Presented by Sonic Arts Network and RadioReverb 97.2FM, in association with Earshot and Arika - Expo Brighton :: July 4-6, 2008 :: Call for Submissions and Commission Proposals.

Expo is the hub and playground of the experimental music and sound art scene in the UK and beyond. Free and open, the event mobilises a national network of artists and engages with communities from all backgrounds – placing sonic art and the people who make it in direct contact with the public. Expo steps out from traditional venues and into spaces that lie at the heart of the community - inspiring practitioners and the public to reconsider their environments.

Annually relocating, the Expo traverses the country creating its own community each year. It disperses into the locality it arrives in, scattering events, happenings and sounds across the towns and cities it visits, joining together place, people and art. Work is drawn from a national call and the event collaborates with local partners and highlights the work of local artists. In the spirit of open culture and accessibility the project has developed a social community ethic amongst contributing artists and has encouraged creative approaches to the staging of new work.

Expo aims to present serious, experimental and challenging work in a playful, open and inclusive context, encouraging the public, both local and national, to have direct experience of and access to the most radical and exciting sound work.

After the success of last year’s highly eclectic event in Plymouth the focus now shifts to Brighton in July 2008. This weekend of performance, exhibition, presentation and broadcast will take place across a variety of physical and virtual spaces. The weekend aims to highlight the broadest possible range of approaches and thinking that surround the sonic arts. We welcome submissions of all kinds.

Submissions are sought in all forms of sonic art including real-time interactive works, improvisation with technology, experimental electronica, instrumental/electroacoustic mixes, acousmatic music, sound installations, noise, environmental sound work, conceptual sound art, performances, internet-based creative work, radiophonic work, sound and image works and cross-arts work. In summary, we welcome submissions of all kinds of work incorporating experimental use of sound as a major element.

Submitted works must have been created after January 2007. Some resources are limited and, for example, performers must be supplied by submitting artists. Available equipment for this year’s festival will include an 8 channel sound system catering for the projection of multi-channel works and smaller, adaptable stereo systems suitable for installation work. Video projection facilities are also available. There are 4 streams that artists should consider submitting work for:

1. Market Day - We are seeking installations and performances for a variety of spaces within the disused Circus Street Fruit and Vegetable Market, the proposed main site of Expo Brighton 2008. This unique all day event will aesthetically reconfigure this stunning local landmark. Beyond concepts of concert hall and gallery space we are seeking work to sonically transform this building.

The former wholesale fruit and vegetable market on Circus Street is a huge building containing a vast central market area and a variety of unit sized spaces. This magnificent building was completed in 1937 after the clearance of slums in the town centre. Artists submitting work should consider the reverberant acoustic of the building when developing their ideas for submissions. We will be running both performances and installations in the market on Saturday 5 July and we will be offering an 8-channel sound system for the projection of multichannel work.

2. Radio Day - Sunday 6 July will be the Expo Radio Day. In collaboration with the Arika’s Radio Space festival Expo will deliver a day of broadcasts across Brighton. The main focal point for activity will be a Radio Garden Party event in the gardens of the Brighton Pavilion with Radio Reverb acting as a hub for broadcast activity from it’s nearby studio. Were are looking for innovative work for broadcast. We encourage submissions that pose the most radical rethinking of the radiophonic medium particularly those incorporating radio activism, participation and performance.

3. Expo Late - We are seeking performance-based work for our late night Expo events. True to the spirit of Expo these evening sessions will be as eclectic as possible, showcasing the widest range of current sonic art performance from breakcore and noise to performance and sound art.

4. Unconference - In Expo’s answer to a conference day visitors will decide themselves on the themes discussed through an on-line forum that will be active in the months leading up to the festival. The event, which will take place in the afternoon of Friday 4 July, will be designed to promote debate and to be an open forum for artists, researchers and the public. Debate will be lead by a discussion leader and the division between audience and speaker balanced and equal. Keep an eye on the Sonic Arts Network website for updates.

Sonic Arts Network
The Jerwood Space
171 Union St
London
SE1 OLN
United Kingdom