#joemcbride

In Dialogue | Victoria Karlsson & Joe McBride : Close

Can you give an overview of your project?

VK: The project started with a discussion about or interest in how to be able to work together in a interesting and constructive way, without compromising our two different creative outputs and practices.We looked at it as more of a juxtaposition, where neither the sound nor the poetry took "centre stage" so to speak, but where they both worked together to access hidden layers and meanings within both the sounds and the text.

  The piece aimed to investigate the idea of changing states of consciousness, such as the state between being awake and dreaming, just on the edge of falling asleep. The soundscape moves from the speakers, suggesting a state of 'reality' , blending with the sounds of the Barbican Foyers, towards the headphones, suggesting and inner voice, an internal (dream) state.    How did you find the process of working within / with the Barbican Centre?

VK: The Barbican Foyers are amazing spaces, and the centre is used by so many different people through out the day, to have a piece of work here was great, and the reactions where varied and very interesting. The space that we where working in helped in developing the project, public yet secluded, open yet closed, it worked well with the idea of going 'into yourself' towards a state of dreaming or inner reflection How would you define the word or concept hack?

VK: The idea of 'hacking' something, to me, means both to make it your own, but also to be influenced by and learn from it, so a mutual exchange, a symbiotic relationship What are your main influences or references for the project that visitors would be interested in? 

VK: One of my main influences was Janet Cardiff and her sound-walks, where I am very interested in how she uses narrative/text in her work, and also in how she investigates and blurs lines between inner and outer sounds, inner and outer experience, as she connects to an outside world the listener is forced to navigate, while still maintaining and intimate and 'inner' voice/relationship with the listener.  Are there any other projects at HTB that you feel have commonalities with yours? Or are there any other practitioners present you have shared interests with?

VK: I think one of the best things with Hack the Barbican was to accidentally meet people you did not think you had much in common with and realise there was some shared ground, or that you took away something from the encounter that you did not expect. 

Victoria Karlsson: www.victoriakarlsson.co.uk