Works from Black Hole Hums B Flat
2010
Ceri Hand Gallery pop-up space, London
Tambourines:
The images on the tambourines describe the software plugins we use in conjunction with our homemade instruments. Phil, who builds the plugins, described how they work to Ben who made representational images from the information.
2joystick_pitchshift_trig
This plugin is controlled by an instrument made from two joysticks. One joystick acts as a pitchshifter which can bend the pitch of an incoming audio signal up or down. The second joystick and set of buttons trigger audio from one of 8 outputs on the plugin.
2pong_xmix
This plugin ping-pongs between two audio inputs. Which input is passed to the output is determined by the bpm host software triggering a random voltage. 0 to +5 volts will pass one input to the output and -0 to -5 will pass the other. This is shown by the arrangement of the cricket and frog > battery > fly and bee.
Painted Instruments:
The painted images are representations of the equipment the artists used when we first starting a band together in 1999. Attempting to make electronic music similar to that of laptop groups, but unable to afford laptops, they used four-track cassette recorders and guitar effects pedals. Images of this equipment are painted onto traditional acoustic instruments as an analogy for the use of cassettes and effects pedals to mimic computer based music.
Forward Statue In Flames
This depicts Raymond Mason’s public sculpture ‘Forward’ (sited in Birmingham’s centenary square) which was burnt down by a teenager
Personal Stereo
This shows the statue of King Kong, which was sited near a Birmingham overpass in the early 1970’s. King Kong holds aloft an early walkman, used by one of the artists on weekend car journeys to relatives that always passed the spot where the statue was located.
