Graduates 2021: Joe Gilling: Digital Music and Sound Arts

“My time at the University of Brighton has been an eye-opening and artistically inspiring three years. The tutors have pushed my creativity to the edge and given me brilliant guidance throughout the modules. My work has excelled and innovated past anything I could have imagined.”

 

Hi Joe – can you tell us a bit about your work and your influences?

“I am an audio artist living in Brighton. My work explores the collision between technology and life. As part of my final year audio/visual project on the Digital Music and Sound Arts course, I have been exploring the aesthetics of digital failure, glitch, and inter-twinement of past and present media through the virtual realm. My work has been inspired by reflecting on the consequences of exponential technological consumerism and what these effects are having on a digital generation. I am currently working on a variety of audio/visual projects which exploit technologies and define what it means to be human today.

“Since beginning my studies, I have produced bespoke music compositions for advertising campaigns as well as commercially released my own digital music projects online. My sound is often defined through unusual swung and off-kilter rhythms, haunting and ethereal vocal samples, and ambient washing soundscapes.

How have you found your course and time at Brighton?

“My time at the University of Brighton has been an eye-opening and artistically inspiring 3 years. The tutors have pushed my creativity to the edge and given me brilliant guidance throughout the modules. My work has excelled and innovated past anything I could have imagined. I now feel prepared for the next step in my journey. I have met other brilliant creatives who will be great contacts for the future. This diverse and amazing city is now somewhere I’m proud to call my home.”

How did you choose your course – why did you choose to study Digital Music and Sound Arts?

“I chose to study Digital Music and Sound Arts at Brighton not really knowing what ‘Sound Art’ even meant! After visiting on an open day, I could just feel by the atmosphere and incredible studio spaces that this was the place for me. I was most interested in the new media application of sound, digital culture, and experimental practice. These were eventually areas I became an expert in and continue to learn about every day.”

What are your plans after graduation?

“I have recently just secured a marketing internship with an opera theatre company in London. I hope to pursue my current interests in social media management and digital marketing within the arts, whilst continually progressing as a freelance digital artist. The course I have studied has opened me up to numerous career possibilities and taught me valuable and transferable skills for the future which many employers find desirable.”

Visit Joe’s website www.joegillingmusic.com

Follow Joe on Instagram: @joegillingmusic

Find out about studying Digital Music and Sound Arts BA(Hons).

Graduates 2021: Toby Hinks: Digital Music and Sound Arts

“I am now working on a commission with the 
Brighton Centre for Creative Arts to create a piece to accompany Nika Neelova’s exhibition SILT in the coming 
months.”

 

Hi Toby – can you tell us a bit about your work and your influences?

“Project name Foci, plural of focus, the focusing effect of the two dishes projecting sound towards each other. Foci alters the perception of space through two minimal sculptural forms interacting sonically. It is a combination of a kinetic sound sculpture and domed structure above it that amplifies and
reflects the resulting sound.

“The resonant tone of a metal bowl is activated by the circling movement of large steel ball bearings, put in motion by the user. Contact mics and a surface
speaker transfer vibration from the bottom dish to the top, projecting this sound in an isolated area and creating the sense of tangible architectural space around the user. The installation seeks to exploit a disconnect between visual and aural perception of space in the creation of structural form. The piece utilises the reflective nature and sonic qualities of material, to conjure a cohesive impression of architectural space.

“Also through user participation, the role of
our own agency in sonically defining architectural space is highlighted, creating personal sonic spatial experience through physical interaction. 
The project stands at the intersection of sound, architecture, sculpture, installation and perceptual art and its influences reflect this diverse blend of disciplines. It was inspired by various areas within sound art practice including spatial manipulation, kinetic sculpture and structural amplification. Works such as Bernhard Leitner’s Water Mirror (1997), Akio Suzuki’s Space in the Sun (1988) Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s Clinamen v.2 (2015), Nelo Akamatsu’s – Chijikinkutsu
(2013-2020) and Bernhard Leitner’s Space Sources (1997) were instrumental in the conception
and development of Foci. Aesthetically the project takes large influence from the Light and Space 
movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. This form of minimalism based on the west coast
of America focused on perceptual experience rather than conceptual thought. Foci takes its lead
 from this, altering the perception of space through two minimal sculptural forms, directing focus 
towards the perception of the spatial qualities of the auditory experience.
”

How have you found your course and time at Brighton?


“I have loved being a part of the DMSA cohort, surrounded by exceptional levels of creativity from 
other students and true experts in their fields in the lecturers, I have always felt inspired and
 pushed to create innovative and original work. Also being here has allowed me to widen the 
scope of my practice, with optional units in the architecture school and interaction with the visual
arts and media schools. My time at The University of Brighton has instilled me with a depth and 
breadth of knowledge and allowed me to establish a multifaceted sound art practice.
”

How did you choose your course – why did you choose to study Digital Music and Sound Arts?

“
I actually came to the course at a transition in my own creative practice. I had completed a
 foundation degree in creative music production, unable to complete a BA top up. The Digital
 Music and Sound Arts course seemed to fit with where I found myself but offered a route into
 developing skills in Art practice. The scope of the course was so wide and allowed the chance to
g ain a firm basis in sound art theory that isn’t matched in many places. The syllabus enabled a 
development in me, to experiment and incorporate a variety of other disciplines and expand what
 I could do creatively.”

What are your plans after graduation?

“
I will remain in Brighton as it is a beautiful, creative, exciting city. I plan on exhibiting Foci again for
the general public to experience in person, potentially creating another version for the Brighton
Sound Art Festival that will be coming to the city. Also I am working on a commission with the 
Brighton CCA to create a piece to accompany Nika Neelova’s exhibition SILT in the coming 
months. 
Filmed submission – talking about the work or experience of producing work in lockdown.
Working through lockdown mainly meant having to think creatively about how to realise the
concept of the project. The biggest change was to not construct any of the main elements or have
 them custom made, it all had to be created with commercially available items that were modified
 for their new purpose. A giant fire pit was suspended and a mirrored mixing bowl was used for 
this project in the end, sonically creating interesting variations.


Website: thsoundart.co.uk


Foci development blog


Instagram: @th.soundart

Find out about studying Digital Music and Sound Arts BA(Hons).

DMSA 2021 Online Degree Show // 25 June – 16 July

 

Our DMSA online degree show 2021 launches Friday 25th June

Featuring:

Alex Aiano // Alex Lewis-Whitaker // Ike Goldman // Jack James // Jade Gunner // James Mannay // Jared Swift // Jezebel Halewood-Leagas // Joe Gilling // Matthew Sarre // Toby Hinks

 

One may have thought that the stretch of enforced isolation may have played into the hands of sound workers, toiling away in their bedrooms. These unusual circumstances in fact changed the perspective of many emerging artists from this year’s cohort, causing them to reconsider their practice, be highly resilient, and be adaptable to all situations.

Looking out on a damaged world though steamy windows and computer screens brought up some of the most topical, conversational, and exciting spurts of creativity which inspired the final degree pieces this year. Works explore personal identity, personal ethics, environment, the spaces we inhabit, and our sense of community. Many of these issues dominated conversations – accurately and artistically reflecting on a time of loss but also change.

This event is curated by the BA Digital Music and Sound Arts students

https://exhibitions.brighton.ac.uk/courses/som-digital-music/

#dmsashow2021

@dmsagram