Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op.18: I. Moderato by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Audio-focused Artist & Photographer
Born in Barnsley in 1971, Chris Sykes an audio-focused artist and photographer. Chris graduated from MA Photography at the University of Sunderland in 2018.
“He adopts narrative based structures in order to communicate a broad range of personal issues that have a universal human dimension, whether exploring deeply personal traumas or approaching deeply philosophical questions about existence.”
Chris’s work pushes the boundaries of the mediums, often adopting experimental, scientific approaches to intersection of sound and photographies.
Beyond Words, 2018
Responding to the power and impact of famous, emotive speeches, Chris Sykes attempts to disrupt linear time and re-imagine these influential speeches as visual experiences. The process starts with the appropriation of recordings of Winston Churchill, Hillary Clinton, Adolf Hitler, John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
Using a precious metal called Gallium, which transforms from a solid to a liquid state at approximately human body temperature, Sykes takes multiple images of this liquid metal as it reacts with the sound waves of various speeches generated by a conventional loudspeaker.
Martin Luther King Jr: I Have A Dream, August 28th, 1963, March on Washington, Washington DC, USA.
John F Kennedy: We Choose To Go To The Moon, September 12th, 1962, Rice Football stadium, Houston, Texas
The resulting photographs are then sequenced, mapped and processed using high resolution 3D modelling software – a technique known as ‘photogrammetry’ – in order to produce images that condense and encapsulate entire orations into a singular visual landscape. With the increasing use of data visualisation and digital imaging this pseudoscientific investigation attempts to challenge the boundaries of what photography can be.
Beyond words has been exhibited at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in October 2018, and at the Frederick Street Gallery in February / March 2019.
Romanticism, 2018
Looking at the relationship between photography, music and technology, Chris Sykes creates a colourful fusion, which tries to defy linear time. The process begins with the playing of classical music from the Romantic Era (1790-1910) on a regular loudspeaker. Whilst water beads placed on the speaker react to the vibrations of the music, Sykes takes multiple images.
Sonata in B-Flat Major for Piano, Op. 1, WWV 21: III. Menuetto: Allegro By Richard Wagner.
