Helmust Lemke: Sounds Of Walls - The Surplus Value Of Sound No.28

Transforming Islington Mill’s entrance areas, gallery space, and music venue (the Burrow), this immersive sound/art commission encourages everyone visiting the Mill to evaluate their unique part to play in the occasion from the moment they enter; connected by their interactions with the artist and his evolving art, the musicians and their music, the audience’s own spatial and audible role, and particularly, the entire phonic architecture of Islington Mill - its integral ‘every-day’ sounds.

The critically acclaimed sound-artist, who has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and Tate Liverpool, will be capturing audible and inaudible sounds in Islington Mill through sound recording and drawings over the two week residency duration. The residency starts on 14th March, culminating with an exhibition on the 14 March launching A-Bound Festival and his first straight-to-wall mural, that will remain in the entrance hall and the Burrow music venue for six months.

In Helmut's own words:
"I will concentrate on one sense and transform it into another, from what I hear to what you see. I will draw what I hear directly onto the walls; black ink, pens, pencils, marker, oil sticks, brushes (big 'n small; delicate and fragile, bold and massive. After I have done this transformation I ask for the reverse in the viewer's mind: to listen what's there to see."

Recordings will be made using microphones and pick-up microphones. Normal microphones will capture the everyday sounds of the Mill; its residents, artists, and other users during day time and venue, events, and gallery visitors during evening and night. Pick-up microphones will capture the inherent sounds of the building itself; its fabric, walls, floors, doors, etc during the quiet periods at night and early morning.

Sound recordings created during the production time will be accessible as part of the exhibition in the form of an analogue installation of tape recorders and reel-to-reel machine, and a live improvisation performance with recorded material using tapes and a self-made multiple tape desk. The exhibition in the Mill's Gallery space will also focus on giving context to the mural including work from previous performances, drawing created in parallel to the mural, sketches that inform the permanent work, and writings that give a glimpse thinking behind a single transformation process.