Mark Vernon in conversation with Adriana Minu

Episode notes

Mark is a fascinating sound artist based in Glasgow with a artistic sensitivity uniquely attuned to archival and found recordings. In conversation with Adriana, Mark generously unfolded the journey of his practice, meandering through his visual arts background, art school training, pirate broadcasts, hospital residencies, the value of giving new lifes to lost voices, how music recordings sometimes end up in the most unexpected contexts and much more.

Mark Bio

In his sound works Mark explores concepts of audio archaeology, magnetic memory and nostalgia. At the core of his practice lies a fascination with the intimacy of the radio voice, environmental sound, obsolete media and the re-appropriation of found sounds. A rich collection of domestic tape recordings; audio letters, dictated notes, answer-phone messages and other lost voices often find their way into his unorthodox soundworlds. These diverse elements are distilled into radiophonic compositions for broadcast, fixed media, installations and live performances.

A keen advocate of radio as an art form, he co-runs and curates Glasgow’s art radio station, Radiophrenia. He is an award winning radio producer who has produced programmes internationally for stations including Resonance FM, VPRO, Sound Art Radio, Radio Revolten, Deutschland Radio Kultur, Radio Cona, Kunstradio, Wavefarm, Radio Art Zone, RADIA and the BBC.

His solo music projects have been published through labels including Kye, Glistening Examples, Canti Magnetici, Flaming Pines, Misanthropic Agenda, Entr’acte, Gagarin, Calling Cards Publishing, Psyché Tropes, Granny, Persistence of Sound, 3Leaves and his own meagre resource imprint.

He performs regularly at venues and galleries in the UK, Europe and beyond including festival appearances at Full of Noises, Hideous Porta, Apologies in Advance, Delaware Road, Tectonics, Counterflows, Supernormal (UK), Radio Revolten (Germany), LUFF, SONOHR (Switzerland), Untape Me (Austria) Sonikas (Spain), Longueur d’ondes (France) and Soundtiago (Chile).

Weblinks:

Website:

http://meagreresource.com

Bandcamp:

https://markvernon.bandcamp.com

Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/markvernon

Collaborations

Hassle Hound, Limelight Cordial, Lucky Bugs Win Prizes - https://staubgold.bandcamp.com/track/lucky-bugs-win-prizes

Run by Mark

With Monica Brown: Lights Out Listening Group

https://lightsoutlisteninggroup.wordpress.com

Radiophrenia

https://radiophrenia.scot

Places mentioned

Sura Medura - Shri Lanka residency place: http://suramedura.com/residencies/

PRIM Montreal: https://primcentre.org/en/our-program

Pieces that have made an impact or that have influenced Mark

Gavin Bryars - Jesus Blood

Negativland - over the edge / dense audio collages

Graham Lambkin - listening to listening

Luc Ferrari - anecdotal sound

Janek Schaefer - recorded delivery - conceptual sound work / audio voyeurism

Pure field recording - Chris Watson / Toshiya Tsunoda

Upcoming projects:

Callback Carousel

A Loop Within a Loop (Glasgow Underground)

Clock Radio

https://radioart.zone/sunday-10-july