Over the past 18 months Antoine Bertin and Dawn Scarfe have been exploring England's forests and developing work in response to these unique environments. In this special event the artists will present and discuss their work as Sound and Music's first ever Embedded Composers-in-Residence with the Forestry Commission's 'Forest Art Works' programme.

The residency is supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

ANTOINE BERTIN

Antoine Bertin is interested in the idea of distance and how it can be explored and generated through sound and listening. His work navigates between documentary and fiction, the living and the artificial, the poetic and the political to create sound-based narratives in the form of broadcasts, installations, publications, and performances. Previous works include Invisible Soundscapes, in which portable radios were attached to five helium balloons, each one receiving a different FM signal, creating a constantly changing sound installation. Amazing Grass used servo motors attached to plants and, controlled by a computer program, created a 'biomechanical composition' from the sound of the leaves rustling together. Listening Thread encouraged participants to engage with their environment through sound alone, as they were given blindfolds and a set of recommendations for listening to the minutiae of their surroundings, before being invited to follow a thread which they walked along. Antoine's work has been exhibited at the IMT Gallery, Camberwell Art Festival, and Nuit Blanche Paris, among others.

DAWN SCARFE

Dawn Scarfe uses site-specific installation, performance and field recording to ask us to re-think our impressions of our surroundings, and she often makes use of delicate materials, particularly resonating glass sculptures. Some examples of her previous work include Tree Music, which used small speakers hung from branches to play a soundtrack 'in tune' with its environment and shifting with the sway caused by the wind. Pigeon Song, meanwhile, saw a number of Belgian racing pigeons fitted with Indonesian pigeon flutes, which were carefully selected to emulate human vocal sounds when played together as they flew through the sky. Do You Hear What I Hear? used field recordings of Listening Glasses which had been placed by the side of the road, playing them back in the TONSPUR passageway to create a mysterious, shifting soundscape as people walked through. Her work has been exhibited Tate Britain, Cafe Oto, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AV Festival, and many others.

Forest Art Works website
Sound and Music's Embedded page
Dawn Scarfe's website
Antoine Bertin's website

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OTO PROJECT SPACE

The OTO Project Space is located just around the corner from Cafe OTO at 1-7 Ashwin Street - E8 3DL.

It was created as a space for artists to develop new work and for OTO Projects to present workshops, talks, film screenings and installations relating to the core programme at Cafe OTO. The building was designed by Assemble - a young, critically acclaimed design practice based in London - and built by a team of more than 30 volunteers.