Jacob C. Hammes
Created in the Spring of 2008, Chicago Phonography is a loose collective of artists producing and broadcasting unprocessed field recordings as an ensemble in a context of live improvisation. Motivated by the maxim “nature performs and we provide the secretarial services” (R. Murray Schafer “The Tuning of the World”) alongside John Cage’s theories of chance operation and fellow field recorders The Seattle Phonographers Union, Chicago Phonography seeks not to enhance reality but rather to edify an aural anthropology. Through their performances the experience of listening is abridged by the congestion of the modern metropolis, the alarming lack of human control over modern technology, and the pressing need to restore organic balance to everyday living.
The Phonographers limit their interaction with raw sonic material to the
very simplest manipulations of play, stop, pan, and gain.
Please visit the official website for more information or to download recordings.