“In this session I propose to discuss the relationship between sound and image in film and video. Taking my own film practice and several other key influences as case studies I will unpack how I have worked collaboratively with sound artists, field recordists and composers on every part of the film production from its conception to shooting and finally the mixing/postproduction. I will discuss the distinctions between the camera and the microphone, recording and listening as well as the distinct concerns of working with sound in different contexts, from the cinema to the gallery and live performance. In this seminar I will also consider different strategies to working with the voice, where the filmmaker, as I have tended to, chooses to disrupt or circumvent a traditional ‘sync sound’ model. I will touch on both the theory and practice of why one would choose to work like this, whilst taking into account both contemporary and historical examples of how others have dealt with these issues in their practice.” (Luke Fowler)

Born 1978, Glasgow; lives and works in Glasgow.

Scottish artist, filmmaker and musician Luke Fowler (1978) has developed a practice that is, at the same time, singular and collaborative, poetic and political, structural and documentary, archival and deeply human. With an emphasis on communities of people, outward thinkers and the history of the left, his 16mm films tell the stories of alternative movements in Britain, from psychiatry to photography to music to education. Whilst some of his early films dealt with music and musicians as subjects, in later works sound itself becomes a key concern.