As a freelance artist educator for October Gallery, I plan and deliver workshops for young people in response to current exhibitions.
In October 2017 and February 2018, I worked with groups of 15-21 year olds to experiment with sound and explore listening as a practice. The group was introduced to sonic arts practice, and the ways sound can be used as a material to tell a story or convey a concept. Dividing into two groups, they considered the exhibition Power Figures by Alexis Peskine and the group show Transvangarde. Young people choose a work on display, discussing ideas they had in connection to it and varying interpretations. Participants worked together to record and source sounds relevant to their ideas around the their chosen work, using zoom mics to record their own audio, or finding sound clips online.
Participants learned to use zoom mics, 4 channel mixers and basic audio effects. Once sounds were made, participants experimented with each other’s sounds through an improvised performance, listening to how sounds work together. Young people's discussed their experience improvising with sound, and the effectiveness of using sound to convey a message.