Permanent Gallery is pleased to present Works for Turntable, an exhibition of amplified kinetic sculptures for used record players by Stephen Cornford.
Stephen Cornford is a sculptor working with music, sound and noise. Borrowing strategies from bricolage, process music, kinetic sculpture and free improvisation. His interests lie in the relationship between the physical attributes and acoustic properties of sounding objects, musical instruments and audio technologies. He has previously reworked electric guitars, pianos, bicycles and other large objects, but with Works for Turntable the site is confined to the spinning twelve-inch record player.
Springs, wire, guitar strings, and elastic bands are fixed between the centre of the turntables and the stylus, forming an intimately constructed sculptural barrier. Flea market trinkets and other found objects, placed on the rotating turntables, strike these barriers and produce sounds both acoustically and through the amplification of the events, drawing the audience’s attention to the tonal and timbral differences between the acoustic and the electric.
Continuing the lineage of turntablism (from John Cage to Christian Marclay et al), Stephen Cornford adds to this discourse his intricate constructions that emphasise the kinetic and sculptural qualities of the work and their determination of sound. Cornford’s intention is to draw the audience into the work, allowing them the space to study the auditory and kinetic minutiae, in order that their navigation between turntables encourages an active mode of both viewing and listening.
To accompany the exhibition, a limited edition 7-inch record has been pressed and is available to purchase. The record features two short sound pieces composed from recordings of the prepared turntables. Sleeve notes include a commissioned text, written in response to the work by Anne Hilde Neset.
Stephen Cornford studied Fine Art (sculpture) at Slade School of Fine Art (1998-2002) and Visual Performance at Dartington College of Arts (2006-2008). He has recently produced work for ArtEx Sonora, MACUF, La Coruña, Spain (May 2009), Burst Festival, London (May 2009), We Live Here, Arnolfini, Bristol (February 2009) and Asian Gates, Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover, Germany (November 2008).
Anne Hilde Neset is Deputy Editor of The Wire magazine and the co-founder of Electra. She has commissioned, curated and produced a number of projects, including the Enter series of permanent sound installations (2008, Stavanger, Norway), Her Noise (2005, South London Gallery), film/performance commission Perfect Partner by Kim Gordon and The Sounds Of Christmas installation and performance project by Christian Marclay (2005, Tate Modern).
