SoundFjord|London

Sound Art Gallery & Research Unit.
Unit 3b Studio 28 28 Lawrence Road, London, N15 4ER
Rie Nakajima /Ken Bodden
I Can Hear it.
11th Dec 2010 – 29th January 2011
The Sound Art Gallery & Research Unit is a new exciting space: http://www.soundfjord.org
After attending, Parfums Pourpres du Soleil des Poles at the SLG and in the same week I was on a mission to seek out the Soundfjord gallery to witness a piece by Rie Nakajima who is working with Ken Bodden a piano tuner. See Press release. A friend had been present at the recording, and so we tried to find the final piece. Stranded in the busy Saturday afternoon traffic in Stamford Hill trapped in a bus lane, we phoned this new gallery and finally found it situated in the industrial backwaters of Tottenham, behind a gated entrance. On entering the bare space furnished with one microphone and a couple of folding chairs , I realized that this was minimalism on the opposite scale from what I had experienced at the SLG earlier. For ‘I Can Hear It’ is the process of one note dinging, the occasional hollow clacking of the keys as the keys were tuned, interspersed with more individual notes sounded. Either ‘I can not hear it well’ or I did not concentrate enough. Was I looking for melody, where I should have been looking for nuances of pure sound? It later occurred to me that the overindulgence in everyday sounds in the city may well have desensitized my ears and that this intriguing research into sound and how we hear may be a call for learning to hear afresh. Sound Fjord is an exiting new space dedicated to challenging and stimulating its listeners in the Sound Art Scene. It is the first Gallery in London to exclusively promote Sound Art.
Forthcoming Concert and Exhibition:
Produced by Rie Nakajima and in collaboration with Helen Frosi of SoundFjord:
11.02-05.03.2011: Café Oto/Sound and Music| Sound Art Commission | Concert with exhibition in two locations: Lost Sounds: Miki Yui and Rolf Julius | Concert | 11 February 2011 (Café Oto) | Exhibitions | 12-13 February (Café Oto) / 15 February – 5 March 2011 (SoundFjord) | Produced by: Rie Nakajima in collaboration with Helen Frosi of SoundFjord | Further info: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139333272788188&index=1| Tickets for performance at Cafe Oto: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/101885 | Entry to exhibitions is free
PRESS RELEASE:’I Can Hear’
SoundFjord
Rie Nakajima is working with Ken Bodden a piano tuner, the projet naturally nanifest as a means to record how one listens, and what one listens for specifically.
The impetus for this project is to record the sounds of piano tuning by blind piano tuners; listening intently to single notes washing over one another; not following note whilst resonances intermingle.
Rie is interested in hearing the sounds as the tuner hears them; to follow his ears note by note. She is eager to understand not only what Ken hears but also what he experiences while tuning pianos.
Is Ken listening to specific sounds suc as beats? Or perhaps the speed between notes while tuning? Is he comparing one sound to another , note by note, or instead looking for purity and the resonance associated with a particular note?
Ken is curious from the perspective of ‘the performer’ of the tuning, as well as of ‘the listener’ He is fascinated by how the recordings that Rie makes sound, but also how one might hear him tune through his specific technique. Rie shares that interest. I can Hear It, is a culmination of their research , a collaboration involving deep and comparative listening for both the performer (Ken) the rexoridst (Rie) and now the audience.
For I Can Hear It. Rie has recorded Ken tuning one piano at a time, at the location of the piano owner’s home, rather than at a studio. It is as if it were an exercise in tuning in itself : an intimate tuning of the world . Ken’s world.
The title I Can Hear It is derived from words Ken uses to explain how he tunes.