Visiting Practioner #11 Vivienne Griffin

Vivenne Griffin

This is her bio.

Born in Dublin and living in London, Vivienne Griffin studied fine art at City University New York supported by a Fulbright Scholarship. Griffin is a recent recipient of an Oram Award, named after legendary producer and electronic musician Daphne Oram, the award celebrates innovation in sound and music. Most recent exhibitions are Manchester International Festival 2021, the AGM in Somerset House at St Mary le Strand 2021, for Montez Press Radio in NYC, Griffin is a PhD candidate at Queen’s University Belfast at the Sonic Arts Research Center. They are represented by Bureau, NYC. They are currently working on a video game that functions as a music interface and writing poetry. Their upcoming album Music For Dead People (or requiems) will be out in 2022. 

Her bio makes me interested in the last section about creating a video game that functions as a music interface. I want to know more about this and perhaps see some of the gameplay. I also think her work could possibly influence my decision on my sound installation.

Burea Gallery

I found a link on her website that takes you to a gallery in new york she does exhibitions. It only has a photo and the date of the exhibition so I can’t completely analyse her work or understand it in its entire context.

This one in specific piqued my interest, to see a PA speaker and black and white clothing. I was interested in what the actual performance is? As I’ve volunteered to do a performance at Gallery 46 during our week-long exhibition I’m trying to find influences or ways of changing my usual ways. I managed to find a SoundCloud link to the audio at the performance.

I found the soundscapes layered with synthesisers really well produced, I was curious to see how this applied in a gallery white cube context. The idea of just audio and one PA as a sculptural element isn’t terrible but with just audio, the context sometimes can be taken away, especially if the gallery context is where the audio performance was designed to be heard. I suppose this does pose the thought of work that’s specific to one scenario and how appropriate that is. Not that it’s incorrect to do that, but perhaps if we can create work that still stands by itself and together also.

I also found the sculptural element of this installation really captivating, the space between the objects and the layout of the cables on the show is something I’m also considering during my installation. I find myself not too worried with the idea of perfectionism in my work and cables neatly tied up and show isn’t or perhaps won’t add to my work. If something is specifically done even thinking bout cable placement the added total effect is better. At least, in my opinion, it’s always the smaller things that when added up make an installation greater.

Music For Dead People

I found a SoundCloud link to Music For Dead People, I’m unsure if this is the same album that is spoken in her bio? Said to release in twenty twenty two, but has been available for over a year. Anyway, I took a listen and found she used her voice predominately in the piece, which was I assume transposed with a pedal or an effect that makes it sound like it’s layered with lots of of the same voice. There was an almost personal close feeling when listening, you can hear her up close to the microphone moving her lips in an almost ASMR matter which doesn’t really appeal to me and made me feel repulsed. Again I found a lot of her work was uploaded and not given context, so unless you attended the gallery or performance/exhibition you wouldn’t entirely understand it. Which I find a bit unfortunate, as it creates a barrier of entry to her work. Something I won’t be doing when creating a professional website.

Post-Lecture Reflection.

Vivienne began by speaking on the album. She said she has an album called Music for dead people that keeps changing dates, and this is mainly based on technology. The ideas keep changing for her album and she finds as more technology arrives on the market she wants to adjust what she’s made and refine the idea. Something I don’t personally do myself, I find my ideas to capture moments in time and specific feelings that come and go. If I don’t release something it might not have the same connection for myself in the future, but for others, it might.

She doesn’t use the term sound art, which has become almost a common theme towards most of the visiting practitioners, I even mentioned it in my audio paper, something I also find difficult to speak on my work as Sound Arts it was refreshing to hear another visiting practitioner to speak on a similar thought. She said she finds it too narrow and that a broader vocabulary will hopefully emerge than just using the term sound arts, she prefers sound practice initially or new noise. She doesn’t like the name of sound arts. The term sound arts doesn’t allow her to feel like she wants to situate herself within it. 

For her main practice, she has two strands. Studio practice and workshops. In her studio physicality of language is what she embraces in her work. For example, She created a piece that was supposed to look like A4 printouts but was hand drawn with ink. Creating and shifting perceived perspective.

Sculpture work. As well as sound is also something she is interested in and actively works on. In some pieces of work, she creates work with broken English, as an Irish person she felt she didn’t have to embrace the correct grammar of the English language, as well her dyslexia gave her an abstract artistic view of English language which meant she didn’t feel to comply with the norms. I can relate to this, my dyslexia has given me the rapping ability to be different, I don’t quite write it perfectly or fit the boxes in terms of the norm in my scene. It’s totally difficult to accept yourself being terrible at something if you have a half-empty mindset. But I do find it similar to Wabi-Sabi philosophy of beauty in imperfection I think if everyone was similar and stuck to the same mindset with any artform it would become stagnant and nothing would change or progress.

She also speaks on how her art is a reflection of her thoughts, it’s a way of getting out of her head, she uses an example of when you wake up, you look around and realise where you are physically and mentally. Which is something she is interested in, that specific moment. And capturing it and using that mental state in her practice.

She started thinking about noise, in a non conventional sense. The term noise really expanded for her, not just audio but how we interact with the world. And engaging with noise, podcasts, gaming, waves etc to her are all noise, not just digital but analogue forms as well. 

The Fake Haven project

This was her working with text, and using it in the artwork she was commissioned to do. The fake haven was the name. To begin she just started writing without trying to make sense. You could say an experimental poem she believe it was at first. The text began to kind of be around instructions. 

Then it went to more poetry references and more language references and then at some point she used her process of automatic writing to convey her unconsciousness to consciousness.

Then Vivienne showed us a prototype of a game she has been working on, similar to a midi controller. The character in this game has a gun that shoots balls made in the unreal engine. The balls are fired and trigger sounds that have been created. From vocals to synthesisers. This made me think about media consumption such as video games in a different context I hadn’t perhaps made before. Although this was in beta and very rough it reminded me of other music creating games such as ps1 and ps2 music creator games that pioneered grime. This is in a different context and more based on a different experience that shapes the world you are within rather than conventional music creation on a different platform.

I found her lecture to really connect with me, more for the fact that I could relate with her processes of work and using your work as a release for certain aspects in your life. I’m currently doing my proposal and have included some things based on this lecture within it.