Sonotexts

Sonotexts (EMS, Electronic Music Foundation, New York, New York, 2011) is a collection of thirteen electronic sound-poems juxtaposing analogue and digital technologies, and consists of two audio CDs — Concrete Sonotexts and Synthetic Sonotexts. The Concrete Sonotexts CD features seven live performances in a recording studio. It is predicated on the concept of isomorphism, the concrete sonotext being the actual sound of the texts’ material/physical form, shape, or structure. The six Synthetic Sonotexts, on the other hand, are digital isometric translations featuring one to one correspondence between mathematical sets, page/score/poem/texts interpreted by synthesizers and computers.

W. Mark Sutherland is a Canadian intermedia artist. His aesthetic practice is a hybrid that pivots on the creation of work blurring the borders between poetry, visual art, music and performance art. He is a member of the board of directors for Musicworks magazine (www.musicworks.ca) and an editorial correspondent for Rampike magazine (www.uwindsor.ca/rampike).

“This fascinating selection of “sonotexts” by Toronto based artist W. Mark Sutherland, who acknowledges Bob Cobbing as his mentor, may well mark a critical development in the life of sound poetry.” – Julian Cowley, The Wire