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I am an artist broadly concerned with how humans relate to their larger surroundings. I’m currently using photograph to record our changing landscape, pursuing themes of geology, mapping, and human impact on the land.
Below are a selection of my audio and visual works for you to view.
atomicGun (appearing in this years Punto y Raya Festival, which has earned the title of “most abstract film festival in the world”.)
atomicGun from joe stevens on Vimeo.
sea
sea from joe stevens on Vimeo.
In these two animated pieces I was very much informed by contemporary painting. In these works I explored the power of abstract shape through meticulous geometry, working with form, colour, space and graphic shapes to create work that takes the classic ‘St Ives’ abstraction style of painting into a contemporary moving image form.
Windsock
wind sock from joe stevens on Vimeo.
The above animated works then went onto inspire my work with treated video pieces, of which Windsock is an example. These pieces of work are halfway between photography and painting, with added movement. here I have been exploring the possibilities of how the surface can speak and I think there are a lot more possibilities yet for me to discover. The soundtrack again highlights my interest in the use of contact microphones, with the sound recording from mics attached to the perimeter fence at the air-sea rescue base.
Sound works
Arranged and manipulated from a collection of field recordings, dialogue and piezoelectric (contact mics) recordings. These pieces embody the psychological or psychic presence that I perceive. Within those frameworks, I like to record or amplify sounds that might otherwise go unnoticed, everyday sounds that can be very beautiful.
Something I love about the sounds I record is how small differences can change the way things and places sound – like what season it is, how far away something is, what the weather is like. It is the little details that make one recording more interesting, more evocative, than another.
high heels underground and window wide open
high heels underground [2:56m]: no public access slide show and soundtrack
This audiovisual slideshow was made especially for ‘the works’ – a contemporary art exhibition at Sutton Poyntz Pumping Station last year. The sounds were totally made up from contact mics attached to the fences and signs I found on my walk.
no public access from joe stevens on Vimeo.
Foreland – a walk we took
A Sherborne House Arts project that encouraged young people to get out walking footpaths, whilst exploring contemporary art production.
Maps were compared to contemporary artists interpretation of the landscape. The group worked cooperatively, sharing experience, while they investigated footpaths, recording their experiences using drawing, photography, sound recording, writing and GPS (Global Positioning System).
http://www.51degreesnorth.net/joe/archives/317
