Field of View, Played By Ear

Field of View, Played by Ear investigates performative aspects of the recording process, approaching the microphone as an instrument with the ability to transport sound through time. The piece considers possible parallels between camera lens and microphone, both of which utilize a limited field of view to shape the information that they collect. The piece is an ongoing work, a collection of videos and audio of performance scenarios wherein the artist/performer “plays” droning objects against the sound of an environment using the movement of the body and microphone. The work is intended to generate conversation around how recording mediated by active listening can manipulate representation of time, place, object, body, portrait, landscape, with potential to create dynamics between all of these elements.

as seen in the exhibition No Music Was Playing, Les Instants Chavires Art Space, Paris, 2014

as seen in the exhibition Resonant Structures, Stony Brook University, NY, 2016

In May-June 2019, the work materials from Field of View, Played by Ear were restructured for Westbrook’s time as Artist In Residence with Coaxial Arts in Los Angeles, where it was reconfigured as an installation on multiple video screens and CRT Monitors.