Utopian encounters (2):
meet mr.Simon Whetham

First time I met Simon, it was very hot and humid, my face was bright red and dripping sweat in abundance, I was in “that phase”, when the body temperature is adapting to new environment. It eased over couple of hours to almost normality, since then you had to move in slower pace and take a lot of showers. Fortunately water was not an issue there. It was 2007 during one of first Mamori symposiums in Amazon led by Mr. Francisco Lopez. Simon displayed interesting collection of meaningful tattoo-es and smiled ... All of us, the group of sound-enthusiasts from all corners of globe, we spend
wonderful time for almost 2 weeks exploring sounds of Amazon rainforest, while discussing a lot, eating rice and piranhas and gradually feeling more and more sleep deprived. On the end we shared little pieces created during residence based on field recordings from the location and I thought to myself: “Woauw! Simon has great talent to extract beauty from every sound he decided to select and then cut, clean and polish these sounds like precious
stones ... “

Where are we now?

April 2021

Hi Slavek
I am finally listening to the audio pieces you sent. Do I understand you correctly that "amTracync SW (response)" is a response to the 10 free mixes? Maybe I have misunderstood... But it begins with some classic AMT moments :-D very nice! I would like to know your process regarding this. Do you make notes or sketches while listening and then use them as a score? Or respond from memory? Oh maybe you have 'remixed' the remixes??*

The response to InTolerance is very interesting as I am currently working on a 'sequel' and this approach has been on my mind... I did receive comments that some of the sections were too long, which I didn't feel but it's funny that your 5 minute version works very well in a different way!!

I will answer your questions now, while also trying to deal with some unnecessary Brexit complications ... it seems I may not be able to participate in residency in Netherlands May to July now because I will be staying too long in the Schengen Zone - something I never had to consider!!!

Very best to you
Simon

'I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.'
(Special Agent Dale Cooper)

www.simonwhetham.co.uk
www.activecrossover.co.uk
simonwhetham.bandcamp.com

Dearrr Simon
... my creative process is mysterious - I am not trying to be deliberately cryptic ... but I feel more like an "observer" to my own stream of creativity (whatsoever it is) with one feet in and one out ...
I have tendency to seek for balance in between these two ... the sense of balance / equilibrium is irrational / intuitive and it changes perpetually.

“amTracync SW” is comparable to chemical reaction - immediate response to your "10freemixes" release, obviously to only amt/sw track. it is like re-activating dormant memory. i created piece instantly. as i would answer your phone-call ... (* however for this I generated all sounds by evolving [=”remixing”] your amt/sw track)

inTolerance:
I have been listening to all those tracks/releases you send me and I was wanting to give you some constructive feedback. However, I could not find words (and somehow I didn't wanted find words :-). Then I thought: why not to highlight simply some of the moments and
tendencies I could perceive in your compositional methods and preferences ... the advantage of "abstraction" is that it offer infinity of possibilities: it is open - divergent. Experimenting with "abstract review" seems to me opening the potential, rather than forming static view ... I will "review" the rest of your music I have here as well.

The duration of individual segments or whole composition and similar observations seems to me irrelevant as it comes to subjective preferences and attention span (which fluctuates obviously).

Interview: (see also: pdf doc in “bonus”, please - or scroll below)))

Take your time, please. No rush. Happy you agree to do all this, it is experiment worth to explore :-), I think: Who knows where it might lead ... it might be a place both wonderful and strange ... as Special Agent Dale Cooper says ;-) ...

Talk verrrry soon!
Slavek

So here we are now. Exploring. Waving hands in the front of face - on the verge of blind darkness - looking for those little lights - like fireflies _ beacons and dots of hope and direction ... We will walk slowly ...
Exploring ... Changing ...

Who is Simon Whetham? Is he Globetrotter traveling the World to seek lost and found audio-treasures and broken magical machines? Maybe you met Simon in person somewhere in dusty gallery, shiny museum or dark concert den? Maybe you know some good story about Simon and we would love to hear it. We might add it
here, if it sounds good.
Utopian encounters.

The Imagination is a free land for everyone ...

Tracks:

Track 01: amTracync SW (response)
initial impulse for this abstract audio(re)view (=AAview) experiment with Simon. simonwhetham.bandcamp.com/track/traces-of-artificial-memory-sw-section

Track 02: InTolerance AAview (exploring vertical strategies of composition) Released by Kohlhaas www.kohlhaas.it/project/simon-whetham-intolerance/

Track 03: Dry AAview (emphasis on textural mass and color, blend)
Released by unfathomless.bandcamp.com/album/dry

Track 04: Open and Closed Circles AAView (timesurfing & parallel elementary organisation strategies). SW: 'My "format-specific" work! Do people consider the format that their work will be released on when composing? Cassette is not CD!! It has so many more
limitations! So I made an album where it wouldn't matter if the speed started changing or the tape was chewed up - the sounds are all of friction and failure.' Released: mappa.bandcamp.com/album/open-and-closed-circles

Track 05: Cal y Canto_Reserved Terminus AAView. Released: glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/album/cal-y-canto

Track 06: Highly subjective and abstract overview of Simon's sound-universe by Slavek Kwi in kwatarese meta-language, extract from larger contemplative study recorded originally 20.03.2021 during dusk while some ideas about doing this AAview circled in my head.

