Audio By Carbonatix
In an interview with critic Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Yoko Ono recounted her experience as a preschooler at Japan’s Jiya-Gakuen, which translates to “Learning Garden of Freedom.” At that very young age, the future sound artist, pop star, and wife of John Lennon was learning perfect pitch, harmony, piano chords, and simple composition. She recounted the institute’s insistence that children draw inspiration from the sounds of their everyday life. Likewise, local artists Autumn Casey and Sleeper draw inspiration from Ono’s experiential approach to sonic sensations for their three-part “Interpreting Sound Workshop,” which concludes this Saturday at the De la Cruz Collection.
The first two installments featured a brief introduction from Casey about the history of sound art, followed by a homemade electronics tutorial led by Sleeper. Participants learned how to build contact mikes — tiny microphones that can be used to amplify the sound of an object being touched — and received a crash course in circuit-bending simple electronics, such as toy keyboards, to modify their sound. The final edition features demonstrations of the completed projects that participants started under Sleeper’s instruction and provides a fun look at the cross section of experimental music, high art, and DIY electronics.
Sat., Aug. 20, noon, 2011
