Sunshine Gray devises site-specific, immersive sonic events often with a visual or performance element - examining the intersections between technology, sound & theatre.
recent works
Lightworks Annual International Arts Festival, Grimsby Minster, 16th March 2012
The audio piece "Nature of Memory" was included in this audio-visual/new media evening, which showcased the work of Grimsby art students alongside international & national digital artists. The event took place in Grimsby Minster.
nature of memory by vera_lanaGone to the Dog - LincolnDigitalArts audio visual evening, the Dog & Bone, John Street, Lincoln, 18th November 2011
The audio pieces "Chairs" & "Curtains", & the video "Hideous Carpets", were included in this audio-visual evening, which showcased the work of Lincoln digital artists. The event took place in the Dog & Bone, award-winning community pub, & comprised ten varied works by LDA members.
Another Lost World - Weekend at the Asylum Steampunk Festival, Lincoln, 10th/11th September 2011
Another Lost World by vera_lana
This sound work was part of the Weekend at the Asylum Steampunk festival
& took place in the Sir Joseph Banks conservatory, Lincoln.
It comprised a 15 minute audio track - designed to answer the festival's request for "dinosaur" sounds - which was looped to played for about three hours
with a visual display of "Steampunk" items arranged to reinforce the " teatime in the jungle " aspect of the installation.
Open to Interpretation/the Elephant - Sheffield Placard headphone festival, 16th July 2011
Open to Interpretation/the Elephant by vera_lana
This sound work was part of the 12 hour headphone festival organised by Yaxu &
Access Space, Sheffield.
It comprised a live reading of Jenny Clarkson's short story The Elephant over a 15 minute recorded audio piece - Open to Interpretation - previously aired as an installation
( Lincoln Drill Hall, August 2010 ).
Dexicity - LincolnDigitalArts AudioVisualEvening, AV Theatre, the Collection, Lincoln, 24th June 2011
Dexicity by vera_lana
Dexicity was included in an evening of audio visual works showcasing LincolnDigitalArts.
The event, which showed the work of 7 member artists & 2 guest artists, was curated by Sunshine Gray.
The well-attended evening took place in the Collection - Lincoln's contemporary art gallery - where
the works were aired/screened in the AV theatre & on the unique sound wall (which is
one of Europe's largest permanent playback systems, with 22 speakers in 3 layers, embedded in a giant wall).
The artists also used their laptops with individually designed screens, both static & moving, as display on a curving wall in the gallery foyer.
Dexicity - BITR Gallery, Gainsborough, 11th June 2011
Dexicity by vera_lana
This audio piece was written as a response to Dex TapeNoise's poetry & aired during his day-long exhibition at the BITR Gallery, Gainsborough - coinciding with the town's Riverside Festival.
Take Time ( reduced visuals version ) - the Lady Chapel, Grimsby Minster, 18th March 2011
This event was part of an evening art show called " Lightworks " organised by Chris Lillywhite of Grimsby College of Art which showed a number of screen based works, primarily by students. A version of Take Time - previously aired at Lincoln Drill Hall ( March 2010 ) & at LPAC, Lincoln University ( June 2010 ) see below for description - played in full but used a cut-down version of the visual element & was without stage lighting. The piece was aired in the Minster's Lady Chapel - a self-contained small space by the main entrance with limited seating.
Voice Peace - The Bluecoat, Liverpool, 15th November 2010
voice peace by vera_lana
This sonic experiment formed part of the Bluecoat Gallery's Bed-In
celebrating the original 1969 Lennon/Ono Bed-in.
A double bed with white bedding was set up in the gallery foyer where the artist spent the day recording assorted members of the public speaking a few lyrics
from Give Peace a Chance with
Daz Disley operating the audio equipment from the bed.
The whole day was videoed to be shown as a webcast.
Later, in the studio, the voices were mixed into a three minute work which was sent back to the gallery to be played on a listening post.
Respawn? - X-Church, Gainsborough, 16th October 2010
This sonic event was part of an evening of teen music/dark folk organised by
Marcus Hammond of slumgothic.
