Sounding Degree Zero

Brandon LaBelle is a sound artist and writer from Los Angeles. Working in the field of sound- performance- and installation-art since 1992, LaBelle's work aims to draw attention to the dynamics of sound as it is found within spaces and objects, public events and interactions, language and the body. Through a performative interaction with objects, found-sound, and minimal electronics, the work draws attention to the quality and nature of what is already there through an emphasis on and displacement of listening and interaction, as a technological and architectural glitch. LaBelle's interest in site-specificity reflects a desire to consider the relationships and tensions between art and a broader social environment. His work has been featured in "Bitstreams" at the Whitney Museum, in "Amplitude of Chance" at Kawasaki City Museum Japan, at the 9th International Symposium of Electronic Arts in Liverpool and Manchester, Sampling Rage Festival in Berlin, the ICA London, Experimental Intermedia in New York, the Arizona State University Museum, and as part of "Sound as Media" at ICC in Tokyo. He is also the co-editor of "Site of Sound: of Architecture and The Ear" and "Writing Aloud: The Sonics of Language", both published by Errant Bodies, and curator of the Beyond Music Series at Beyond Baroque Center, Los Angeles CA. His work has been released on the SELEKTION, Fringes Recordings, Ground Fault, and La Bruit Secret labels.

Cfr. nn. Arch. 184.45; 190.20 ZERO is a limited edition collection of one-minute soundworks by international sound artists, experimental composers, noise makers and other audio creators. Contributors were invited to create an original recording of one-minute duration for the CD on the theme of ZERO – whether through their stripped-down, low-tech aesthetic or a focus on themes of absence, abstraction, distortion or a sense of thereshold between one state and another. The CD contains a broad variety of one-minute soundworks and presents the results of artists working thematically in chance juxtaposition. By bringing together this calibre and range of contributions, ZETRO aims to stimulate further interest in the artist work and practice, debate and dialogue surrounding sound art. The artists on ZERO range from well known world figures, to individuals and groups making their first wirks in this field. ZERO was commisioned by the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT) and was published with the support from Liverpool Art School.