Lawrence English is media artist, composer and curator based in Australia. Working across an eclectic array of aesthetic investigations, English’s work prompts questions of field, perception and memory. English utilizes a variety of approaches including live performance, installation and found sound/vision to create works that generate subtle transformation of space and ask audiences to become aware of that which exists at the edge of perception.

For over a decade, English’s audio investigations have traversed a divergent path where musical and environmental sources are granted equal focus. His work calls into question the established relationships of sound and structure – field recordings and musical materials work in unison, acting as suggestive devices. Rather than prescriptive, English’s sound work calls for the listener to construct their own narratives and impressions based on their personal histories and experiences. Published widely on respected imprints including Touch, 12K and Winds Measure, English’s work is sculpted and overwhelmingly intricate. The Wire noted his ‘use of space and silence is remarkable’, and U.S. sound journal Signal To Noise described the Ghost Towns work as ‘extraordinarily gorgeous modern music concréte’.

As a producer English has completed numerous projects with artists including Tujiko Noriko (U, Blurred In My Mirror), Ben Frost (Theory Of Machines), Tenniscoats (Totemo
Aimasho, Temporacha) and The Rational Academy (Swans). He has also completed commissioned compositions for acclaimed avant-circus troupe Circa, various theater ensembles and has worked as a sound designer in collaboration with artists including Australian visualist Craig Walsh.

Pitchfork described his Room40 imprint as “the foremost purveyor of experimental music in the Southern Hemisphere”, calling the label’s editions “total fetish property…it just looks like something you’d want to have sitting on your shelf”. The label has been widely recognized and praised, with features in numerous magazines (The Wire, XLR8R, Pitchfork, MCD, DE:Bug etc) and books including a number of renowned design journals.

In 2010 Room40 is presenting a series of special live events in Australia, UK, Europe, Japan and the USA that brings together a selection of the artists who have worked with the label over the past 10 years.

English’s installation and gallery practice is concerned predominately with challenging the understandings and expectations of site specificity, sound and media. His 2008 ‘Trio For Objects’ exhibition presented three discrete sound installations (kinetic, prepared and sculptural) which when experienced in unison created a ‘related sound field’. By contrast, the 3-screen video installation Ghost Towns, seeks to create an abstract ‘virtual map’ of remote Australian spaces. In 2006 English produced a series of sound art works specifically for the deaf and hearing impaired under the title ‘Silence Listening’. These works were amongst the first of their kind in the world, exploring and examining the notions of isolation and sonic interaction within these oft-marginalized communities.