Track 07: Ferme-Asile Devices Audio Documentation (recordings, examples of carious mechanical and electrical devices provided kindly by Simon, here you may explore more:
www.simonwhetham.co.uk/ferme-asile
- explains the most recent machine project
www.simonwhetham.co.uk/made-to-malfunction
- the first machine project
www.simonwhetham.co.uk/doubledeckprojects
- last year's development for a live machine performance.

Track 08: uni.Sol_46 SW contribution (machine connection) solo - full session of hypnotic 2 hours, imagine to listen as sound installation. Recorded at Ferme-Asile, Sion, Switzerland while preparing for Simon's open studio presentation of “Made to Malfunction III”. Simon
generously agreed to “donate” this track to be used as “constant (as stable) elementary construction - grid” for experiments of Telepathic Band** with building imaginary portals of interconnection. By this act, Simon became honorary “constant constructor” as part of uni.Sol_ research team.

Track 09-10: uni.Sol_46, selective mix: SW & aMt - another 2 hours (mix of Trk 08 and aMt playing/recording both simultaneously from different locations in attempt to create a sense of connection). Full mix you can listen here: unisol.bandcamp.com/album/02042021-8

Track 11: “Exchanges Across a Dinner Table” - collaboration project of Simon Whetham & Slavek Kwi from 2008 - 2012 revisited in juxtaposition. Title refers to discussions while dinning during Mamori residency 2007. artificialmemorytrace.bandcamp.com/album/exchanges-across-a-dinner-table

Track 12: humorous recording of “advert” for Mamori residency with Francisco Lopez in January 2008 while his in Ireland, across table during breakfast with Slavek, Helen and Dana …
(association with Trk 11).

** Simon Whetham & Slavek Kwi continued this experiment a few days later 8th May 2021. While Simon performed in secret location in Marseille (France) presenting for a second time a sound work using motor devices as sound filters, Slavek attempted to connect with Simon's concert via extrasensory communication from Atlantic side of Ireland. You can listen the result in alfa00 audio-document Telepathic Band “barely scratching surface”. The mix is inserted in dynamically enhanced version in 1st track starting on 00:38:19.691 and finishing with applause.
alfa00.bandcamp.com/album/barely-scratching-surface

We did have good time. Wherever we were, wherever we are ...
We are having good time ..

----

INTERVIEW
(available as pdf in bonus download)

Questions for Mr. Simon Whetham:

AAzine1: What is your “mission”*, please? * = as what is your drive in your activities - motivation - goal(s) - vision ... wishes ...

SW: I like the term mission... My drive? In some ways it's hard to put into words. I love what I do, truly, and I constantly acknowledge that I am extremely fortunate to be able to do it. I like challenges. I like surprising myself (and others). I enjoy learning through experience, sharing and creating. I have come back to this question after answering number 2. I also love to travel, to experience new places, peoples and cultures and to respond to new situations.

If I had to state an artistic mission it would be that I explore the energy of sonic activity – that is how can it be translated and altered through speakers (or headphones), through materials – directly or indirectly, through the whole audio recording and playback system, through mechanisms, through causing physical traces and especially through perception.

AAzine2: When you look over your life - until now, how your “art-life”* developed, please? Would you see some important turning points / crossroads?
* = I am talking more about the perception development via/through your art-activities, how your perception changed (or not) over years of practice, what important shifts / milestones you recall?

SW: Through my entire life I have always found it difficult to put my energy into something that doesn't excite or interest me somehow. I am reflecting on this regarding being in school, friends, sports, leading to jobs, relationships... Things like money, recognition (as in fame) and doing things to please others have never been driving forces for me. Money and recognition are good if they
come of course! Maybe one day... But they are not what compel me to make work.

So many turning points... mostly through travel and sharing time and experiences with other artists. In the early 2000's, finding field recording and abstract music and sound works through a website called Epitonic; that first recording trip I always talk about in Iceland; early residencies in Wales, Brazil and Estonia which led to further travels and encounters with so many people I had been corresponding with; longer projects in Colombia, South Korea, Germany... Actually I think almost every project could be considered a milestone, as each one causes me to think a little differently about art, life, the world... whether it is through what I respond to or the people, places and situations I meet.

AAzine3:
“Where” are you now? How your sound-work relates (or not) to current state of the World?

