sun’ project, you spent sunrise to sunset listening to the natural sounds of your surroundings. What was the purpose of this project?

Akio: I had no intention to become a performer, but in the 70s I somehow became one through people requesting live performances and exhibitions. ‘Space in the Sun’ was really about returning to my starting place, which was nature. I began learning from nature not as an artist, but just as a human being, and I wanted to be reminded of who I really was. I was listening to ‘La Mer’ a composition by the French classical composer Claude Debussy and I formed this idea that to create the piece, Debussy had sat on the beach for a day listening to the ocean. Debussy was actually inspired by Japanese print, but I was very moved by the idea that I had imagined so I started to build two red brick walls. It took two years to build the walls, which I then sat between for one day listening to the sounds of nature. In that time I didn’t create any other artworks but just channeled all of my energy into this one project. It was a way for me to reconnect with nature.

Millie: The AV Festival is very much centred around natural resources and landscapes this year. How is this theme explored in your solo exhibition at the Globe Gallery, and live performances?

Akio: I really love stones. I have a big selection of stones collected from beaches all around the world. When we [Aki and I] visited Newcastle last July, we went to a local beach and collected specific stones for the exhibition. I found ‘stone-flutes’, stones with natural holes in them, which I will be playing in our duo performance.

Millie: Your exhibition Na Ge Ka Ke meaning ‘to cast, to throw’ reflects on the general idea behind your artwork but also includes a collection of installations that are ‘of sound but are soundless’…

Akio: All of the pieces make sound but I have arranged them at the point before sound, the point at which I imagine the sound. I want visitors to imagine the sound before they actually hear it.

Millie: This interest in provoking other’s imaginations seems to be at the centre of your work: tell me about your oto-date project, which invites people to explore their cities in unique ways.

Akio: When I was in my 20s, I started walking around various cities looking for echo points and specific locations, which have interesting sound phenomenons. It started off as a personal project, a ‘Self-Study Event’ before it developed into something I could share with the public. On our visit to Newcastle last summer, I walked around the city exploring the different sounds, but I didn’t actually choose the spots for the oto-date project until returning this time. Newcastle is a great oto-date city because the geography and architecture is very complex. Especially around the centre, there are lots of layers of stairs, big wide buildings and unusual sound spaces.

Akio Suzuki’s solo exhibition runs at Globe Gallery for the duration of the festival (until 31 March) along with the oto-date project. To find out more about the festival, and the performances, click here

Words: Millie Walton

Translation: Aki Onda

Photography: Janette Scott, courtesy AV Festival

This article was originally written for and published by PORT Magazine: http://www.port-magazine.com/music/av-festival-14-extraction-akio-suzuki/

To properly understand Akio’s art watch this short film of him exploring the acoustic of the Walthamstowe Marshes railway bridge in London:

Activist Art: A chat with street artist, Chris Fleming

Ex-Newcastle University student Chris Fleming, street name Ida4, has attracted a lot of attention over the past couple of weeks for painting a mural in protest against Russia’s laws banning the publication and distribution of gay rights propaganda.The law has led to a dramatic increase in homophobic violence, putting Russian people’s lives and wellbeing in danger whilst also challenging the primary principle of the Olympic campaign that guarantees nondiscrimination. When questioned about the new laws Putin claimed that they were not at all discriminatory and were purely in place to protect children.

As a member of the gay community in Newcastle I was curious to see how Chris responded to this backward attitude.

‘They’ve linked [being gay] with any alternative sexual kind of lifestyle. They’re saying it’s the same as paedophilia or bestiality or any thing that isn’t heterosexual is put in that group. No one is going to argue against protecting children from paedophiles but its implying that if they’re surrounded by gay people or they’re told that being gay is a viable lifestyle, it’s the norm, then its going to turn loads of kids gay. You can’t turn somebody gay just like you can’t turn somebody straight.’

The mural Chris painted on the day of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics aims to show support for those suffering from homophobic attacks in Russia and ‘just to say there’s people over here who know what’s going on.’ The image is based on a photograph taken at the St. Petersburg pride rally of a young boy being pushed to the floor and arrested by a policeman.

‘I did it originally last August… there’s some like graffiti arches round the back of the Sage and they do events every now and then so I decided I would just put it on one of those arches. I put it on Twitter and I sent it to Stephen Fry saying I’ve done this will you help spread it around and he retweeted it and it went absolutely mental. It got retweeted like 900 times and I got this email saying I was trending in the UK.’

