Trajectory

Trajectory was a project especially prepared for a sound art exhibition entitled Audio Forensics. The exhibition took place in IMT, a gallery located in Bethal Green, London, UK from the 27th till the 30th of November 2008. The idea around the project was to set up a networked performance where a roamer outside the exhibition space sent an audiostream inside the gallery space and jammed with the audience by sending text messages. The final piece was an audio depiction of the space surrounding the gallery.

Documentation Videos:

Peter Cusack's Trajectory Pt. 1


Peter Cusack's Trajectory Pt. 2


Peter Cusack's Trajectory Pt. 3


Documentation from inside the gallery

Documentation Images:

Program Notes:

Trajectory is a 30 minute performance piece which explores the territories surrounding an interior. It focuses on the idea of using sound as a canvas on which the performer inscribes an itinerary of the visited areas. Phonographic sound, body – environment interaction and narrative, among other sources, construct the palette of a live transmission streamed back to the gallery space for example. The performer's exploration is also filtered and enhanced by the audience's participation using text messages instigating her/him for example to look for sounds, talk to people or take pictures. This dialogue between the transmitter and the receiver bridges the gap between the real, physical space of the performer and the imagined space streamed back in the gallery. The performance is completed when the wanderer enters the defined space and submits the gathered material.

Trajectory experiments with the notion of subjective encoding/decoding in the process of transmitting/receiving an experienced space and time. Alternatively to its wide use in broadcast and radio, in trajectory the same idea is placed in a more artistic context and it is used as a tool for a modern psychogeographic investigation and live phonographic documentation of an area.

Trajectory in Audio Forensics

There are three performances planned, one on each exhibition day at 3pm. On the 27th of November artist Manu Luksch will render her own version of the trajectory for the private view of the exhibition. The second guest performer is curator, radio producer and artist Richard Thomas who will be performing on the 28th of November. Peter Cusack will give a performance on the 29th of November, the final exhibition day.

About the Guest Artists

Manu Luksch: Through her films, telematic performances and interdisciplinary works, Manu Luksch explores her preoccupation with the effects of emerging technologies on: daily life, social relations, and urban and political structures. Particular zones of focus are the borders of public space, the weave of the urban fabric, surveillance and the gaze, security and identity systems.

Her recent film project, Faceless, is a science fiction fairy tale compiled from surveillance video footage recovered under the UK's Data Protection Act. The film treats CCTV images as 'legal readymades', and its scenario derives from the legal properties of the image.

Luksch has exhibited her work at venues and festivals internationally, including "Hors Pistes" (Centre Pompidou, Paris 2008), "Goodbye Privacy" (Ars Electronica, Linz 2007), "Connecting Worlds" (NTT ICC, Tokyo 2006), "Satellite of Love" (Witte de With, Rotterdam 2006). She served as production assistant to Peter Greenaway (1992/95), as artistic director of the Munich Media Lab from 1995 to 1997, curated Art Servers Unlimited, the first conference on internet art, in 1998, and, in 1999, founded interdisciplinary arts production company Ambient Information Systems. Luksch was born in Austria in 1970. She now lives and works in London with her partner and artistic collaborator Mukul Patel and her son Indigo.

Richard Thomas: Richard Thomas is an artist/curator/producer primarily working within broadcast media, most specifically radio. He is Content Manager and News Editor at Resonance 104.4FM and produces and presents an eclectic range of programmes for the station. Thomas writes film criticism and curates sound, music, film and performance events, and chaotic social situations. Recent teaching includes Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Thomas' personal practice combines these strands with visual and written material in his self styled explorations into 'The Psychedelic Dimensions Of Boredom

Peter Cusack: Based in London, he works as a sound artist, musician and environmental recordist with a special interest in acoustic ecology. Projects range from community arts to research into the role that sound plays in our sense of place. His project 'Sounds From Dangerous Places' examines the soundscapes of sites of major environmental damage. He produced 'Vermilion Sounds' - the environmental sound program - for ResonanceFM Radio, London. He lectures on 'Sound Arts & Design' at the London College of Communication and is a research fellow on the multidisciplinary EPSRC funded 'Positive Soundscapes Project'. CDs include 'Your Favourite London Sounds' (Resonance), 'Baikal Ice' (ReR), 'Favourite Sounds of Beijing' (Subjam).