SW: My sound-works relate to my journeys, projects and experiences. For example 'InTolerance' (released by Kohlhaas in 2017 www.kohlhaas.it/project/simon-whetham-intolerance/) was in part my acknowledgement that for me it was very easy to travel to most places around the world, to cross borders without visas or financial issues, when so many others are unable to simply
because of where they were born or where they live. I am actually working on a 'sequel' that began with the pandemic situation and borders closing or travel becoming more difficult, but now has new inspiration in the aftermath of Brexit and the difficulties I and many others will face regarding travel and work in Europe.

And I see my work with mechanical devices as a response to Planned Obsolescence, this strategy of products being designed to fail within a certain time period, forcing people to buy new products. When I began to salvage and dismantle discarded items I discovered that all the motor devices were still in perfect working order, so began to question why I found printers, scanners,
HiFi systems, whole computers just left in the street? It may not even be that the product is faulty, it could be that replacement parts are no longer available, software can't be updated, hardly anyone listens to CDs any longer... So the product becomes obsolete, worthless.

AAzine4: I noticed, for some time now, you are especially fond of dismantling and re- assembling (as different devices) various machines and using those for your sound- works. Could you, please, talk more in details about this? What do you find fascinating about these machines?

SW: I am not really answering in order am I??

AAzine: That is no problem at all, the order is irrelevant. You are free to meander :)

SW: So above I have explained a little about why I am working with mechanical devices currently, but other reasons are that I enjoy deconstructing and reconstructing, possibly because of my past career as a model-maker and my degree in Industrial Design. I am enjoying this process of re-purposing these objects as new sound making objects, exploiting the sound and the action
they make rather than it being an unwanted characteristic. In fact the word character is important – they seem to develop characters as I work with them. They are disobedient, unpredictable and also can become quite cute and lovable!

The main reason I started concentrating on working with motors (I have experimented with them since 2013) came through from my field recording practice. When recording urban areas, interior spaces or man-made systems, I was drawn to machines that were not functioning perfectly, such as a ventilator fan that wasn't running smoothly, a fridge that rattled randomly, misfiring
engines... I started to wonder if I could programme motors to not work properly. Through this I learned some Arduino programming from Ryu Hankil in South Korea and developed the project “Made to Malfunction”, a collection of 16 motors that don't work properly, serve no purpose but to entertain us and make sound. This project became an unintentional homage to Jean Tinguely, as his kinetic works celebrated having 'no purpose' and also often destroyed themselves. I read somewhere that he enjoyed that people became angry that his machines didn't 'produce' anything, that they were 'useless'. I think he knew exactly what he was doing, and was re-presenting industrialisation and
mechanisation to the public, showing that in the end it turns us into part of the production process, parts of the machine.

AAzine5: Is the “cultural inheritance” important for you? What do you think about “traditions” and “culture definition” as concepts? Or is the very idea of “culture” actually automatically creating “segregation/separation”? What role has art in this?

SW: I am not sure I think too much about the issues of “cultural inheritance” or “culture definition” when making work, as I have been fortunate to be involved in projects that have exposed me to many different communities and cultures and I'd say I find similarities in them rather than notice the differences.There are those who cling to 'traditions' and use them as an excuse for their behavior,
rather than be more open-minded and accepting of change. People who are unquestioningly proud of their nationality and culture, and feel superiority over other nationalities, which I have never understood. Again it mostly just depends on where you were born! I remember a young man in a disadvantaged area of Medellín in Colombia. On listening to me tell him I was in Germany before
being there and was due to join a project in Norway following the one in Medellín he cried out “Oh why was I born poor!”. It broke my heart! He couldn't see a way out of his situation.

This does answer the question (I hope! AAzine: of course, the interpretation is free!), as I was there in an art education project and each week we visited seven very different groups of young people, giving workshops and activities. I was working alongside artists from Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries and exposing the groups to all kinds of creative ideas and processes, but also showing them that they and their ideas were important.
I even had to question the importance of us giving these sessions when one of them had to be cancelled due to another cultural representative being shot in the street in one of the areas we visited weekly. The representative was also working to help educate and empower the young people there. The gangs in these areas didn't want the young people to think creatively, just to work for them, from a shockingly early age. But what right did I have to be there, to give these sessions, to possibly endanger their lives...?
I decided of course, it is important to visit another culture, to share ideas, to show that they matter. Not that I was some kind of savior, but they really appreciated someone coming from UK (or anywhere outside of their neighborhood as this was discouraged by the gangs), working with
them during the sessions and sharing time with them. I should acknowledge Casa Tres Patios who organised the series of projects and Juliana Orrego Trujillo, my collaborator without whom the project would not have happened.

AAzine: Dear Simon, thank you for sharing with us, it is verrrry much appreciated. The way to interpret, understand the questions, the hierarchy and order of selection are always very personal, it highlights the perspective we are standing at the very moment of “answering”, where we are now. It is very possible that the same questions would trigger in you different variations in different times. We wish you soundlife of happiness :-).

Question by Kwi Slavek, correspondent for AAzine of alfa00
alfa00.bandcamp.com April - May 2021