The original image was painted over, but Chris decided to re-spray it opposite the Jurys Inn, adding the powerful background text from the Olympic charter. The new version of the mural has received wide spread media attention and personal responses. I ask Chris why he thinks street art in particular is such an effective way of addressing political concerns and issues.

‘I think it’s because it’s just judged and viewed. You’re walking along and bam it’s there in a doorway or you’re driving along and you see it. It’s not meant to be studied and looked at for hours. If you think about the history of street art… all the places that have big street art scenes generally had two groups of people who wanted to say something to each other. You’re just trying to say something in pictures or a couple of words.’

‘I’m very happy in my life but I’m aware that’s not the case with everybody. I’ll stand up for what I believe, just like personally, excluding all the street art, if I’m just sitting here and I hear somebody say something I will always challenge them because I’m in a position where I can. I hated that craze when everybody was saying ‘that’s gay, that’s totally gay’. That really used to bother me. It’s not going to change my life but I always think that if there’s like an 18, 19 year old boy in that group who’s in the closet and there’s people he really respects and they’re using the phrase, what he is, to mean shit… I always ask people to explain what they meant, and make them aware of the impact of what they’re saying. I think everybody has a responsibility ,whether you’re gay or straight to stand up for what you believe in.’

Though Chris does not believe that the Olympics should have been boycotted, he feels disappointed that nobody has used it as a platform to speak out explicitly against the Russian government.

‘It would just be nice if somebody said we completely disagree with the laws. In recent years, it doesn’t matter what the government says, it just matters what the people say. That’s the only reason the Tories are so behind [gay rights] now. David Cameron voted no to every kind of gay law years back, but now he’s suddenly the ultimate supporter because he knows if he was anti-gay the British public wouldn’t like it.’

The laws in place have made it difficult for voices to be heard though. Athletes who wish to speak out against anti-gay legislation can only do so in a special ‘protest zone’ which is located 11 miles away from the Sochi Olympic village. The sponsors of the games however, Chris reminds me, still have the power to demonstrate their support for the gay community. ‘Budweiser always has a big party at the opening ceremony and they took that away. Coca Cola made a feeble attempt, sticking some gays in their adverts, which they didn’t even show worldwide.’

Having recently returned from a trip around Europe, ‘an art exchange’, painting murals in return for a room at various hostels, I wonder if Chris has considered visiting Russia.

‘I’ve thought about it but I’ve always thought I would never go to a country that didn’t support me as a member of the gay community. I’m not going to deny myself. I don’t deny what I am if anyone asks anywhere but I don’t want to be somewhere where you had to because otherwise you were putting yourself at massive risk. You’re always going to meet an arsehole, but it’s a different situation when the state is on your side.’

Chris and his partner Jamie plan to continue their exchange in March, taking part in festivals and working with LGB charities all across Europe.

‘I’m kind of toying with the idea of cutting the image [the Olympic mural] out but smaller and then doing a run of like 25 or something and selling them for whatever and giving half of it to a Russian LGBT charity and then the other half will pay for the petrol to go round Europe. When we’re working for charities and stuff we don’t have the accommodation or food provided. Obviously we need living costs so we’re thinking that’s what we’re going to do.’

You can read more about Chris’s work and projects around Europe via his blog http://www.ida4ineurope.blogspot.co.uk or check out his website http://www.ida4.co.uk

This article was originally written for and published by ‘The Courier’: http://thecourieronline.co.uk/feature-activist-art/

Thomas Bayrle: ‘All-in-One’

The largest exhibition of Bayrle’s work to be shown in the UK, the BALTIC’s show is an impressive tribute to his hugely versatile body of work…

On entering the BALTIC gallery space, you are at once struck by the boldness of the art. Perspective is the key to understanding Bayrle’s work as the viewing experience is dramatically altered depending on where you stand. This is particularly the case with the larger compositions, his ‘super-images’, which appear from a distance to recall the pop art tradition through cartoon-like faces and bright colour, yet as you approach the work the figure becomes increasingly distorted and broken down into tiny identical patterns. The most impressive example of Bayrle’s use of this technique is ‘Capsel’ (1983), a huge photography collage of a man and woman in bed. The absence of colour here complicates the viewing experience further as the eyes struggle to find shape in the mass of black and white lines, but closer inspection of the piece reveals it to be a patchwork of small prints of the whole. In this way, Bayrle’s work, unlike that of many fine artists, invites the viewer to understand the creative process as the image is visually deconstructed and reconstructed depending on the individual’s position in the surrounding space.

