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Jason Brown, KLCC - David Graves is an experimental multimedia artist based in Eugene. He's been releasing ambient music and video pieces under the name Fine Vermin since 1999. He's also created a number of audio installations which aren't exactly performances, but they're not merely passive listening sessions either. Graves’ latest installation is titled THE FUTURE BELONGS HERE, and you can experience it at Monroe Park in Eugene on Sunday, July 20 and Thursday, July 24 from 6:00 until 8:00pm. Graves is here at the KLCC studios to tell us a bit about it. David, thank you for coming by.
David Graves, artist - Thanks very much.
Brown - So tell us, what can folks expect to find in Monroe Park during this exhibition?
Graves - Well, we will be setting up four speakers in the southwest meadow of Monroe Park. The speakers will have four different kinds of sounds coming out of them, but the sounds themselves were recorded earlier this year in Monroe Park, like the merry go round, song birds, kids playing on the teeter totter, and folks playing basketball.
Brown - But we should point out, it's not just those sounds. You've manipulated them and you've turned them into a musical composition. Is that an accurate way to describe it?
Graves - Yeah, it's something I've been doing for a while. You can actually stretch sounds. You can actually tune sounds. The merry go round is a good example, because it actually sings a little song, except when you're using the merry go round, you don't really hear it, because you're probably paying attention to whoever's on the merry go round. But if you stretch it out by 500%, you actually get this gorgeous melody. It's actually in key, and it turns into music.
Brown - Talk about the recording process. How did you do it? What kind of equipment did you use? As I understand it, you recruited some of your neighbors there by Monroe Park, right?
Graves - Yeah, we help clean the park every morning, and we run into neighbors. And I've run into a couple neighbors who are recording sounds; the birds, especially. But one neighbor was recording kids when they were sledding right after the ice storm in January, and it is a hilarious recording, and it's pretty low tech. It's done with cell phones, but you can clean that stuff up and make it sound pretty neat. So there's a lot of that kind of collective help from the neighbors.
Brown - What are you hoping people get out of this as they come by and experience it? Better yet, how do you hope people who are just at the park anyway who would happen upon it experience it?
Graves - There are definitely chords and music that come from these derived tones. And I'm trying to evoke a dreamy, positive vibe, and I hope that as people approach that part of the park that they initially hear some pretty positive vibes, and it will lure them into the space.