The audio was constructed using various gaming sounds, a version of the Wilhelm scream & some bitcrushed noise. It was played twice as the audience
entered the enormous space & sounded unrecognizable from the studio version due to the immensely long reverb of the location,
which the artist had planned to take into account.
The work was recorded, as it played, from both the organ loft & from ground level.
THE MERRYWEATHER MESMERIC MOOD MODULATOR - Lincoln Castle, 11/12th September 2010
This sonic event was part of the Weekend at the Asylum Steampunk Festival &
took place in the Merryweather meeting room in the Victorian women's prison in Lincoln Castle.
The work is a fifteen minute piece which was played, looped, over a period of four hours. The audience were able to enter & leave as they wished,
look at the visual displays while listening, take a seat and/or walk around.
The audio includes a number of " steam " & " pump " sounds constructed by manipulating white noise & by tweaking assorted archive recordings.
Steve Wallace gave permission to use some of his grandfather's
ancient field recordings of musical boxes.
Open to Interpretation - Lincoln Drill Hall, 7th August 2010.
This work, which aired in the Lincoln Drill Hall's cleared auditorium, is a looped sound piece of about 15 minutes which was played over a period of four hours.
It uses both abstract & concrete sounds, including domestic noise & tweaked archive recordings.
The audio was augmented with a visual display of two theatrically lit contrasting tables set with miscellaneous & deliberately ambiguous items -
paintbrushes, oranges, computer printouts etc.
Two semi-circles of chairs were numbered using the Fibonacci sequence.
The audience were able to enter & leave as they wished,
look at the visual displays while listening, take a seat and/or walk around.
Take Time - Lincoln Drill Hall, 20th March 2010 & LPAC, Lincoln University, 18th/19th June 2010
This sonic event comprises a looped 15 minute sound piece devised for the Drill Hall auditorium -
dealing with responses to the nature of time. The audio comprises time-stretched & warped domestic noises, treated sine waves & distant vocals.
The central visual element was a circular, set table, theatrically lit, with hour-glasses, fresh cress, fossils & painted clock plates &
for the European House of Arts Festival at the university the jigsaw participation set-up was especially successful.
In both locations A5 graphics of invented time-lines were placed on the semi-circles of chairs.
The audience were able to enter & leave as they wished, look at the visual displays while listening, take a seat and/or walk around.
"Staged" - Lincoln Drill Hall, November 28th 2009
This sonic event is a looped 15 minute sound piece devised for the Drill Hall auditorium -
dealing with the nature of illusion, glamour & the theatre - which played over the course of a few hours.
The visual elements included two tableaux -
the venue's cleaning gear, strongly lit, set up on stage, &, at the other end of the hall, a conceptual piano in front of coathangered costumes.
The audio had archive marching feet, a bed of extreme reverb & some treated Shakespeare.
Misleading graphic play-bills were placed on the chairs.
The audience were able to enter & leave as they wished, look at the visual displays while listening, take a seat and/or walk around.
Anagram - Access Space media lab, Sheffield, June/July 2009
This work, curated by Jake Harries, is a looped 12 minute sound piece designed to be aired in the foyer of the busy media lab over the course of a month.
The audio used field recordings of birdsong, courtesy of Geoff Middleton, & other natural sounds which gradually became more digital
to highlight the concept of the piece - " electronics " being an anagram of " stone circle ".
The visual aspect to the installation included a display of gash computer cases, large beach stones & swathes of fabric.
At the preview the artist took photos of the participants in the seating area & superimposed the Anagram graphic onto the portraits.
Retort - X-Church, Gainsborough, June 2009
This work is a looped six minute sound piece designed to be played for about 20 minutes.
It was aired as part of a day of noise called South West Weird curated by Marcus Hammond of Slumgothic.
The audio included short, sharp sounds ( including castanets ) & human voice to deal with & make the most of the extreme reverb of the location.
When the piece was actually playing it was recorded, on a Zoom H4 from the organ loft, catching the additional sounds of shouting youth.