Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects. Its honorary patron was Karlheinz Stockhausen. At time of founding in 1979 it was known as the Electroacoustic Music Association of Great Britain (EMAS), changing its name to Sonic Arts Network in 1989.
On 1 October 2008 the Sonic Arts Network merged with the Society for the Promotion of New Music, the British Music Information Centre (BMIC) and the Contemporary Music Network to create a new organisation to promote contemporary Music in the UK called Sound and Music.
Sonic Arts Network's activities separated into three main areas: Activities – Events, regular festivals such as Cut and Splice and Expo, tours and commissions. Education – national education project Sonic Postcards, artist workshops and talks. Network – Sonic Arts Network was a membership organisation that acted as a hub of information, opportunities and publications for the UK sonic arts scene.
Activities
Every year, Sonic Arts Network produced a number of nationwide commissions and projects in partnership with funding agencies, sponsors, broadcasters and venues. The aim of these activities was to bring some of the best new and existing work by sound artists from around the world to the UK. Sonic Arts Network's main activities included: Cut and Splice, Expo festival, Beach Singularity and Vacant Space.
Cut and Splice
Cut and Splice is a festival of experimental electronic music that brings together international artists to premiere new work or recreate seminal historical pieces. First held in 2003, it is presented in association with BBC Radio 3 and continued under the Sound And Music name after Sonic Arts Network had been merged into the latter organisation.
The event has previously featured Bernard Parmegiani, François Bayle, Yasunao Tone and Ars Electronica Prize-winner Eliane Radigue. Some of the artists featured in Cut and Splice Acousmonium 2006 at the ICA included Russell Haswell, John Wall, Hecker, Michel Chion, Christian Zanési, Philip Jeck, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Zbigniew Karkowski and Hans-Joachim Roedelius.
Expo Festival
Beginning in 1997 as a conference and renamed in 2004, Expo festival was Sonic Arts Network's annual festival representing the experimental music and sound art scene in the UK, held in a different UK location each year. Free and open to the public, the event mobilised a national network of artists and engaged with communities from all backgrounds – placing sonic art and the people who make it, in direct contact with the public.
Expo 2006 explored the inner, outer and public spaces of Manchester. The festival included sound installations at the Cornerhouse by Berlin-based sound art collective Staalplaat Soundsystem who presented The Ultrasound of Therapy; Bob Levene's newly commissioned work The Space Between – Experiments for Speakers, Helmut Lemke's new work KLANGELN 7, and the art collective Owl Project performed a work called Sound Lathe. There was also a performance by Norwegian female electro/instrumental improv group SPUNK and Birmingham sound arts activists Dreams of Tall Buildings performing the first graphic score in 40 years by Fluxus artist and founder of the band The United States of America, Joseph Byrd. Victoria Baths, winner of BBC's 2004 Restoration competition, saw over 600 people attend a day of site-specific happenings titled that utilised the spaces and acoustics of the listed building with a programme of performances and installations.
Expo 2007 was held in Plymouth and was presented in partnership with the University of Plymouth's i-DAT (Institute of Digital Art and Technology). Over the weekend of 22–25 June 2007 performances, exhibitions and presentations took place at a variety of public venues in Plymouth including outdoor performance spaces, club space and a historic architectural space, as well as online.
Expo 2008 was held in Brighton and featured artists including Stephan Mathieu and Aleks Kolkowski, Blood Stereo, DJ Scotch Egg, and John Wall. Works included a radiophonic intervention in the Royal Pavilion Gardens and an unconference in the form of a 'wiki-conference' at the University of Brighton
In 2009, Expo (hosted under the new organisation name Sound And Music) took place in locations across Leeds, again including an unconference and featured artists including Christina Kubisch.