Although primarily located in sound, Mark Vernon’s practice has developed from the visual arts and he situates his work in a contemporary art context rather than any other sphere. His practice is very varied and is made up of numerous strands taking in radio broadcasts, live performance, field recording, composed works for fixed media, soundtracks and installations.

At Cove Park, Vernon will focus on developing concepts of audio archaeology. A recent project, ‘Lend an Ear, Leave a Word’ explored Lisbon through contemporary field recordings and found tape recordings from the past, found by Vernon in  the city’s flea markets. These recordings provided an audio snapshot of a specific time, creating a portrait in time and space, an archaeology of sound. He will explore this idea further at Cove Park, working within the landscape, building a text around specific sites and making repeated recordings at the same locations and at different times of the day, capturing both environmental sounds and the reading of the text itself. These recordings will then be compiled or mixed over each other in sequence like sedimentary layers of audio. Vernon’s four week residency will provide the time required to develop this area of his work significantly.

Image credit: Mark Vernon Live at Hideous Porta, London, 2015