Artist and Spike Island's studio artist Matt Davies takes an alternative approach to the gallery tour, leading an enhanced soundwalk of Haroon Mirza's exhibition /|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|. Moving around the space with a directional microphone and digital recorder, Davies tunes into the individual components of the exhibition. Participants are invited to follow closely behind, wearing headphones directly connected to the recorder that provide an enhanced listening experience. This saturation of sound highlights the audio content of the exhibition, exposing the quieter sounds within the space, such as the hum emitting from the various amps, TVs and other electrical equipment.

Davies' installations, performances and phonography seek to reveal the hidden and the often ignored sounds of everyday life. Continually on the hunt for new sounds, his growing archive of field recordings captures the secret vibrations that penetrate the objects, architecture and landscape that surround us.

Matt Davies

Matt Davies' work is engaged with the act of listening and the exploration of random or natural composition.

Past projects include a residency with PVA Media Lab, Bridport, researching spatial recording techniques during a church bell practice in a rural church in Dorset, as well as collaborations recording swing bridges with artist Simon Wheltham, dawn choruses with German field recordist Marcus Kuerten, and documenting old lidos with Finnish artist Anne Karhu.

More recently he has been recording and broadcasting the micro sounds of fences, toasters, trees, sub tropical plants, fish tanks and burning logs to audiences across the United Kingdom.

Matt Davies's website