David Stalling
palace of ships
Multichannel sound, moving image (2020)
David Stalling
DAVID STALLING has been working as a composer, improviser, sound and installation artist in Ireland since the early 1990s. His works have been performed and exhibited nationally and internationally. With a sensitivity to the sonic nature of both lived in and imagined worlds, David’s practice transcends the traditional definition of composing, utilising a variety of media: acoustic and electronic sound; field recordings and found objects; video and lighting. David also experiments and improvises with self-built instruments and microphones and has performed and collaborated with many artists and musicians in a diversity of contexts. He maintains an ongoing collaboration with Anthony Kelly. David is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre Ireland and is currently based in Dundalk, Co. Louth.
Palace of Ships is an immersive audio-visual soundscape developed 2018-2020 during my investigation into sonic, seismic, and cultural milieux of the Celtic Sea. The work uses field recordings and videos captured during rough sea aboard the RV Celtic Explorer research vessel, as well as seismic data recorded in the Celtic Sea by a large array of 14 ocean bottom seismometers. Making long records of seismic activity audible to the human ear involves manipulating their pitch and duration. In this domain of listening, geological time becomes tangible and the naturally occurring micro seismic tremors and human made sounds take on musical qualities.
In turn, excerpts from the 8th century old Irish poem “Anbthine mór ar muig Lir”, describing a perilous journey during an ocean storm, are slowed down and become sonic strata of historical artefacts.
This work was realised in collaboration with Prof Sergei Lebedev and Dr Maria Tsekhmistrenko of the Geophysics Section at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Reading of text by Paddy Sammon, based on a pronunciation guide by Prof Liam Mac Mathúna. Additional readings and vocalisations by the artist.