Sound Archive of Experimental Music and Sound Art

moving objects | nº 486 – 501 from pe lang on Vimeo.

pe lang – moving objects | nº 486 – 501

Actuators, cables, silikon, custom electronics
Size: 250 x 100 cm, Year 2011, Edition: Unique

Exhibition: SONM: Sound Archive of Experimental Music and Sound Art , Spain 2011
Curated by: Francisco López

Established in 2010 by Francisco López

The Sound Archive of Experimental Music and Sound Art, SONM, has been created as a public access resource -both physical and virtual online- with my entire collection of experimental music and sound art, gathered over the past thirty years of direct exchange with thousands of sound artists worldwide.

This sound archive is not the result of a collector’s accumulation (I am not a collector) but is instead the consequence of an intense activity as an artist, and also of one of the most fundamental features of the international community of sound artists: the exchange and collaboration, both physical and telematic. The archive is thus a personal collection, subjective, partial, and particularly focused on the global communities of so-called “independent” or “underground” artists, which I am part of since the late 70s.

In spite of this, however, since my sonic and pesonal interests have always been very wide, the natural result in the collection is a large variety and representation of the inmense universe of sound practices in experimental music and sound art. With nearly 5,000 items on cassette, vinyl, CD, and DVD, at the time of its offical opening, this sound archive is predominantly composed of very small editions -in many cases self-editions by the artists themselves- encompassing all kinds of aesthetics, movements, periods, labels, and sonic manifestations: electronic, concrete, industrial, noise, minimal, improvisation, soundscapes, glitch, turntablism, avant-garde, etc.

Furthermore, the collection is in constant expansion with all the sound materials I personally receive and with the contributions of a myriad sound artists worldwide that want their work to be adequately preserved and promoted with the resources of this sound archive.

Hosted now permanently at the Puertas de Castilla Center in Murcia (Spain) the sound archive is now being cataloged and digitalized for both the physical and online public access (at the Center in Murcia and in the sound archive’s website/database).

In addition to the multiple uses of the sound materials of the collection as a public resource, my understanding of the sound archive is that of a dynamic foundation for the generation of all kinds of parallel activities: diffusion, exhibition, research and new creation. Since its inception, the sound archive has an ongoing programme of concerts / performances, installations, workshops / seminars, publications / editions and information exchange relationships worldwide.

Given the gigantic proportions, the extreme dynamism, the inabarcable diversity, and the accelerated mutation and cross-breeding of the world community of sound artists, any attempt of this nature is bound to be just a little “hub” in that inmense “noosphere” of global creation and communication. In spite of this, it is indeed my intention and personal challenge to lead this sound archive to a position of essential worldwide resource for the preservation, access, listening, diffusion, exchange, research, and promotion of experimental music and sound art. Such a task will only be possible with the active collaboration of those who make up this global community of sound creators. And this is -indeed- an implicit offer of participation in this project, which is made by all of us and intended for all of us.

My sincere thanks first to the City Council of Murcia, which, within its possibiltites, hosts and supports this project in all its different manifestations. My thanks also to Marta López-Briones, Director of the Puertas de Castilla Center, and to Jesús de la Peña, Coordinator of the Center, for their enthusiasm, energy, ideas and vision to support and carry out the sound archive, sharing with me the excitement, ambitions and challenges of such a task.

Francisco López / Director and Curator of the Sound Archive / October 2010″

Homepage SONM

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