Owl Project hand-craft their instruments creating original and unique pieces which sit somewhere between craft, product design, art and consumer must-have.

This exhibition includes a selection of Owl Project's instruments including the 'iLog', and the 'Log1k', as well as images of work in progress from FLOW - the North East's Artists Taking the Lead commission for the London Cultural Olympiad 2012, produced with Ed Carter.

FLOW is an environmentally sustainable floating water-wheel and interactive artspace, currently in development for exhibition on the River Tyne in 2012.

A floating millhouse alongside the water-wheel will contain a range of sensors, combining traditional and new technologies to monitor key environmental details, including water temperature and speed, salinity, and pollution. FLOW is in effect a musical instrument, powered by the tidal river and manipulated by the audience.

With the water-wheel representing a romanticised period of cleaner localised industry, FLOW references the evolving symbiotic relationship between the region's industries and waterways, reflecting on a theme of 'harnessing natural energy'.

This exhibition, hosted by Yorkshire Artspace, consists of images and models from the development of FLOW.


Owl Project is a collaborative group of Manchester based artists who share interests in human interaction with technology and process led art. The group currently consists of Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons. Over the last few years we have become known for a distinctive range of wooden musical and sculptural instruments that critique human interaction with computer interfaces and our increasing appetite for new and often disposable technologies.

Ed Carter is a musician, independent curator and producer. Ed has delivered a range of projects with a focus on digital media, audio and pubic art and releases music under the name Winter North Atlantic.


About Owl Project.

Drawing on influences such as woodworking, hobby style electronics and open source software to create music-making machines, they take a craft-based approach to designing their own interfaces and objects. 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.

They have performed nationally and internationally, including Garage Festival (Stralsund, Germany), with Matmos (Scala, London, UK) Emergences Festival (Paris, France).

During 2005 they developed a work called Sound Lathe. First shown at the Gathering Moss exhibition at Q Arts (Derby, UK), Sound Lathe combines a traditional pole lathe with custom built software, lo-fi sensors and switches to generate electronic music and an unique wooden artefact at the end of each performance. The Sound Lathe has been performed at Cornerhouse (Manchester), Ultrasound Festival (Huddersfield UK), Homefires Festival (London) and as headline act at the Sonic Arts Network EXPO 2006 event in Manchester.

In 2007 Owl Project were commissioned by Lovebytes (Sheffield) to produce chair using the sound Lathe, with the renowned green woodworker Mike Abbott. The chair contains an embedded MP3 player that allows users to select from four audio tracks and listen to the sounds of its production. Sound Lathe was shortlisted & exhibited for the SHARE prize (Torino, IT) 2008.

The iLog series is a reflection on our relationship with consumer technology. The design of each iLog strongly echoes contemporary products such as iPods and advanced mobile phones. These extremely developed complex products, with their plastic techno-packaging, seem modern and beguiling, but also appear craft-less and encourage a disturbing disposability.

After launching the original iLog in 2005 a new range of iLogs were shown at Futuresonic (Manchester UK) 2006, and then at Digital Wellbeing Labs (London) and have been used in performances at "Musikprotokoll" (Graz AU), TEKS trondhiem Norway) & the Serpentine Gallery stage, London 2008. In 2008 they were awarded an Arts Council funding to radically develop the iLog & m-Log technology. Working with artists, Leafcutter John, Kaffe Mathews , & Thor Magnusson (ixi software) they are exploring the roll of hand held devices in relation to live improvised performance and computer music. New m-Logs will be developed specifically for each artist and presented at Ding Dong, FACT, Liverpool, December 2008.

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.

Owl project website: www.owlproject.com

Ed Carter's website: www.modular.org.uk

Supported by Yorkshire Artspace.

Last Updated 10 June 2010, 9:44am by Lovebytes.