Downstream

Kent Macpherson – sound Stefanie Young - photographs Downstream is an installation of sounds and photographs choreographed from 30 selected places along the Waikato River. Running 425 kms from the Tongariro to Port Waikato, the Waikato River is central to the daily life of the Waikato region. The river has the seductive qualities of water to inspire contemplation and caution - diverse responses invoked by the textures and depths of the changeable Waikato River. Every sound and photograph is unique to its time and place at the river, showing a connected complexity to this moving body of water. Downstream presents an aural/visual experience of the Waikato River, reclaiming listening as a primary sense, and in combination with images, activates our visual memory and perceptions of time and place. A remix or reinterpretation of the field/visual recording, time-synced so that the sets of sounds shift in and out of one another in unison, setting the stage for you to navigating between the aural/visual senses simultaneously throughout the space

To Sleep - UPBEAT interview

Interview about the TO SLEEP project. Jeremy Mayall and Kent Macpherson on Upbeat with Eva Radich. Radio NZ Concert F

Kie Estas Via Voco: The Janitors of Lunacy, Composition

“Where is your voice?/Did you lose it?/Is it mute?/Or confused? //Where is your voice?/Is it a strangers?/Unusual?/Unfamiliar?//Where is your voice?” Kie Estas Via Voĉo is an experimental soundscape performance art work written in Esperanto, exploring the role the voice has in defining the body, and the chaos that ensues when the voice is subverted or destroyed. https://youtu.be/9T_WoHoGsfE?t=141

Kie Estas Via Voco: The Janitors of Lunacy, Performance

“Where is your voice?/Did you lose it?/Is it mute?/Or confused? //Where is your voice?/Is it a strangers?/Unusual?/Unfamiliar?//Where is your voice?” Kie Estas Via Voĉo is an experimental soundscape performance art work written in Esperanto, exploring the role the voice has in defining the body, and the chaos that ensues when the voice is subverted or destroyed. https://youtu.be/9T_WoHoGsfE?t=141

Tuateawa

The Tuateawa project seeks to inform ecological understanding using analyses of soundscapes. Sound recordings are made in specific locations near Tuateawa in the Coromandel peninsula. This area is being monitored for the eradication of pests such as possums, stoats and rats. The research looks at how the soundscapes change over time, in particular: how is bird life affected by the presence of introduced noxious pests? And, how does human activity influence natural behaviours? The project is a form of documentary capturing detailed sound recordings every season for three or more years. The sound data is analysed for noticeable shifts in frequency and loudness, and output as various visual abstractions, the first of which is an audio visual work for LCD screens and speakers at Ramp Gallery 7-11 December 2020. The intended audience is intermediate age children to get them thinking about how these soundscapes might be understood and focused on through a less ‘scientific’ medium

Fluid dynamics and the art of deep base.

Multi-disciplinary performance that explored interactive elements between video, sound and glitter. Generative loops were used to create a dynamic sonic field above a bass speaker, which acted as a performative space for different types of glitter. This was then integrated into video using a multi-camera set-up, and mixed with graphic modifiers. Generative sound feedback was also achieved by recording the audience and glitter bounce

Overlapping murmurs

Overlapping Murmurs is an ambient sound installation presented as part of the 'INDELIBLE' exhibition at Waikato Museum. Overlapping Murmurs is a collaboration between Jeremy Mayall, Kent Macpherson, Haco, Horomona Horo, Reuben Bradley, and Megan Rogerson-Berry. It is designed to provide an overall accompaniment to the show, whilst also being a deconstruction and re-working of elements from the Where We Overlap recording sessions

Tuateawa: A study in soundscape ecology

Ramp Gallery 7-11 Dec 2020 A multimedia work by Kent Macpherson Rhys Jones & Paul Nelson The Tuateawa project seeks to inform Ecological Understanding using Analyses of Soundscapes. Sound recordings are made in specific locations near Tuateawa in the Coromandel peninsula. This area is being monitored for the eradication of pests such as possums, stoats and rats. The work looks at how the soundscapes change over time. In particular, How is bird life affected by the presence of introduced noxious pests? How does human activity influence natural behaviours. The project is a form of documentary capturing detailed sound recordings every season for three or more years. The sound data is analysed for any noticeable shifts in frequency and loudness, then output as various visual abstractions, the first of which is an audio visual work for LCD screens and speakers at Ramp Gallery 7-11 December 2020. The intended audience is intermediate age children to get them thinking about how these soundscapes might be understood and focused on through a less ‘scientific’ mediu

In a space capsule of the mind - part 1

Drawing inspiration from the music created for the 'Where We Overlap' project, Megan Rogerson-Berry, Kent Macpherson and Jeremy Mayall perform a live ambient sound work. This piece utilises monophonic synthesizers with vocal processing and cutting edge gestural multi-timbral keyboard instruments to create an atmospheric soundscape. Drawing upon the practice-based traditions of improvised music, and electronic musical composition/production the boundaries between composer/performer and instrument are blurred