Firing Sound

Matthew Whiteside
Andrew Cooke
Robert Martin

This is a cross artform collaborative project with sonic artist/musician Matthew Whiteside and ceramic art sculptor Andrew Cooke, with both artists producing a new body of work for an installation exhibition and performance in R-Space.

Matthew Whiteside from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, is a composer.  His interest lies in the combination of acoustic and electronic domains through the physical blend of both, being influenced by genres such as glitch music. He explores aural phenomena, beating effects in complex sounds and space within rooms. He is a founding member of Edit-Point, a board member of New Music Scotland, and has set up Classical Open Mic.  All of his music is housed in the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland.

Andrew Cooke is a recent mature graduate from the Applied Arts Course at the University of Ulster. Based in Bangor, where he is establishing a new ceramic studio complex, he lectures part time at SERC Bangor. Andrew’s practice involves a fascination with texture and form - he produces ceramic sculptures, drums and electronic instruments.

Robert Martin trained in Ceramics and Glass and is the Curator at R-Space.

The project will involve the three artists collaborating over a period of 3 weeks at R-Space gallery where Matthew will record the sounds of the building and sounds of Andrew’s making processes. The commission will be for Matthew to produce a 15min sound work with looped sound pieces for performance, and for Andrew and Robert to create a series of textural ceramic sculptural works taken from surfaces and objects in and around the R-Space building, and in response to Matthew’s compositions. The project will include an installation exhibition of the ceramic work produced with a backdrop sound-scape of Matthew’s musical compositions.