Ben Webb 

Artist in Residence - April & May 2023

Ben Webb was our artist in residence during April and May 2023, during which he created a space focused on expanding the role of listening (listening experimentally).

Inviting people to participate in a series of listening events where various recordings are looped, played at different speeds, and sometimes mixed together in a sonic collage. Those joining were welcomed to bring records and be involved in the collaging - turning recordings into performances and then back into more recordings, developing a sound remediated through listening.

The intention is to create a space for exploration, experimenting with techniques for listening that have an impact on the social, performative and embodied, internal experiences of gathering to listen together. It is open to all, with an amateur, improvisational approach that encourages creative participation.

Ben’s research interest is in the potential transformative effects of sound. He experiments with different recording techniques, sampling and synthesis, using field recordings and hardware instruments.

Approaching sound as ritual object, his intention is to tap into different energies and spaces through sonics, exploring how sound can induce psychotropic effects and altered, oneiric logic or dream states.

Drawn to exploring landscapes, both internal and external, Ben is interested in psychogeography and linking this with historical practices with the land in Cornwall where he grew up.