Brandon
LaBelle is an artist and writer working with sound and the specifics
of location. His work explores the space between sound and sociality,
using performance and on-site constructions as creative supplements to
existing conditions. Through his work with Errant Bodies Press he has
co-edited the anthologies “Site of Sound: Of Architecture and the
Ear”, “Writing Aloud: The Sonics of Language”, “Surface
Tension: Problematics of Site” and "Radio Territories".
He initiated and curated the Beyond Music series and festivals from 1997
– 2002 at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center in Los Angeles, and
in 2001 he organized “Social Music”, a radio series for Kunstradio
ORF, Vienna. Throughout the 90s he played drums in various bands in Los
Angeles, notably Farflung and Purse, and worked as idbattery (with l.
chasse) producing experimental performances and field recordings. His
work has been featured in exhibitions and festivals internationally, including
"Sampling Rage"(1999) Podewil Berlin, “Sound as Media”(2000)
ICC Tokyo, "Bitstreams"(2001) Whitney Museum New York, “Pleasure
of Language”(2002) Netherlands Media Institute Amsterdam, “Undercover”(2003)
Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde, and "Copo da Voz" (2008)
Museum of Contemporary Art Niterói. His writings appear in various
books and journals, including “Experimental Sound and Radio”
(MIT), “Soundspace: Architecture for Sound and Vision” (Birkhäuser)
and "Reinventing Radio" (Revolver). He presented a solo exhibition
at Singuhr galerie in Berlin (2004), an experimental composition for pirate
drummers as part of Virtual Territories, Nantes (2005), and a series of
Prototypes for the Mobilization and Broadcast of Fugitive Sound at the
Enrico Fornello Gallery, Prato (2007). His ongoing project to build a
library of radio memories, “Phantom Radio”, was presented
at Radio Revolten, Halle in 2006 and at Casa Vecina, Mexico City in 2008.
He is the author of “Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art”
(Continuum 2006) and "Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday
Life" (Continuum 2010). He lives in Berlin.