Lee has worked on many different, varied, unusual and exciting projects through the years.
These have taken the forms of performance, installation, film, music and more.
Rather than list them all here in some encyclopaedic way it has been decided to share a few pieces of documentation below to give a ‘feel’ or ‘overview’ of some of what has been done.
Collaborators are key to Lees work and are far to many to acknowledge here.
A more extensive biog/CV is available on request.
ADIT
The Adit is a disused experimental mining tunnel 20 minutes walk from the nearest road in Snowdonia, Wales. It has relatively smooth walls and a circular cross section – as if the Mole from Thunderbirds got busy here !
It was cut around a hundred years and the acoustics and energy in there are excellent.
I have recorded there and visited many times and made installations inside in 2017 and 2024, both of these installs used bespoke multi speaker systems run along the length of the adit. – Tunnel tuning was the 2017 install and in 2024 I made a performance where an audience were led in silence through the landscape and up the steep incline to the Adit, which was gently emanating sound. After a performance that the audience listened to from outside, they were allowed in…
It was a ritual and an excursion to a strange sonic temple in the hills…
The place has inspired me enough to write a poem about it 🙂
SILT
A performance (with long term collaborators The Arbonauts) in a tidal swimming pool on the Thames estuary – A part of the Estuary festival
Lee recorded sounds all along the Thames estuary (above water, below water, on water – everywhere) and then used these sounds to compose a surround sound score for the performance which he ran live using a bespoke 8 way soundsystem.
NIGHT SIGHT
Nightsight was commisioned by The Arts council England and Forestors Forest and took place in an ancient Ochre and Iron mine deep in the Forest of Dean.
The project investigated the colonies of rare bats that live in the cave network and left a legacy of sonic installations in situ including a bespoke bass pipe speaker that I built and flew from the ceiling of the main cavern – this pipe is cut to reproduce the caves standing soundwaves and produces hot and cold nodes of sound throughout the central cave area.
We also made a (huge) walkthrough performance (with Inner Ear performance collective) and ran workshops for school, disabled and visually impared children.
THE SONIC ANOMALY SIDESHOW
Different versions of this installation were commissioned and took place at different venues/art festivals in the UK including B-Side festival on the Island of Portland and Viewpoints at Teeside.
The installation used standing waves (sound waves tuned to the physical space in which they were installed), sound mirrors (large parabolic mirrors that can be used to reflect sound), radio transmitter technology theramin devices and huge bodies of locally recorded sound.
At Portland rumours and the remains of vast secret military high tech communications centers abound – Why should the military be the only people to have these ? For B side festival Lee built his own one with 14 sound systems, sound mirrors, sub bass bunkers and VLF links linking direct to outer space.
TUNNEL TUNING
Far from the road, power or civilisation out in the Snowdonia National Park are some Adits (mining tunnels) that were cut by an experimental mining machine around 100 years ago. The circular cross section and length of the tunnels make for a unique and fascinating sonic space which Lee investigated with his ‘Tunnel Tuning’ installation. Human voice, tones, micro controllers and a waterproof rain coat were all put to good use !
BLOODY FROGS
The Royal Military canal was cut through Kent in the early 1800’s, The idea was that the canal would keep Europeans (Napoleons army) out. But unexpectedly the canal became home to a vast colony of east Europeans invaders !!!
This project started when Lee decided to record the dawn chorus at the Royal Military canal and heard the strange sounds of European frogs calling for a mate. It was the runup to the folly of brexit and Bloody Frogs evolved of its own accord !! It ended up as a film shown around europe and the UK and as a multi speaker sound/video installation at an ancient chursh on Romney marsh close to the canal.
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