Stuart Macbeth listens in to a festival that celebrates music with a visual presence

Sound art is an area which crosses between contemporary music and the visual arts. It includes composition and making sound works which have a physical, visual presence.

A relatively young field, its practice is well supported in Germany, and Berlin in particular.

Oxford is fortunate to be home to the Audiograft Festival, the premier UK event for the medium. Over 13 days, the event pulls together many of the most acclaimed artists in the field. Among them is Oxford-based Ray Lee.

“Sound art has something that can appeal to a wider audience than music on its own,” says Ray.

“There are objects involved. We perform in unusual spaces. The processes of making sounds are made visual, where ordinarily they are hidden away. Audiences can appreciate what is going on when sound is made.”

Audiograft is co-promoted between Oxford Contemporary Music and the Sonic Art Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University, where London-born Ray has lectured since 1999. Classically trained, his works include The Ethometric Museum and Spin. The latter piece was toured for 300 performances in 18 different countries. The logistics of this involved Ray labelling and freighting up to 100 kilos of metal a time as far away as Australia. In 2012 he won the BASCA British Composer of the Year Award for Sound Art.

“I try and make large-scale spectacles that involve the audience in a kind of live experience,” he enthuses. “What I’m trying to do is make live music which you have to experience live. The music itself is simple. I use tones which are layered on top of each other. But all of those tones are spinning in space.

“A lot of the work I do involves spinning sounds, and making sound rotate. Stockhausen was interested in rotating sound. My works build on these traditions.”

At this year’s Audiograft, Ray debuts a work he calls Wonderous Machine. The 55-year-old created it from metal parts he has remodelled and combined with found bits of vintage technology.

He says: “Wonderous Machine is a new automated, kinetic installation that involves rotating arms made of steel. Sound comes out from loudspeakers at their ends. All of this is controlled by an old harmonium that I converted. Mechanical fingers will press the keys. I use motors to spin the arms around. It’s very much a multimedia work.

“Sound is physically moved about the space. For me something very engaging happens when you do that. We can’t help but experience sound when it moves.”

Ray says his personal highlight of this year’s festival will be a rare UK appearance by sound artist Gordon Monahan.

“If people haven’t come across sound art before they might be surprised, or entertained. I would hope that if people come along with a spirit of curiosity they will be well rewarded. It can be very engaging to come along and take part. When you come to a live event you can move around. It offers a different and novel experience. It is something very different from being at a gig.”

Where and when
Audiograft Festival, March 8-20, Various venues, Oxford. 
Tickets from audiograft.co.uk