Since 2005 Simon Whetham has developed a practice of working with sonic activity as a raw material for creation. He uses environmental sound, employing a variety of methods and techniques in order to obtain often unnoticed and obscured sonic phenomena. When presenting work in a performance or installation, for him the space and the objects within become instruments to be played. His artistic investigations have caused him to work increasingly in multi-disciplinary projects, leading his work to become more visual and tangible. He is currently exploring ways to retain physical traces of sound and transforming energy forms. Long term projects in Asia and Latin America have heavily influenced his working methods and ideology.

Whetham performs and exhibits internationally, participating in Fresh Winds Biennale 2018 & 2016 (IS), Nakanojo Biennale 2017 (JP), ACC Showcase 2018 (KR), Tsonami Festival 2017 & 2012 (CL), Madeiradig 2010 & 2011 (PT) and Moers Festival 2011 (DE); has a large number of works published through many specialist record labels including Mappa (SK), Crónica (PT) and Line (USA).

He has ongoing collaborations with sound artists/musicians Tarab (Eamon Sprod) and Gregory Büttner, and past collaborators include Scanner, Derek Piotr, Iris Garrelfs, John Grzinich, Ryu Hankil, Xenia Pestova, Alan Courtis, Kate Carr, Christine Schörkhuber and Slavek Kwi.

Whetham's practice also covers giving active listening and field recording workshops internationally (most recently in South Korea, UK and Germany). This includes workshops for children and young people, which began in Medellín, Colombia in 2013, and has led to further projects in Norway and Australia, and with unaccompanied minors in a refugee camp in Munich, Germany in 2014.

(R)ASSEMBLE

‘‘Commissioned by Yarmonics to create a work to present online, I had to consider what I would have done if things has allowed me to be present to make the work in Great Yarmouth.

I requested Oliver Payne and team send me some discarded objects from the site and also audio recordings, to get some idea of the ambience, but also to use in the work.

Currently in Marseille and working from a makeshift studio in what should be a guest bedroom, I have also been collecting a few objects abandoned in the streets close to our apartment. I began combining the objects in ways that would generate sound or affect it in some way, assembling them in stacks and piles, rearranging them and manipulating them by hand. All the processes have been captured on video to show the visible effects as well as the audible.

Close mic'ing the objects was essential to capture the vibrations in greater detail, but also to filter out the sounds of a busy road, renovation works within the building and occasionally crying babies!

The video presents each combination or process sequentially, as I would have possibly presented them in an exhibition or live performance event. The subsequent audio piece, composed from audio recordings of the processes, abstracts the gestures and structures that created these constituent sounds, recombining them to take the listener's perspective further into this constructed microverse.

The french word “rassemble” can be translated as to unite or gather, but could also infer rebuilding. The various ways these objects and sound interact within the project produce a new whole, bringing together materials and moments of Marseille and Great Yarmouth. - Simon Whetham, July 2020.’’

simonwhetham.co.uk