Silence returned | continuous edition: 008_ssv7 | 2008-

Experiemnts with silence and the 'sounding' object.

A 4 minute silent groove is cut into two single-sided 7" records. One record is kept unplayed and one posted back to myself, that is: posted to my home address while I am away. The record is sent without a cover or envelope.
On the return of the record and myself, the record is played and a recording made into another two 7" records. One is kept unplayed and the other is taken with me when next I am away, and posted back to home address. The process is repeated with each new edition of the record.

Silence returned follows a similar process to that used in the mo(nu)ment project, but here there is no original sound recorded, just the unrecorded silence of a groove cut into plastic, nor is there an appeal to reply or creative conversation: this silence is a soliloquy, a listening and returning to oneself.
The records damaged silence becomes the record of its own movement through place and time. With each recording the length of the silence grows as the moment of the needle falling into the groove and the run off is added. In order to keep the record as a letterbox friendly 7" disc, its speed has changed from 45rpm to 33rpm.

The posting of each record is documented with an image taken of the record before posting and/or an image of the post box used.
The visual and sound record of each return can be accesssed via the tabs above.

silence returned | 008_ssv7 | 2008

Listen | silence returned | 1st Edition | 45rpm | 04:00 (04:27 recorded)

 

Posted: N/A

From: N/A

Arrived: N/A

Distance: N/A

 

Details

In-line recording from one of the two original silent groove records.

 

silence returned | 008-2_ssv7 | 2008

Listen | silence returned | 2nd edition | 45rpm | 04:33

 

Posted: 22/08/08

From: Tintagel, Cornwall

Arrived:

Distance: 183 miles

 

Details

Record posted from the post office in Tintagel, Cornwall, England.

silence returned | 008-3_ssv7 | 2009

Listen | silence returned | 3rd edition | 04:40

 

Posted: 19/08/09

From: Dunwich, Suffolk

Arrived: Assumed lost in post

Distance: 190.4 miles

 

Details

This record was posted on a Thursday from a post box in Dunwich, Suffolk. The record never arrived and must be assumed to have been lost in the post.

A recording from the unposted copy of the record was made and pressed as the next edition of silence.

silence returned | 008-4_ssv7 | 2009

Listen | silence returned | 4th edition | 04:49

 

Posted: 27/12/09

From: Bootle, Liverpool

Arrived: 30/12/09

Distance: 225 miles

 

Details

This record was posted from a post box near my mother's flat in Bootle, Liverpool. I was visiting my mother for Christmas. The day after I got home, my mam was taken into hospital. She never returned home to her flat.

silence returned | 008-5_ssv7 | 2010

Listen | silence returned | 5th edition | 33rpm | 05:05

 

Posted: Sunday 04/04/10

From: Fazakerley, Liverpool

Arrived: Thursday 07/04/10

Distance: 225.3 miles

 

Details

This record was posted from a post box in Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool. I was visiting my mother who was ill in Hospital. This was posted on one of the last times I was to visit my mother's flat.
I lived in Fazakerley from 1996 to 1973. I wanted to post the record from the box near the local shops where I had lived, but that box had been sealed.

 

 

silence returned | 008-6_ssv7 | 2010

Listen | silence returned | 6th edition | 33rpm | 04:00

 

Posted: Friday 27/08/0

From: Stiffkey, Norfolk

Arrived: Tuesday 31/08/10

Distance: 200.3 miles

 

Details

Posted on the Friday before I came home from holiday in Stiffkey North, Norfolk.