10/11/2001
Jonty Semper
Locus+, Newcastle
"Remembering we forget much that was monstrous" Siegfried Sassoon from To One who was with me in the War (dedicated to Robert Graves). Jonty Semper's current Locus+ and charrm project Kenotaphion is an audio artwork presented in two parts: a limited edition single and double CD.
KENOTAPHION
"Remembering we forget much that was monstrous"
Siegfried Sassoon from To One who was with me in the War (dedicated
to Robert Graves)
Jonty Semper's current Locus+ and charrm project Kenotaphion is an
audio artwork presented in two parts: a limited edition single and
double CD.
In the aftermath of the recent terrorist atrocities in America, Jonty
Semper's Kenotaphion, three years in the making, has sadly become all
the more poignant. As many countries across the world pay their
respects, we have recently seen a vast number of two-minute silences
conducted in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Word
Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
Kenotaphion, the double CD is produced as a result of researching,
locating and anthologising all the existing official recordings of
the two minute silences from the Armistice Day or the Remembrance
Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London. The CD,
containing all of these silences with an essay by Dr. A Gregory, is
available from 11 November 2001. Alternatively a selection of the
recordings can be downloaded from an MP3 file at htt://www.kenotaphion.org
from 11.03am on 11 November 2001.
The double CD follows the release of a limited edition seven inch
vinyl 45 containing the commemorative one-minute silence recorded in
Hyde Park by Jonty Semper on 6 September 1997 during the funeral of
Princess Diana, Princess of Wales.
"Here is one of the great paradoxes, that no broadcast is more
impressive than the silence following the last dashing strokes of Big
Ben" noted The Radio Times in 1935.
The broadcasting of silence may seem peculiar yet it brought the
ritualistic into the living room, thus enabling remembrance of the
dead to be observed and embraced en masse. For post World War II
generations, our shared image is one of politicians and the Royal
Family standing at the Cenotaph. Jonty Semper's Kenotaphion allows us
to re-examine these conventions of respect and collective ritual, as
legitimised from the centre.
Kenotaphion is presented in a literal and objective manner. It
includes an anthology of official recordings of live broadcasts on
radio, television and newsreel selected from organisations such as
British Newsreel, British Movietone News and the BBC, who documented,
filmed and broadcast the Whitehall ceremony. Punctuated by the chimes
of Big Ben and cannon shots we can hear coughing in 1932, protesters
in 1969, seagulls in 1977, heavy rain in 1982, a baby crying in 1988,
the hiss of audio noise and sometimes the manipulated overdubbing of
waves on a beach or birdsong.
As an 'invented tradition' the ritual has immense gravity, levelling
divisions, uniting through grief and contemplation, and as such is
loaded with specific current social and political meanings.
Kenotaphion is therefore a seemingly simple compilation containing
numerous complexities that are both ironic and provocative.
The CD is accompanied by an essay by Dr Adrian George, historian,
Pembroke College, Oxford who is also author of The Silence of Memory,
Armistice Day 1919 - 1946, Berg 1994.
The single costs £6 and the double CD £16.
Contact Locus+ on +44 (0) 191 233 1450 or charrm records at info@charrm.org.
Media requests or review copies concerning Kenotaphion please contact :
Nick Hallam on +44 (0) 20 7439 0972 or e-mail media@nickhallam.demon.co.uk
Jon Bewley & Simon Herbert
Locus+
17, 3rd Floor Wards Building
31-39 High Bridge
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1EW UK
t: +44 (0) 191 233 1450
f: +44 (0) 191 233 1451