Exhibition Gallery Guide

Chelpa Ferro/
Jungle Jam

juneau/projects/
The Black Moss

08 December 2006 - 21 January 2007

Chelpa Ferro/
Jungle Jam

Jungle Jam is the latest musical experiment from Brazilian sound artists Chelpa Ferro. This new FACT commission is the group's response to the ubiquitous presence of music in Liverpool and its fervent new music scene.

Chelpa Ferro's artwork reflects a culture of creative resistance that has learnt to develop imaginative unofficial resources. Their work reflects the history of contemporary Brazil and questions the nature, genres and roles of art and music in modern technology-driven, consumer society. Their impressive live, audio and visual presentations combine high and popular culture, representing the the central position of music, and the intensity with which Brazil lives everyday life to the full. Chelpa Ferro's creative use of technology stresses the interdisciplinary possibilities it allows shifting and interchanging the visual, sculptural and aural qualities of different elements.

Gallery 1
Jungle Jam uses motors and plastic bags to create a cacophony of sound, echoing the rhythms and the tunes of Liverpool streets. A specially tailored rhythmical composition is 'played' by the bags. The piece inverts the process through which musicians appear in the commercial context of Liverpool's streets and brings commercial detritus into the gallery.

Chelpa Ferro conceive their sound pieces as experiments that will develop and evolve beyond the authors, becoming machines with an art life of their own. The artists invent and build sound-creating devices that include non-musical objects chosen for the randomness they will contribute to the final composition. In Jungle Jam every turn of a bag will create different sounds depending on the exact order of its creases at any given instant; this makes the piece unique to each individual visitor.

The new sound machine invented by these instrument hackers explores the representation and physical presence of music as well as its dynamics through space, one of Chelpa Ferro's investigation lines. They adopt banal, everyday objects to re-define their functionality and draw the audience's attention to new and unexplored features in the object - i.e. the musical qualities of bags 'sampled' to create an unexpected sound environment.

With roots in traditional Brazilian rhythms, Chelpa Ferro's practice builds on early experiments of the 50's - e.g. Hermeto Pascoal ('the sorcerer') - that developed into characteristic Brazilian Jazz of the 60's and 70's - Airto Moreira (Sambrasa Trio) - and other similar experimenters of Dadaist nature. They are in direct musical and conceptual line with the Tropicalismo movement, born out of the extreme modernisation of Brazil at the end of the 60's.

Chelpa Ferro was founded in 1995 by visual artists Barro and Luiz Zerbini and video editor Sergio Mekler. Chelpa Ferro's work has been shown at international festivals (Venice Biennale 05; Videobrasil 05; Sao Paulo Biennial 02 and 04; Havana Biennial 03), they have had major solo exhibitions across Brazil (HUM 03), contributed to film and stage productions (Deborah Colker 2002) and have received awards such as the 4th MTV Video Music Brasil prize.

Jungle Jam is their first major commission in the UK.

Marta Ruperez
Curator (New Media)

juneau/projects/
The Black Moss

FACT are delighted to present new work by juneau/projects/ commissioned specially for this exhibition, alongside a selection of other recent pieces from the last year.

Birmingham based juneau/projects/ use improvised consumer objects to create performance, sound and installation works that investigate the conflicting relationship between nature and technology. For this exhibition the artists draw inspiration from British wildlife through a new digital animation and installations that literally take over the building, spilling through the public spaces and exploring our perception and romanticism of nature.

Media Lounge
juneau/projects/ new commission for the Media Lounge, Instincts are misleading (you shouldn't think what you're feeling), transforms the space into a mystical shrine devoted to wildlife, featuring digital animation and an array of hand-made creatures. Visitors are invited to contribute their own miniature homage to wildlife, to form part of the continually evolving installation. These are then selected by the artists and incorporated into the animation at several points during the exhibition.

The installation also includes music juneau/projects/ wrote and performed live at the opening of the exhibition, together with musical instruments they created for the performance.

Public Spaces
The public spaces see an invasion of nature into FACT with a flock of pigeons (a common juneau/projects/ emblem) and crows nesting amongst an array of shrubbery. In addition, clusters of magical mushrooms can be seen growing around the building and in the crevices of walls in Gallery 2. This cheeky intrusion into FACT, an organisation with technology at its very core, challenges the central role of technology in our lives by suggesting that nature is setting out to reclaim its place in our environment.

Gallery 2
I'm Going to Antler You, in Gallery 2 consists of a hand-painted drum kit adorned with animal skin rugs and a motion sensor that relies on the audience's presence to trigger previously recorded band music. Evoking a sense of musical nostalgia, the piece was born of the artists' desire for a close encounter with their favourite band Flaming Fire.

juneau/projects/ worked with two youth groups in Birmingham to create imaginary bands Ebony Angels and The Embers, making logos, costumes and photographs, which are also exhibited here. The project builds on the artists' previous collaborations with a range of people including cub scouts, soul legend Lee Fields and highland warriors, which resulted in the creation of CDs, magazines and an online record label.

Beneath the floorboards of the forest, empty space, invites visitors to enter the imaginary woodland of an interactive text-based computer game. Navigating through various levels, the audience encounters fictionalised characters and places in Birmingham, Cambridge, Sligo and Liverpool, added as the work has travelled through the exhibition tour. One of the workstations is fully accessible with spoken text, large print and a Braille keyboard.

The Black Moss exhibition tours to Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea in spring 2007.

Karen Allen Curator (Moving Image)

Exhibition Works List

Gallery 1 - Ground Floor

Chelpa Ferro
Jungle Jam, 2006

Gallery 2 - 1st Floor

juneau/projects/
I'm going to antler you, 2006

juneau/projects/
Beneath the floorboards of the forest, empty space, 2006

Media Lounge - Ground Floor

juneau/projects/
Instincts are misleading (you shouldn't think what you're feeling), 2006

Related Events

Artist's Choice Film Programme

Chelpa Ferro and juneau/projects/ have each chosen a film that has influenced their work, which will be screened in the cinema during the exhibition.

Exhibition Catalogue

An exhibition catalogue to accompany The Black Moss is available to purchase in the FACT shop.

Instincts are misleading (you shouldn't think what you're feeling), was commissioned by FACT, Liverpool. The Black Moss exhibition is organised by Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. Exhibition supported by Arts Council England National Touring Programme and The Henry Moore Foundation.

Chelpa Ferro would like to thank:

Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo, Brasil,
Electronics and Software design: Russ Rive
Production: Luiza Mello; Production Assistant: Julio Callado

Visit Chelpa Ferro's website

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