Flamm Art Festival, CMR Project Space, Redruth, 2023
SJ Blackmore, Naomi Frears and Alice Mahoney
The collaborative exhibition explored rhythm and the relationship between repetition and change. Combining established and unconventional cyclical markers around Redruth – from the regular pulse of the clocktower (every 15 min) to the weekly bin lorry – sound (SJ Blackmore), video (Naomi Frears), and sculpture (Alice Mahoney) interacted to shape a new portrait of the town through its rhythms.
Beaters driven by solenoids were employed to electronically reveal and activate sounds from no longer silent objects, producing a unique and curious scale from a range of collected notes and tones. Four objects with solenoids were mic'd up as a live quartet, in conversation with the moving image, creating interesting harmonic combinations. The 15-minute resulting musical suite transitioned from restrained and rhythmic to rich and harmonic.
My work incorporates found items from local second-hand and charity shops sitting alongside the ceramic sculptures created in my Redruth studio - overlooked past works or to be discarded. Both the found and crafted sculptural objects presented on a table reflect visual, sonic, and compositional choices resonating with the film and the sounds. These symbolise the cyclical nature of things, embodying rhythm and gaining new life and meaning.
The soundtrack by SJ Blackmore was made by pre-recording the sounds from each of my objects, creating a curious scale of sorts. Blackmore also crafted an ambient soundscape from a light sensor that read visual information from the film that became the backbone of the piece.
The objects, in conversation with one another, take on a life of their own. They talk to the film and weave themselves into the soundscape changing the atmosphere as they tap, beat and oscillate excitedly on the table.
The film was made by Naomi Frears – during and after her residency at CMR Project Space during summer 2023. It was filmed using the building as if it were a camera by looking out and down from the vantage point of the top floor of the building and as the sculptural objects were being set up – inside the space. The film, responding to both the sound and the objects, became a dreamy vision of Redruth - of people and nature moving within it.
All these elements in combination created an inside out experience of the town - an alternative, parallel and sometimes humorous version of the place we know. This was a CLUSTER of artists, practices, objects, sounds and images made in Redruth.
– Review: Art Monthly (printed, December 2023 / January 2024 issue), Flamm Contemporary Art Festival, written by Martin Holman, 2023
– Article: The Guardian, Not just St Ives: Redruth Festival Will Shine Light on Vibrant Cornish Arts Scene, written by Steven Morris, 2023
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CLUSTER, 2023
Glazed and unglazed earthenware and stoneware ceramics, assorted found objects from charity shops in Redruth, solenoids with wooden bases and beaters, midi Controller, microphones and LED spotlights.
Projected single channel video
Duration: 15 mins (looped)
Photos by Nick Cooney and Anthony Prothero