Mark Fell

MARK FELL BIOGRAPHY Fell was born in Rotherham in 1966. After leaving school in 1983 he studied Graphic Design and Philosophy at Rotherham College of Art and Technology before going on to Sheffield City Polytechnic where he studied Combined Media on the Fine Art degree programme. Since graduating Fell has developed his practice as a multi - disciplinary artist , working with synthetic sound, ligh t and experimental technologies; bringing together interests in computational technologies, non - musical sound synthesis, oppositional aesthetics, and irregular encounters with time and space. With a series of different projects ranging from minimal electronic music, to sound installations and audio - visual works, Fell was quickly placed at the forefront of a rapidly expanding area of extreme and independent computer music. His contribution to this field owed much to earli er interests in, and exposure to, structuralist/materialist film; contemporary philosophers - most notably Heidegger and Wittgenstein; as well as his then developing interests in issues surrounding cognition and creativity in the context of computer scienc e, and human computer interaction. Much of Fell’s work is credited with combining academic, research - based, processes with more popular cultural forms. This is evident in the sheer diversity of platforms representing his work: from the International Sympo sium on Electronic Art (Paris 2001) to the Berghain super club in Berlin and The Powerhouse Museum of Science and Design (Sydney) and Hong Kong National Film Archive . Fell ’s Blir project (again with Mat Steel) was used by the N ational Ballet of Madrid, and the two won an honorary mention at the pres tigious ARS Electronic in Linz. In 2008 Fell completed a major new commission for Thyssen - Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (founded by Francesca von Habsburg) that premiered at “youniverse”, International Bien nal of Contemporary Arts, Sevilla curated by Peter Weibel the director of ZKM Karlsruhe. In a recent audio - visual series “Attack on Silence” — a term derived from Buddhist discourse, which included performances, installation, print and a DVD release — Fell ex plored sacred geometries and sound as a tool for meditative practices, technologies of mind control, and neuro - aesthetics: themes present in his current practice. Hailed as “a minor masterpiece”...”a beautiful work - provocative in all its simplicity” and “a sample of serious borderline activity”. Fell’s recent installation works have included ‘Matter - Space - Motion’ at Hive Gallery UK which explored ideas about the movement of subatomic particles and sound; and ‘it Hz’ as part of the Chromatologies festiva l UK using extremely high power white laser light and multichannel sound to produce a simultaneous sonification and visualisation of mathematical functions (made possible by a Performing Rights Society Foundation mew music award). ‘it Hz’, promoted as ‘a s tudy at the threshold of pain’, presents both sound and image as physically manifest in the space of a redundant Victorian school hall, offering these transient temporal phenomena a concrete presence. In 2003 Fell took a post - doctoral position in computer science at Loughborough University where he met pioneering British computer artist Ernest Edmonds with whom he continues to collaborate. During his time at Loughborough Fell’s research primarily examined how artists engage with technological tools - speci fically emergent technologies. This resulted in a substantial theoretical assessment of interactive art that drew upon ideas found in contemporary philosophy and radical 20th century arts practices. This work has been presented at several international con ferences and widely published. Currently Fell has a part - time contract at The University of York as a musicologist examining extreme computer music and independent and oppositional practices in digitally biased sound art where he was instrumental in settin g up a series of artist residencies with leading figures in computer based composition and performance. Fell continues to work with friend and colleague Mat Steel on snd undertaking both recorded and curatorial projects. His recorded works are currently a vailable on Line records (NYC), Raster Noton ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (Chemnitz) and Alku (Barcelona) and published through Touchmusic (London) Discography: (2004) Mark Fell - Ten Types Of Elsewhere (2009) Mark Fell / Evol - Thunder Bollocks (2010) Mark Fell - UL8 (2010) Mark Fell - Multistability (2010) Mark Fell - Manitutshu (2010) Mark Fell - Shamanic Bear Session (2011) Mark Fell - Periodic Orbits Of A Dynamic System Related To A Knot (2011) Mark Fell - Kubu / Zikir (2012) Mark Fell / DJ Sprinkles - Complete Spiral (2012) Mark Fell - Sentielle Objectif Actualite (2012) Mark Fell - Sensate Focus 2.5 (2012) Mark Fell - Sensate Focus 3.333 (2012) Mark Fell - Sensate Focus 5