Ben Adamson (mentee)
About the Artist
Ben is a multimedia and sound artist based in Leeds, UK, focusing on the composition of soundscapes utilising the musical capabilities of unconventional and non-musical objects, to develop a relationship between sculptural work and soundscape design. During the last two years of his development as an experimental composer, he has moved more towards the relationship and development of both visual art and sound design.
His practice currently revolves around the intersection of playfulness and communication involving probing the boundaries between objects, sculpture, and instruments to investigate how materiality affects our perception of the sonic qualities of objects.
During his time in the New Forest Ben was mentored by fellow Artist in Residence Alex Julyan.
Reflecting on his residency, Ben said: ‘From my adventures through the Forest, over heath and hill, and my walks with Robbie, I started to see the extremely codependent and precarious relationship between nature and the inhabitants of the Forest. From this, I began my investigation into how this relationship could be explored, captured and represented most effectively through sound.
‘My inspiration when I first planned my time in residence was the work of David Monacchi, an eco-acoustic composer and sound artist. His project, Fragments of Extinction, focuses on capturing the incredible soundscapes of ecosystems throughout the world – ‘eco-symphonies’. Part of me, knowing how diverse the wildlife within the New Forest is, wanted to attempt my own audio documentary process within the New Forest, but very quickly I knew I had neither the appropriate biological/geographical knowledge, nor the time, equipment and recording skills.
‘So I took a different route, one that combined the exploration of a specific space within the forest, with extracts of different environments (wetlands, woods, farmland) from areas throughout the forest. The space that became the focus for much of my recording was a tunnel under a bridleway, previously a railway track, ten minutes walk from Setthorns Wood. I became very interested in this tunnel not only for its sonic potential, as it had an almighty echo, but also as a physical representation of a boundary and a threshold, one imposed by humans on the land of the New Forest, but now used by people and animals alike to traverse the landscape.
‘The echo as a concept also really appealed to me – a phenomenon that augmented whatever sound was made in the tunnel especially sounds generated from movement. Each day I returned to the tunnel, attempting to investigate the acoustic qualities of the space, how the spatial relationships between intentional and accidental movement affected sound in the tunnel, and how the space changed each day (with water running through in small streams for example, or the ground being disturbed by the horses/people passing through the tunnel). Through hours of recording, I gathered a bank of sounds.’
