Beatie Wolfe on making music material again and the power of art.

Material Matters with Grant Gibson

Beatie Wolfe is a musician and artist, who has in her time been described as a ‘musical weirdo and visionary’ and one of the ‘22 people changing the world’.

In a relatively short career she has: created a 3D interactive album app and a musical jacket; worked in the world’s quietest room to develop an ‘anti-stream’; fired her music into space; made a documentary with the Barbican; designed an environmental protest piece, entitled From Green to Red, which was shown at the Nobel Prize Summit; worked with people suffering from dementia; and recorded a track for a 12 inch record made of bioplastic, alongside Michael Stipe.

Her latest project, Imprinting: The Artist’s Brain, was on show as part of the recent London Design Biennale at Somerset House, and is a 'sonic self-portrait' that involves old-school telephones as well as a thinking cap designed by an iconic tailor.

The theme running through all this is her desire to 're-materialise' music and give it back a sense of ‘tangibility and ceremony’.

In this episode we discuss: keeping space rock in her pocket; her latest project at the London Design Biennale; being self-critical as a child; writing her first songs aged nine; working with renowned tailor Mr Fish; the importance of collaboration; sending her music into space; finding the balance between innovation and tradition; her childhood desire to be a ninja; being in a grunge band; the power of art; and the importance of neurologist Oliver Sacks to her career.

Our thanks go to the headline sponsor for this series of the podcast – and the Material Matters 2023 fair – the brilliant lighting specialist, Bert Frank. For more details go to: bertfrank.co.uk

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