Much of Bayrle’s work from the post-war period functions through optical illusion, giving the appearance of movement on a static canvas; the result is hypnotic and even, in some cases a little unsettling, reflecting the German artist’s criticism of capitalism and political indoctrination. The strangely realistic and seemingly 3D faces that line the walls of the front gallery space create a disturbing sensation of constantly being watched, which is intensified by the noises omitted from the two televisions playing images of bizarre futuristic figures on loop.

The furthest upstairs space contains a set of erotic images that verge on the pornographic at times and demonstrate Bayrle’s engagement with the fight for sexual freedom in the 1960s. The walls of the room are lined with aggressively bright wallpaper fitting with the explicit nature of the images of figures involved in sexual acts. However, looking at the mass of widespread legs and twisted limbs, one cannot help but feel Bayrle is encouraging the images to be viewed with a sense of humour.

An interest in joining and connecting different shapes and textures runs throughout Bayrle’s work and feeds into the, perhaps, most prominent themes of the second-half of the exhibition: urban development and new technologies. Drawing on his experiences as a weaver in a textile factory, Bayrle concentrates on the weaving and combining of different fabrics and patterns to produce complex structures heavily imbued with the mathematical influence of architecture. The hanging installation, ‘SARS Formation’ (2005) invites the viewer to contemplate the use of space and the mechanical process of creation.

The work presented in the lower level exhibition space develops this further by exposing the inner workings of engine parts. The continual running of the machinery is accompanied by robotic, indistinguishable voices transmitted through speakers, connecting the human world to that of machines in a way that is, as with much of Bayrle’s work, simultaneously deeply disturbing and intensely fascinating.

Entering into Bayrle’s graphic imagination is a bewildering experience, but behind the chaotic assault on the senses is some fiercely intelligent work, highlighting the issues and tensions of the modern world.

Thomas Bayrle: All-in-One runs until 23 February at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead

This article was originally written for and published by PORT Magazine: http://www.port-magazine.com/art-photography/thomas-bayrle-all-in-one/

Live Review: ‘Wet House’, Live Theatre, Newcastle

Source

Paddy Campbell’s first full-length play, ‘Wet House’ is quite possibly one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve seen this year. Based on the playwright’s own experiences as a previous employee in a wet house, the play reveals with, frightening reality, what goes on inside a residential facility for chronic alcoholics. When the young and inexperienced Andy (Riley Jones) starts work at in the house, his intention is to improve the lives of the residents, or inmates as it is perhaps more appropriate to label them, by providing them with support and care. As he soon finds out, a wet house is not to be confused with a  care-home. The main difference being, the residents aren’t in there to be cured of their alcoholism, they’re there because they can drink in peace. Slowly the depressive, bleak environment infects Andy and he finds himself turning to drink along with his colleague, Mike (Chris Connel) just to get through a shift. He also learns that to leave his traditional morality and views of respectability at the door; here people steal, attack and fall asleep in their own piss. The sheer authenticity of the piece from the script itself to the set to the phenomenal acting, makes it, at times, uncomfortable to watch. However, whilst the action is often disturbing and the subject matter challenging, the production manages to find humour buried in the bleakness. As Campbell tells of his own experiences, ‘Day to day life in the wet house was horrific and hysterical in equal measures’ and this is something that is well reflected in the play. Dinger (Joe Caffrey) is the main source of laughs with his raucous, inappropriate behaviour and general uncleanliness, yet Caffrey finds a profound sadness in him. Whilst we laugh at his uncontrollable shaking and obsession with the woman who works at ‘Beads World’, we also acknowledge the bleakness of his situation as he no longer possess control over his body and will probably never find love. It is Spencer (David Nellist), however, with whom the audience most sympathises. Though a convicted paedophile, his vulnerability and child-like humility is almost unbearable to watch and it is impossible not to share in the pain that radiates from his very presence.

Source

Though the play is nearing the end of it’s run in Newcastle, keep your eyes and ears open for it’s almost certain to have a life after this one.

Book tickets until Saturday: http://www.live.org.uk/whats-on-book/wet-house