Jez riley French makes use of intuitive composition, field
recording, improvisation and photography, and has been exploring
his enjoyment of and interest in detail, simplicity and his
emotional response to places and situations for over 3 decades.
Alongside performances, exhibitions and installations, French
lectures and runs workshops around the world and his range of
specialist microphones are widely used by recordists, sound
artists, musicians, sound designers and cultural organisations. He
also works as a curator of live events, a record label, sound
installations and an arts zine verdure engraved.
In recent years French has been working extensively on long-form
recordings of surfaces, spaces and situations and developing the
concept of photographic scores and "scores for listening", which
have featured widely in publications and exhibitions.
Recent work includes pieces capturing the sound of the dolomites
dissolving, ants consuming fallen fruit, the Tate Modern building
vibrating, the infrasound of domestic spaces around the world,
glaciers melting in Iceland and the tonal resonances of natural and
human objects in the landscape. Recent projects and research
include "design and detail of the spaces between buildings" in
Japan and the "salts" project where he has captured the resonance
of buildings, sounded by ensembles playing composed scores, which
are then recorded, using extended techniques - using the building
as a filter for the resulting works.
His work has been exhibited in shows and installations alongside
that of Yoko Ono, David Bowie, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Watson, Jana
Winderen, Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, Ryuchi Sakamoto, Stars of
the Lid, Jeremy Deller, Sarah Lucas, Brian Eno, Signe Liden, Sally
Ann McIntyre, etc.; at galleries including The Whitworth Gallery
(Manchester), Tate Modern and Tate Britain, MOT Museum of
Contemporary Art, Tokyo (Japan), Artisphere (USA). During 2017
French was commission by the UK City of Culture, Hull 2017, to
deliver or be involved in several key projects, including
Height of the Reeds and North Atlantic Flux.