Jez riley French (sound / photography)
Pheobe riley Law (texts)
13 Mar–7 Maj 2021
Sound installation exhibition

In-situ FM walks (at Park Tivoli) on the 88.8 MHz frequency:
Saturday, 13 Mar 2021 at 12.00 in front of Castle Tivoli – listening of the sound composition
Tuesday, 16 Mar 2021 at 18.00 in front of Castle Tivoli – listening of the prerecorded sound event

radio exhibition opening on the programme Ars:
Wednesday, 24 mar 2021 at 20.00

You can read more about the conceptualization of work in the pdf notebook ísland | fjórar – the crystal detector (link)

The series of works ìsland | fjorar is based around the material gathered on several trips to Iceland and on an ongoing fascination with the interplay of different elements of sound, image and text. Sounds that are usually filtered out by our hearing response or are above or below our hearing range are a key element in the installation. Using extended techniques and self-built devices, author listen on the sound of minerals dissolving, the infrasound of the earth spinning on its axis and the ultrasonics of geothermal activity. These traces are combined with documentation of momentary interactions of specific locations in Iceland, together with photographic images and text pieces by his daughter Pheobe.

New version of the composition created for Gallery Steklenik – ísland | fjórar – the crystal detector – will include multi-channel sound and printed elements. Many of the individual sounds are intense yet these are not extreme events. Rather they are nearer to the truth behind our false idea of Iceland as a tranquil and sonically calm place. In fact, no where is tranquil, at least not for any other species. It is only we humans that feel a need to define and contain ‘nature’, even to the point of separating our species from that word. In this sense, this piece is about the elemental need to question, and the sheer joy of all that can bring (even the difficult answers).

Pheobe riley Law:
“I enjoy words as performative objects and not always as carriers of a fixed narrative. In reacting and responding to the sounds and the photographic images, I have re-formed found texts, with the intention that they be as much a part of ‘place’ as any other element. Individual pieces from the ìsland | fjorar series began with the momentary experience of being in very specific places whilst exploring Iceland, and, importantly, with all aspects of ourselves.”

Pheobe Law & Jez riley French should have been in Ljubljana for a residency, installation & performance, but instead the work has been adapted for an FM sound walk, a radio broadcast of a new performance piece, a booklet (available as a pdf) &, perhaps, an installation at some point if Steklenik can re-open to the public.

Intermedia artist Jez riley French has been focusing in his research on new technologies, their sonority and different materialities. He uses sound primarily as a material and a subject. Working in the field of artistic research for over three decades, his creations include installations, performances, sound exhibitions and other live events.

Pheobe riley Law’s work explores documentation and transformation of materials including sound, text, film and reformatted objects. She is interested in reframing and dismantling narrative, subverting perceived normalities alongside the construction of personal or social behaviours and the inherent patterns of experience.

Credits:
Artists: Jez riley French (sound / photography) and Pheobe riley Law (texts)
Curated by: Irena Pivka, Brane Zorman
Organisation: Irena Pivka, Katarina Radaljac
Translation and editing: Katja Kosi, Melita Silič
Public relations: Katarina Radaljac
Production: Cona, Institute for Contemporary Arts Processing, 2021
Venue:Steklenik, Gallery for Sound, Bioacoustics and Art, frequency FM 88.8MHz, Park Tivoli, 3rd programme of Radio Slovenia – programme Ars