NikNak
Sound Arts Visiting Practitioners Series
My favorite sound artist I would say…
I raised the questions in Q&A group:
1. Have you ever been lost on finding out the global focus in your project? Were the feelings, thoughts, comments and debates, having a huge impact on you? 2.In both projects: ‘Dead ‘n’ Wake’ and ‘The Voices of Black Britain’,what inspired you to transform audios through collage, reverb, delay and scratching? From your perspective, why did you build your broadcast in a narrative and ‘illustration way’, was that the audience of age group or the experience of working as a DJ influencing on you mostly?
From Niknak’s answer, I wondered she was very concentrated on her own ideas (most of them are related to the cultural custom) so she seldom found herself being lost. She sometimes struggled with the thoughts, comments and debates and she welcomed all the critiques and feedbacks. Though she did not spend a lot of time in learning DJ, she found the experience of working as a DJ influenced on her live broadcast in a quite illustration style through collage, reverb, delay and scratching. Moreover, the childhood life of watching cartoons and her collaboration with game designers also made herself draw attention on building audios with story lines.
NikNak is devoted to developing her unique practice as a DJ & Turntablist, sound artist, composer, producer, tutor, sound engineer and radio presenter. Based in the UK, you’ll find Nicole digging for vinyl or comic books, gigging, experimenting and sharing her music tastes to diverse audiences, delivering engaging sessions with students to develop their DJ skills, and running events such as “Dub Sirens” and “Melanin”.
“In Safe Hands – The Voices of Black Britain” is an online exhibition and audio documentary/podcast that celebrates the Black pioneers in British radio broadcasting from 1920s-1990s. This is the sound project how Niknak looked at a historical/cultural perspective.
https://linkfly.to/niknakdjmusic
One of her work Bashi meaning “peace” in Turkish, is a collection of sounds recorded in Turkey, then later manipulated live in 2019 via Turntablism improvisation. By combining dub delays & echoes, complex Turntablism techniques and original soundscape material, NikNak passionately retells her experiences in Turkey through 10 tracks of immersive ambient sound and it pays homage to the concept of peace in various ways. With these soft and tranquil sounds, she has created an immersive world that also works to focus the mind … The album’s fresh atmosphere makes the listener conscious of their surroundings, changing the way in which people might process simple sounds encountered in everyday life. The second half of the album sees NikNak using vocals from children, potentially reflecting peace as a reminder of the innocence often associated with youth.
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I like Jessica Ellis’ statement. The idea that Sound Arts ‘reaches out to the art world in a new and distinct way’ is quite exciting! It doesn’t taste like stale bread! When we don’t have strong etiquette and formalities in navigating the field we can explore and discover with innocence and freshness, making Sound Arts a powerful force. This too shall pass?
I agree that sound stirs biological roots. It makes me think about the emotional reaction to sounds. Is the reaction from our own personal history, or is there a longer ancestral history involved in our perception of sounds?
I wonder how we can explore the sources of the “thousand feelings in a thousand people’s ears” in a sound project, that listens and amplifies the interior back into the world. Maybe we can sing!