USA Projects

PROJECT SUMMARY

SONIC FABRIC is an audible textile woven from cassette tape that has been prerecorded with intricate collages of sound. I have been engaged in this project for over 10 years, during which time it has evolved from a small-scale one-off conceptual art piece to a much larger-scale body of work that is exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. The time has come for me to weave a new batch of SONIC FABRIC. In order to fund the process, I am offering to weave small, custom-recorded batches of SONIC FABRIC as a perk for contributors.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:

I became inspired to weave with tape many years ago when I first noticed a connection between “tell-tails”, or wind indicators, often made from strands of cassette tape used on small sailboats and Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags imprinted with mantras, or sacred sounds, that are activated and carried out into the world on the wind. When sailing as a kid I recall imagining the music that had been recorded onto the cassette tape tell-tail wafting out into the breeze. Years later when I learned about the Tibetan flags I became inspired to weave a fabric imbued with sonic potential. The more I learn about theories in quantum physics that suggest that our entire reality may, in fact, be composed of little more than vibration, the more meaningful this project becomes to me.

At the outset I’d only intended to weave a small amount of fabric from 100 individual cassette tapes of special significance that I had collected or recorded over the course of several years. Immediately after the first two panels of fabric were complete, however, friends and colleagues began asking if I would weave more, and if I could make the fabric available by the yard. At first the idea seemed daunting – it had taken years to get from the idea stage to the tangible object stage. After much contemplation and research I found a small family-run textile mill in New England that was willing to try experimenting with the tape. I have had other small batches of fabric produced by Tibetan refugees in Nepal and hope to begin working with community weavers in Mexico soon, but most of SONIC FABRIC is woven domestically on a massive, elegantly beautiful antique dobby loom.

At this small factory we were able to begin using spools of tape garnered from the waning audiobook industry onto which I could record intricately composed sound collages created by collecting, layering, and looping hundreds of samples - sounds, music, and spoken word – a literal fabric of sound. Just as I was beginning preliminary experiments with the sound collages I was invited by Phish percussionist Jon Fishman to gather samples from his personal collection of cassette tapes from which I wove fabric to make a wearable/playable garment. My last collage compiled in 2006 is titled BETWEEN STATIONS and is composed of sounds collected on and under the streets of Manhattan between 9/11/2001 and 2005 during a time when, to me, every sound felt especially precious. All of the current batches of SONIC FABRIC are recorded with this collage. BETWEEN STATIONS is available as a free download to anyone who may be interested in hearing it.

In the 10 years that this project has been underway, I have created fabric using only these four sound collages, since weaving with tape is such an involved and labor-intensive process. My works made from SONIC FABRIC – including a set of sailboat sails called “The Tell-Tail Thangkas” and a series of “shaman/superhero” wearable/playable dresses – are shown in museums and galleries around the world. While I am able to provide some of this fabric for fellow artists and designers to use in their own projects, I have thus far not been able to offer others the opportunity to record custom music or sounds onto small batches of fabric, since the mill must require a minimum order of 250 yards.

PRESENTING: CUSTOM EDITIONS OF SONIC FABRIC

Now, with the help of USA Projects, I can at long last bring the SONIC FABRIC project to the next level. From the beginning the goal has been to share this project with others, to collaborate with fellow musicians and artists, architects, designers, collectors – anyone interested in having sounds, music, wishes, ideas recorded onto tape and woven into versatile, durable, audible fabric that can be used in any imaginable way. SONIC FABRIC can be used to make garments, to upholster furniture, to stretch and hang like a work of art on canvas, to memorialize someone, to give as a gift. In exchange for your tax-deductable contribution of $2,000 you will receive 20 yards of SONIC FABRIC recorded with the sounds of your choice. You provide the sounds (I will be happy to provide assistance if needed), and I will weave them into SONIC FABRIC made especially for you.

All contributions of any amount will be greatly appreciated, and will go toward the purchase of the minimum order of fabric. Twenty yards from the 250 yard requirement have already been commissioned by the City of Culture of Galicia, Spain. I am honored to have been invited to create a collage composed of sounds from this unique region (Santiago de Compostella). This custom yardage will be made into garments by fashion design students at the University of Vigo in December 2011.

For me, the most vital and inspiring experiences have emerged out of exchanges, collaborations, and improvisations with others. I have eagerly awaited the moment when the collaborative dimension of SONIC FABRIC can be more fully engaged. I trust that the work that will be created as a result will more fully capture the concept at its core: that ultimately our world and everything in it is an infinitely complex collage of vibration, an exquisite cacophony – a grand, unified sonic fabric.