1/4” Mulch, Frequency Festival 2013

 1/4” Mulch was an experiment to find parallels between the degradative characteristics of compost and magnetic tape. The project emerged out of a collaborative practice between myself, performance artist Joana Cifre-Cirda, and digital artist James Hubble. The work developed though a number of “jam” sessions utilizing a compost heap recorded through hydraphones, a reel to reel tape player and Max MSP. We we looking for commonality in the two sound sources, and how we could marry the process of breaking down compost with a shovel and slowly encouraging the magnetic tape to break down through performative wear and tear. Most of these sessions were conducted using headphones so for us as performers it was an incredibly immersive experience so we wanted to pay homage to this within a live setting. In 2013 we were commissioned to install a version of the performance and the old Chad Varah house in Lincoln. Making use of the on site office furniture to create more potential for spacial sound diffusion, we embedded a 48 channel sound diffusion system embed into the floor, walls and stacked furniture to create a dynamic and immersive experience.