Recession Sounds

Wolverhampton-based artist and sometime Colour DJ Richard Cartwright is currently exhibiting a rather striking piece at the University of Wolverhampton’s Art & Design Degree Show 2009. Titled Recession Sounds, it explores impermanence, decay and decline through sonic collages constructed from found sound and everyday objects.

The project was approached with a limited budget and this set limitations of what could be used to make the sounds [...] Seeking out natural rhythms and beats within found and budget objects recovered from the studio space or outside. With found materials or items purchased from the high street shop Poundland. All the objects are manipulated, destroyed and readjusted to create each individual sound.

As you listen to the six-track ‘EP’ on perishable acetate, a video depicting the artist creating the sounds in the collages loops in front of you, heightening your awareness of the music of everyday life. The way cheap IKEA lamps illuminate the records draws your eye into the record and the physicality of what you’re listening to.

You can stream Recession Sounds at MySpace, but I would recommend getting down to the degree show for the full experience – it runs until Saturday.