Points of Failure
Points of Failure is an ongoing series of concerts and installations in which miscellaneous objects and repurposed audio equipment is used to create an audiovisual performance-environment.
By using DIY electronics, found objects, light and sound making circuits, the musical potential of everyday materials is explored in response to the architectural features of the performance space. Though field recording equipment is often used (e.g. hydrophones, air pressure microphones, electromagnetic coils etc) Points of Failure works entirely with live processes and no prerecorded sound material occurs during the performance.
Points of Failure – Sonic Protest, Les Instants Chavirés, Paris, France [Image: Cindy Voitus, 2021)
The event usually takes place in the centre of the venue and expands out into performance space, creating a series of over lapping and intertwined spatialised light and sound relationships.
Points of Failure environments have previously involved horn speakers, light bulbs, plasma speakers, popping candy, tesla coils, air horns, spark gaps, satellite dishes, smoke pellets, car horns, water drips, hydrophones, jacobs ladders, bass shakers, bells, modular synthesisers, self made stringed instruments, balloons, transducers, speaker cones, rain, fans, solenoids, contact microphones, DIY circuitry and motors.
Through the making and unmaking of objects and building hybrid mechanisms for making noise an eclectic multi sensory experience unfolds, one in which sound, light, smoke, smell and action intertwine.
Points of Failure – Tresor, Linz, Austria [Image: Verena Mayrhofer, 2022)
Points of Failure has been performed at over 30 festivals and events worldwide including:
- EAC Les Halles, Porrentruy, Switzerland
- ame, Huddesfield, UK w/ Phill Niblock
- The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle, UK w/ Phill Niblock
- Glad Cafe, Glasgow, UK w/ Phill Niblock
- Colbalt Studios, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK w/ Pierre Bastion
- Ravenglass, Cumbria, UK w/ RE-DRIFT & Full of Noises
- Colbalt Studios, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
- Boundaries Festival, Sunderland, UK
- Tresor, Linz, Austria
- Jeanne Barret, Marseille, France w/ Explorations Festival
- Cafe OTO, London, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
- Sanatorium of Sound, Sokołowsko, Poland
- Instants Chavirés, Paris, France w/ Sonic Protest
- NNOI Festival, Bradenburg, Germany
- Cave12, Geneva, Switzerland
- LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Museum of Modern Art (MAM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil w/ Novas Frequencias
- Top Klub, Serrinha du Alambari, Brazil w/ Silo
- Klub Spatif, Warsaw, Poland w/ Gerard Lebik
- Sanatorium, Sokołowsko, Poland w/ Gerard Lebik
- CAMP, Aulus les Bains, France
- Garage MU, Paris, France w/ Phil Niblock
- Culture Lab, Newcastle, UK, w/ John Bowers and Rob Blazey
- IKLECTIK, London, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
- Glad Cafe, Glasgow, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
- Dai Hall, Huddersfield, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
- FUSE, Bradford, UK w/ Dirty Electronics
- Star and Shadow, Newcastle, UK w / Dirty Electronics
Points of Failure – Tresor, Linz, Austria [Image: Verena Mayrhofer, 2022)
Points of Failure – LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland [Image: Nina Refondini, 2020)
Points of Failure – Tresor, Linz, Austria [Image: Verena Mayrhofer, 2022)
Points of Failure has been kindly supported by Arts Council England and was developed in partnership with Brazilian partners Novas Frequencias and Silo – Art and Rural Latitude.
Points of Failure on Arte Tracks
Points of Failure – Tresor, Linz, Austria [Image: Verena Mayrhofer, 2022)
Points of Failure – Tresor, Linz, Austria [Image: Verena Mayrhofer, 2022)
Points of Failure – Sanatorium of Sound, Sokołowsko, Poland [Image: Kazimierz Ździebło, 2021)