Artist Statement
Owl Project is a collaborative group of artists consisting of Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons. They work with wood and electronics to fuse sculpture and sound art, creating music making machines, interfaces and objects which intermix pre-steam and digital technologies. Drawing on influences such as 70s synthesiser culture, DIY woodworking and current digital crafts, the resulting artwork is a quirky and intriguing critique of the allure and production of technology. The result is a distinctive range of musical and sculptural instruments that critique human interaction with computer interfaces and our increasing appetite for new and often disposable technologies. By choosing wood as the main material for the iLog, Owl Project have extracted modern design principles but deflected it back to a traditional sensibility. This immediately raises questions about modern desire for disposable technology and nostalgia surrounding traditional crafts.
'Post Pansonic uppercase electronica' (The Wire magazine, Nov, 2008)
'The Owl Project are a wonderful combination of inventiveness, precision, lateral thinking and single-minded quirkiness' (Tim Marlow, White Cube Gallery 2009)
CV & Education
Solo exhibitions
2012 - Owl Project recent works [Solo Show], AV festival, (Performance/exhibition), Gallery North, Newcastle
Group exhibitions
2010 - UNLEASHED DEVICES, Watermans, London
2009 - Kinetica art fair, Kinetica, London
Live/Performance
2009 - iLog Performance, ISEA, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast
Public commissions
2013 - K-Scope, Mid Pennine Arts, Turton Tower, Blackburn
2012 - Flow; Owl Project and Ed Carter, Artists Taking The Lead, Newcastle upon Tyne Water front
Competitions, prizes and awards
2009 - Best of Manchester Award (Art winner), URBIS, Manchester