Review for THIS WAY UP
It’s a pleasure to be able to say that in creating the soundtracks for use in the ‘quiet room’ at The Other Side Gallery’s exhibition ‘This Way Up’, everything went according to plan. And what was the plan? In a series of meetings between TOSG people and Life and Living, we’d developed the idea of recording interviews with some of the participating artists – namely those happy to be recorded. This material was gathered in interviews made by Karin, edited and augmented with material from our Life and Living archives, when we’d received a visit at our studio in Waterloo from Pauline, Sara and Karin. On this occasion we went into Outsider Art definitions in quite some depth, and other fundamentals of the TOSG. This was in November of last year, and the material was broadcast in our Resonance Radio show in December and January. Going back to this material from six months before, it was striking to note that the aims and aspirations voiced in our interview were here becoming reality as ‘This Way Up’ came together.
At the time of the interviews, consultation took place to learn what musical setting the artists might like to hear themselves in, and these selections – sometimes a genre, elsewhere a very specific choice of song or musical excerpt – were accommodated into the making of the eight ‘soundscapes’. In each of these, artists are heard discussing their work and related topics, with musical underpinning that always aimed to contribute to the clarity of the spoken word. Where no selection had been made, it was interesting to listen to the interviewee and look at the paintings online, and select something based on that. In all over 200 minutes of prepared soundtrack were provided to accompany the ever changing slideshow of the artwork previously only seen online. Additionally, the early evening episode of the radio show ‘Life and Living’ episode 111 was broadcast on Opening Night, and repeated at the weekend slot. For two weeks prior to the show there had been lively ‘trailers’ for the exhibition, again using material provided by TOSG people. This ‘This Way Up’ special featured a minute or so of the artists’ wisdom taken from the interviews, which contributed to an unusual and compelling collage, with some different musical accompaniments from the ones in the darkened room.
On Opening Night, when over 200 visitors were present, it was gratifying to note the serious concentration given to the slideshow and soundscape room, which had the pleasant atmosphere of a library or cinema, with up to forty people at a time staying well beyond the duration of all the slides being shown, to listen to the artists’ accounts of themselves. The main gallery was well complemented by this quiet room, and it was a pleasure to help the exhibiting artists’ voices be (quite literally) heard and listened to.
Mick Hobbs
Martin Harrison
Life and Living 29 July 05