Magnetic Migration Music

1998 – 2008 (but then on and on…)

Did you ever see fragments of audio tape flapping in the wind? Snagged round a branch or lamp post? trailing down the road? If you have you are probably of my vintage. It is certainly far less common now than it was in 1998 when I first picked up a piece of tape, cleaned the clag off, spliced it into a cassette and listened to the revelatory sound of chewed and mangled ‘tutti fruti’. I have collected, respooled, listened to and worked with tape fragments ever since.
This project has had many foci and iterations over the years, it has been a great tool for exploring landscape, community, migration, music and medium. There have been installations, radio programmes and live performances, CDs, artist books and an ever growing MP3 archive.

1998 tape caught in tree outside my window – the collecting and respooling of tape fragments begins

2001 MMM online archive created & Soul Seek (p2p) server active

2002 trip to Pas de Calais & Sangatte, book& CD release (New Media Scotland)

2003 radio programmes in France, Austria, Germany, UK, Spain, Australia, USA & First MMM installation @ Courtauld Institute

2004 MMM collaboration with Artists Without Homes, Bristol, installations and performances in Holland and Germany

2005 MMM soundwalk in Goutte d’Or area of Paris, installation in Kunstbüro Vienna

2006 MMM release books, CDs & live concerts with Mark Vernon. Installation in Kiasma Helsinki as part of AVANTO

2007 MMM performance at Noise Festival, Almaty Kazakhstan, MMM Tape Lab Augsburg Germany, AV Festival UK

2008 MMM performances Arhus Denmark & Marseille, France, installation in group show at CCA, Glasgow

— after 10 years with MMM, I declare the project finished —

but then.. further performances & talks in UK, Spain & Switzerland and I continue to collect whenever I see any tape fragments to this day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zebraphone/albums/72157600228533631