Simon Le Boggit is a Lincolnshire based composer and multimedia artist currently attempting to distil “meaning” from chaos. This includes the auto-composition of algorithmic music in which every single note is created independently, with its values of pitch, length and score-position being dictated by a vast array of random number generators. Any emergent melody, harmony and syncopation in these compositions are a product of chance, and the human brain’s compulsion to identify patterns.

Despite this mechanistic approach, the resulting music can feel surprisingly “human”, spontaneously generating strangely emotional moments of “apparent intentionality”. Simon playfully describes such chaos-based music as “the sound of the Universe improvising”, and he spends much of his time seeking statistical sweet-spots which spontaneously generate scatter-patterns of sound which may be regarded as recognisably musical rather than just dissonant noise.

Simon’s interest in the interconnection between chaos and meaning further extends into sonic art in the form of intricately layered sonic sculptures. These are composed of sounds or words which gradually lose their individual identity as they are interwoven, resulting in an emotionally charged cacophony which feels like it is somehow more than the sum of their parts.

Keen to demonstrate the universality of chaos-based soundscapes, Simon continues to enjoy creating algorithmic compositions using sounds and musical instruments from many world locations. At its heart, Simon’s approach is seeking to demonstrate how we all have common origins rooted in chaotic processes which are sometimes buried deep beneath a surface sheen of inherited cultures.

Upon reading No Friend but the Mountains: Writings from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani, Le Boggit’s musical response was to use chaos and repetition as tools to illustrate the sense of fragmentation and dislocation at the heart of this powerful book’s physical and psychological journeys.

DISLOCATION By Simon Le Boggit

In 2019 a series of events at Mansions of the Future in Lincoln, UK, brought people together to think about mandatory detention in offshore processing centres in Australia. Works by Hoda Afshar and Behrouz Boochani were at the heart of the debates. The podcast here is designed for use in schools and colleges, but will also be of interest to anyone who wants to know more.

There's No Place Like Home Podcast. by Femi Oriogun-Williams(1)

I’m an academic working on world cinema, migration, visual arts and childhood.
Current website: https://migrationandart.com
These tracks are from events and creative works focusing on detention in Australian offshore centers 
and in the UK, and on refugee lives in the 21st century.

Stephi HD