Variablemedia is pleased to announce it's latest residency "top_40" by
the artist, musican and DJ Simon Goodwin. Beginning on the 19th of April
2004 this 40 day project will be updated daily at www.variablemedia.org

Every day of the project, Goodwin is making a recording of a piece of
music from his personal collection, using in-ear binaural microphones.
These microphones effectively record what the artist hears live, the
music plus the incidental noises, movements and conversations in the
space at the time of recording. After converting the day's recording
into an mp3 file, it is uploaded to variablemedia.org; available for
listening or download until the next day's recording replaces it.

The places that the music is recorded in and the sound systems that the
music is recorded from will vary during the project. The website details the time, date and location of each recoding as well as the title of the featured music. When the project is completed all tracks from Goodwin's "top_40" will be made available via one of the on-line file sharing networks. For the most effective experience of the artist's personal space, these recordings are best listened to using stereo headphones.

Although all of the pieces of music featured in this project are 'owned'
by Goodwin, he is infringing copyright law by distributing any
recordings that incorporate them. The ease of high quality reproduction
and distribution of digital media versus the controls and protections
offered by various national copyright laws is an issue effecting all
consumers and producers. Through this project Goodwin casts himself in
the roles of both producer of the artwork and consumer of the music.

"top_40" engages with the popular, and predominately male practise, of
compiling lists of favourites from media products such as music, films,
and books. Sharing these lists with others is often viewed as expression
and marker of taste personal history and personality. Being a musican
and DJ as well an an artist, Goodwin can be seen as having a particular
investment in making his choices public. His disclosure of these sonic
preferences is made more revealing as the recordings include his
personal experience of experiencing the music. "top_40" invites us to
share in the authenticity of the artist's listening experience, his
distractions, interactions and distractedness.

Simon Goodwin lives and works in London. He has participated in numerous
projects and exhibitions in Europe and the UK including:
'adistillery.org', Hoxton Distillery, London; 'Park 4DTV', Salto
Channel, Amsterdam; 'Actual Size', Overgaden, Copenhagen; 'Drive-by',
Photospin, The Photographers Gallery, London; 'Travelogue', Travelling
Gallery, Scotland. He is one half of the electronic music duo Manilla
and one half of the Variablemedia team. Simon will be exhibiting work at
the forthcoming exhibition 'The Last Supper' at the Hoxton Distillery
during May 2004.

Related Links
http://www.manilla.info
http://www.adistillery.org.uk