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.