Paper Dialogues Podcast

An short introduction to the podcast about the 2016 travelling paper-cut exhibition ‘Paper Dialogues’ at the St Helier Town Hall, in Jersey, featuring the work of Professor Xiaoguang Qiao from China and Karen Bit Vejle from Scandinavia, which was created through a collaborative and exploratory process.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 1, the first of the three past eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 2, the second of the three past eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 3, the third of the three past eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 4, the egg of the present, and the largest of the seven eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 5, the first of the three future eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 6, the second of the three future eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Egg 7, the last of the three future eggs, created by Karen Bit Vejle for 'Paper Dialogues'.

Mike Sheldrake provides detail on Professor Qiao's Dragon, created for 'Paper Dialogues'

Jack Chown is a Jersey-born producer and composer now working in London. Having recently graduated from the University of Oxford and Abbey Road Institute, he now splits his time between studio-work and creating the ambient work you here today under the moniker 'TESTPRESS'. The soundscape works as a whole but within the 'Paper Dialogues' Exhibition space it has been dispersed around the room between eight sets of speakers - in reference to the dragon and his seven eggs. As you move around the room, the soundscape will also evolve. The temporality of this experience is twofold. Linearly, there are eight sections of music where every few minutes, a different sonic feature is pushed to the forefront. Spatially, these sonic elements occur simultaneously as sound objects, meaning that no two exhibition-goers will have the same experience of the whole soundscape. In this space sound is shaped and, as with light or colour, can be experienced from any direction and in any order. The piano at the core of the piece was recorded and transformed first and is now associated with the dragon as he protects his eggs. From here, there a number of digital and acoustic elements that relate to, and interact with, the space in varying ways. As well as synths, glockenspiel and a sea of effects there are also less traditional synthesised and edited sonic elements. Many of these started life less ‘musically' as a clay pot being tapped, a boy bouncing a ball and the ocean waves breaking upon the shore. It is my hope that none of these source sounds will be recognisable in their finished state The process of transforming these everyday sounds into fragments of sonic art is an attempt to mirror the visual transfiguration of paper, as an everyday material, into such beautiful pieces. With this process in mind, Jack has approached the soundscape of this exhibition from a completely new perspective within the context of his own work and very much appreciates the opportunity to do so. He hopes this sense of adventure and experimentation comes across in your own unique sonic experience of these Paper Dialogues.