Simon Whetham 'Active Crossover' 2011

‘Active Crossover' is an electronic circuit used in speaker construction, which enables a speaker to transmit sound information consistently and accurately across space. Simon Whetham's 'Active Crossover' project reflects this process, both in terms of the way the space is actually set up, and also in the way the work continues to emerge out of social relationships formed through travel and communication.

The exhibition consists of two darkened, acoustically treated chambers that can be entered into from the main exhibition space. In one chamber is a surround sound composition created from field recordings made while Simon was artist-in-residence in Tallinn, Estonia, and also from Bristol, Brighton and now Bracknell, charting the journey the project has taken so far. In the other chamber are pieces by artists – such as John Grzinich, Jez riley French, Douglas Benford and Dylan Nyoukis – that Simon has performed and collaborated with through running the project, and through their ongoing cultural exchanges, recordings and events. In the main exhibition space you can hear the sound bleeding out and mingling from both spaces, forming a new and evolving communal work.

Integral to the project is a series of performance evenings which investigate improvisation and collaborative working methods, as well as an ‘active listening' workshop.

With the assistance of Arts Council England and PRS for Music Foundation, the project has toured across the UK, being hosted in Bracknell, Liverpool, Leeds and London, with additional live performance events in Brighton and Bristol.

Please click here for more information on the history of the project