Date: August 4th, 2011
Cate: Community, FON 2011, Residencies, Uncategorized
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FON 2011:PHILIP JECK LIVE AT STATION VIEW HOUSE, BARROW

 

Over the last few months Octopus has been visiting the residents of Station View House, playing records and talking about music, how we experience it and what it means to people . In the coming year we will be working on a project called Voices Of Station View, with the support of our County Council. Today  composer Philip Jeck performed for  the residents,  drawing on records sourced from local charity shops.  At the end of the performance a member of the audience told Philip ” I could have listened to that all day.”

 

Date: June 30th, 2011
Cate: Community, Education
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Octopus workshops at Barrow Island School

Barrow Island Schools Year Six crammed themselves into John ‘s art studio for a live recording as the culmination of  a days Sound, Text and Music workshops . The group produced a series of recordings reflecting on thier camping residential at Ormsgill, and took part in editing, recording music and sound effects , writing and delivering texts with Octopods Glenn, John and Andrew and guest writer Kate Davis. The project was part of the Bifocals EAR programme.  Here’s Megan’s poem The Climbing Wall, with breathy effects and a thumb piano and vocal loop.

The Climbing Wall

Date: March 3rd, 2011
Cate: Community, Events, Octopod gigs, Video
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Octopus at DIY Music Day @ Liverpool World Museum

Octopus’ John Hall and Glenn Boulter warming up in the aquarium in Liverpool World Museum as part of DIY Music Day, produced by Sound Network.

www.soundnetwork.org.uk

Date: December 20th, 2010
Cate: Community, FON 2010, happenings

Octopus Merch at Coniston Farmers Market and Art Fair.

We have better pictures somewhere, but for now enjoy the sunlight on the paper fibres in this uninformative snap of our Merch Stall at a pre Christmas Grizedale Arts event at Coniston Institute.  As a fundraiser for the Institute we were selling work by Paul Rooney, Binural Media and ourselves alongside local artists and butchers, and several Grizedale alumni including Marcus Coates, Ryan Gander and Nat Mellors. A nice day all round. We ate well and Moved Some Units.

Date: November 26th, 2010
Cate: Community, FON 2010, Residencies
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Gary Abbott in session with Paul Rooney.

Gary plays the beautiful trumpet parts that attracted so many visitors to Paul’s “Spit Valve” installation in the park. Based in Barrow, Gary plays with the Barrow Steelworks band, and was recommended to us by everyone we contacted in our search for an accompanist for Paul’s piece. Andrew, (Octopus Director) is a Brass player himself, and has  copies of the LPS Gary made with the Shipyard Band a few years ago. Thanks again Gary for all your help.

Date: November 25th, 2010
Cate: Community, FON 2010
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EAR:Chris Watson at Barrow Dock Museum.

EAR: Chris Watson at Barrow In Furness Dock Museum, Oct 17 2010.

Sound Recordist and Musician Chris Watson gave a presentation to a large and receptive Sunday afternoon  crowd at Barrow Dock Museum. Chris played some extraordinary recordings, including a passage of whalesong which caused a model of the HMS Duke Of Devonshire to vibrate in its glass case.

We had a typically wide ranging audience, including musicians, fans of experimental musIc and sound arts along with  many who knew Chris’s work for the BBC and who left us plenty of positive feedback.. “..Excellent event – Great to find something like this in the area. Sparks off all sorts of creative ideas.”

EAR is an Education and Research project, funded by Arts Council, Barrow Regeneration and Barrow Borough  Council.  Many thanks to the staff of the Dock Museum.

Date: October 30th, 2010
Cate: Community, FON 2010, happenings

Octopus and Mobile Radio present a wine tasting At Coniston Institute.

Knut Aufermann and Sarah Washington AKA Mobile Radio have been back with us as this week, giving advice on setting up our FON AIR radio project and presenting a wine tasting at Coniston Institute.  Knut and Sarah brought some choice bottles from thier home in the Mosel valley in Germany and  Grizedale Arts provided some excellent soup. A nice mix of people turned up and heard of Mobile Radios’ doings and of the German Governments plans to build a bridge  that will  blot out the sun from a large slice of the Mosel valley and trash a bit more of it in the making. See the Save The Mosel Valley campaign.

Date: August 27th, 2010
Cate: Community, Education, FON 2010, Video

Octopus Vegetable Orchestra

Octopus Vegetable Orchestra Live in Barrow Park 25/08/10 from Octopus Collective on Vimeo.

Pupils from Lillian Bayliss school in Lambeth performing with Octopus on Barrow Park Bandstand with home-made vegetable instruments. The performance took place in Barrow-in-Furness Park as part of a Grizedale Arts project with artist Jeremy Deller.
grizedale.org

Film by Mary Stark
marystark.co.uk

Date: October 23rd, 2009
Cate: Community, FON 2009, Residencies
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Coding the Ursonate

We were very happy to work with Morse code operators Bill Jenkins and Mike Cumming. They bravely got stuck into Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate for us. The text is extremely repetitive; we used it to create rhythms in code. This will form the backbone of the Mobile Radio work tonight titled ‘MORSONATA’.

Date: October 9th, 2009
Cate: Community, FON 2009, Full of Noises Festival
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Octopus at the Merzbarn

Octopi John Hall and Glenn Boulter made their way up the A590 last Saturday to discuss FON at the annual Kurt Schwitters Herbst-Schule. The art/architecture conference took place in and around Kurt Schwitter’s ‘Merzbarn’ at the Cylinders Estate near Elterwater. The event included a seminar on artist led learning projects, performances and discussions on the future of the Merzbarn.
Glenn and John performed on Saturday evening at the Merzzzoom Cabaret, employing laptops, amplified mixing bowl, buddha machine and a mangled Patti Smith cassette. Other acts included the Lakeland Fiddlers and East Lancs. band Funnel whose set included rousing renditions of Ursonate and Anna Blume.

Kurt Schwitters and David Medalla preside over the closing buffet at Cylinders Estate.

We’d like to thank Ian and Celia of Littoral for inviting us along to KS09 and look forward to collaborating in the future!