“Nothing here does not hear you” is a site specific, sound installation created from research made into the space formerly known as the 1820 Settler’s Monument in Makhanda. The process began when a group of individuals were invited to take a walk through the building and its environs to talk about the situation. The guests included historians, cultural workers, political activists, and sangomas, as well as members of the building’s maintenance and technical staff.

All the interviewees spoke in different ways of blockages, barriers, clots, stuck places, and obstacles. The building, and the land in particular, was spoken of as an energy that needs to be listened and attended to: the Monument has to be rethought, opened up, and become many monuments.

The recorded interviews were shared with a writer who developed a series of texts that could, when spoken, work as blessings. These ideas form a manifesto of spiritual intent: an opening of channels, a putting to rest the uneasiness, a calling for creativity and wisdom, and a token of gratitude for lessons learnt and lessons to come. The text is vocalised in soft voices, reminiscent of lullabies, ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), and mantra, and in whispers, referencing stage cues as well as the focused transmission of special knowledge. When broadcast in the space these voices might be thought of as working towards a subtle, sonic reorientation of the building.

The blessings are punctuated by 5 sets of sonic indexes summoning various metaphorical blockages so that they may be named and dispensed with.

The artwork is installed in the Bridge, an architectural folly in the building that offers a breathtaking perspective of Makhanda and the surrounding areas. The audio component is diffused through transducers attached to the windows of the room, turning the glass into speakers, and allowing for the sound to be linked with the view of the land.

This installation is dedicated to the memory of Joseph Maart who worked in the building and contributed to the project in a site reading. 

The work is live streamed below from “The Bridge” in the Monument Building looking out to the East over the city of Makhanda.

Research and interviews: Dr. Dominique Santos, James Webb
Invited site readers: Ayanda Kota, Brendon Wessels, Joseph Maart, Juanita Praeg, Prof. Julie Wells, Mbali Marais, Nicci Spalding, Nosipho Matini, Rev. Thebe Albert Shale, and Xolile “X” Madinda
Interview and location sound recordist: Kuhle Ngqezana
Writer: Louis Viljoen
Voices: Nombasa Maqoko, Dr. Hleze Kunju
Voice recording engineer: Elijah Madiba
Recording studio: International Library of African Music (ILAM)
Installation team: Guy Nelson, Darren Wolhuter, Armand Steenkamp, Benjamin Muir-Mills.
Thanks to Rucera Seethal, Nicci Spalding, Dominique Santos, Louis Viljoen, and Lina Kinning.

Nothing here does not hear you

Le Forme Dei Sogni Tornano A Mare - James MIX20210912 320kbps

20 James Webb DE

20 James Webb EN

This passionate piece of chamber music written in 1929 features both music and text by Olivier Messiaen.

La mort du nombre

Today is a troubling day for many in the UK. After the results of an election that was plagued and stained with lies and deception, we are now left in a very precarious position. Many friends are feeling very dispirited and lost today, as am I. So, I sat in the studio this morning and improvised live to the celebratory speech of the winning party. In response to the situation I then reversed parts of it, as well as using a recording of this very speech and buried it deep within the music, again playing backwards. It's clear to many that this political situation is not taking us forwards, but rather back to a nostalgic and challenging past. So, for this moment, use this music to relax and switch off the news.

Backwards to go Forwards

This is the second time I have used this microphone, the Rode NTG-8 long gun mic.  For a few years now I have been using the short gun mic the Rode NTG-3 an amazing mic.   Interesting to see how more directional it would be.  I went out to an area in the foothills of the south Wicklow mountains (Ireland)down a quiet road to visit a stubble field as it is surrounded by good hedge rows.  I was soon recording.  In one place I could hear three Yellowhammers in song, usually two.  In the last recording (The Robin - song) I was not very close to the bird, however I was very surprised how close up it sounds, even though it was about 4 to 5 meters away.  
It was a nice clear mild morning and very noisy as the north drift of air brought in traffic and tractor noise from the Woodenbridge area.  
I have to try out this mic more, however it is odd in that it seems to be not really directional, yet later when processing the recordings I am blown away at just how close up the birds sound. I still need the recording area to be quiet, however it gives a very helpful amount of rejection to sounds that are off axis. 
I put the recordings into one file, and are in the following order.  All tracks are mono.  The recorder used was the Sound Devices MixPre3.

Yellowhammer - song.
Robin - ticking calls.
Wren - ticking calls.
Wren - one song.
Robin - song.

My thanks to pixabay.com/users/TheOtherKev-9436196/  for the image of the Yellowhammer.

Rode NTG8- Experiment. 8 Aug 2020 Rostagah Wicklow Ireland

Writing Aloud is an anthology focusing on the relationship of language to sound, writing to music, and brings together a highly diverse collection of essays, interviews, meditations, visual projects, text-sound scores and audio by some of the leading individuals in the field of cultural and performance studies, experimental music and contemporary art. Edited by Brandon LaBelle and Christof Migone.

Yasunao Tone, Man'yoshu#16

Marina Abramovic, Freeing The Voice

James Webb is an artist, recognised for his site-specific interventions and installations. His practice often involves sound, found objects, and text, invoking references to literature, cinema, and the conceptualist traditions. By shifting objects, techniques, and forms beyond their original contexts and introducing them to different environments, Webb creates new spaces of tension. These spaces bind Webb’s background in religion, theatre, and advertising, offering poetic inquiries into the economies of belief and dynamics of communication in our contemporary world.

As Brandon LaBelle writes, “The works of James Webb circulate around a complex mixture of emotional and affective states; of longing and despair, of the ecstatic and of hopefulness, states of bodies and minds that move throughout his practice to raise questions of individuality and community, belonging and displacement, fragmentation and recuperation.” (Xenagogue, edited by Anthea Buys, published by the Hordaland Kunstsenter, 2015.)

Webb has had solo exhibitions at, amongst others, the Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2018); SPACES, Cleveland, USA (2018); Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden (2018); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom (2016); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway (2015); CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain (2013); Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2012); and mac, Birmingham, United Kingdom (2010).

Major group exhibitions include the 13th Biennial of Dakar (2018), 4th Prospect Triennial of New Orleans (2017), Documenta 14 (2017), 13th Biennial of Sharjah (2017), 12th Bienal de la Habana (2015), 55th Biennale di Venezia (2013), 3rd Marrakech Biennale (2009), Melbourne International Arts Festival (2009), and the 8th Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (2007). Other notable group shows include  those at spaces such as Wanås Konst and Historiska, Sweden; MAXXI Roma, Italy; Darat al Funun, Jordan; Théâtre Graslin, France; and the Tate Modern, London. 

Webb’s projects have been the subject of the two monographs, “. . .” (blank projects, 2020), and “Xenagogue” (Hordaland Kunstsenter, 2015). 

Impressum: All rights reserved. The copyright for these audio pieces and artworks  are reserved. Any replication or use of the content such as images, audio, and texts is not permitted without James Webb’s written consent.

Gallery representation: 
Galerie Imane Farès, Paris www.imanefares.com 
blank projects, Cape Town www.blankprojects.com

Nothing here does not hear you

theotherjameswebb

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