MATERIALITY explores sound sculpture as a medium to interface physical materials with Ableton music software via Arduino & DIY electronics. Bringing together my love of field recordings, electronics and music production, I researched the sonic and conductive properties of glass & metal materials at London Sculpture Studio & the National Glass Centre resulting in new resonant sculptural instruments & a new physical/digital performance system. I worked with the National Graphene Institute to develop a capacitive controller for Ableton and created an industrial musique concrete sample library from the processes of working with these materials.

I was interested in how electronic music performance could be a more tangible and gestural experience for audiences.

This blog documents the project process, with live performances of the new sculpture-electronics system taking place at Access Space Sheffield and Music Tech Fest 2018 in Stockholm. A new educational strand was developed around materials/sampling/interface design and electronic music production through development workshops with young women as part of BOTH SIDES NOW with Brighter Sound & GO COMPOSE with Yorkshire Women’s Sound Network. Materiality is funded by Arts Council England and will take place between April and August 2018.

Huge thanks to Ableton, James Medd and Eagle Labs and Chris Ball for supporting me on this project.

MATERIALITY is a project by Vicky Clarke, sound artist and electronic musician.

Artist Website: vickyclarke.org

Key Strands of the project

Artistic: Create sculptures and DIY instruments with electronics/wood/glass/metal
Materials knowledge: Working with metal and glass and investigate their resonant & capacitive properties.

Skills in manipulating these materials.
Music Performance: develop a live system to integrate the physical and digital worlds via Ableton/Arduino/midi-sensors.

Develop sound design/sample library

Academic/Contextual: Explore theoretical and conceptual approaches/perspectives, research sound art history particularly musicians and artists making work with non-musical sounds and objects.

If you are interested in the project or would like to book me for a performance or workshop, drop me a line: vickyclarkearts@gmail.com

Thank you