Max Eastley

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British visual and sound artist

title: "Max Eastley" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1944-births", "musicians-from-torquay", "living-people", "british-experimental-musicians", "incus-records-artists", "artists-from-torquay"] description: "British visual and sound artist" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Eastley" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British visual and sound artist ::

Max Eastley (born 1 December 1944, Torquay, Devon, England) is a British visual and sound artist. He is part of the Cape Farewell Climate Change project. He studied painting and graphic art at Newton Abbot Art School and then went on to gain a BA in Fine Art (1969–1972) at Middlesex University (formerly Hornsey School of Art). He is a sculptor (kinetic), musician and composer. His primary instrument is a unique electro-acoustic monochord, developed from an aeolian sculpture. 'The Arc' consists of a single string stretched lengthwise across a long piece of wood (around ten feet) which can be played with a bow, fingers or short glass rods. The end of the instrument has a microphone attached so the basic sound can be amplified, recorded and run through sound effect programs.

Eastley has collaborated with many different artists and musicians on performances, installations and recordings including: David Toop, Brian Eno, Paul Burwell, Victor Gama, Hugh Davies, Steve Beresford, Peter Greenaway, Dave Hunt, David Buckland, Evan Parker, Peter Cusack, and Spaceheads. From 2001–2002, Eastley was a visiting fellow at John Moores University Liverpool and is currently (2010 onwards) an AHRC research fellow at Oxford Brookes University researching Aeolian phenomena. On 17 May 1989, Eastley was awarded a prize in the 'Learning Spaces Category' of the working in the City European Communities Architectural Ideas Competition (University College Dublin).

Selected discography

Eastley has worked across a variety of genres including: improvised and experimental music; folk music; popular song; jazz; compositions using environmental recordings as well as musical resources. He has also composed music for film and dance. Eastley was part of the group 'The 49 Americans', who played together for a period during the 1980s and produced several albums together.

Selected performances

Eastley has performed as a solo musician and in many combinations with other artists. He has worked on stage with his installations and with film and has created and performed in musical/theatrical performances such as: 'Whirled Music'.

Selected installations and exhibitions

Eastley has done a wide variety of installations worldwide, many of which use moving parts (motors, pulleys etc.) to create ambient soundscapes while engaging the observer visually. Many recordings of the below installations appear on the CD: 'Max Eastley Installation Recordings 1973–2008'

  • Serpentine Gallery, 1976
  • Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 1979
  • Arnolfini gallery, Bristol 1980
  • Apollo House, Eindhoven, Holland 1980
  • A Noise in Your Eye (touring exhibition), Arnolfini gallery, the Barbican 1986
  • Artec Biennale, Ngoya, Japan 1993
  • Ireland and Europe Sculpture Event, Iveagh Gardens, Dublin 1997
  • Sculpture in Woodland, County Wicklow, Ireland 1999
  • The Big Chill Festival, 2000
  • ICC Centre, Japan 2000
  • Festival de Arte Sonoro, Mexico 2002
  • Interior Landscape, Reading Hindu Temple and Community Association 2003
  • European Capital of Culture, Cork, Ireland
  • Kinetic Drawings, Metropole Gallery, Folkestone UK, 2008

Installations for Cape Farewell

Eastley collaborated with sound engineer Dave Hunt to develop an innovative computer-controlled amplification system for these installations. Eastley has been part of the Cape Farewell project since 2005 and has been on three trips to Spitsbergen with the organisation. Sound clip of bearded seals

The following installations were part of a touring exhibition:

Publications featured in

Eastley has appeared in several publications since the 1970s, including:

  • 'Sonourgy', published by Exeter College of Art 1974
  • 'New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments', published by Quartz 1975
  • 'Echo: The Images of Sound', published by Het Apollohuis 1987
  • 'Grove's Dictionary of Music',
  • 'Experimental Musical Instruments Vol. V #2' 1989
  • 'Bijutsu Techo' No.678 Vol.45, 1994
  • 'Site of Sound', published by Errant Bodies 1999
  • 'ICC Catalogue Magazine', Tokyo, 28 January 2000 Issue
  • 'Leonardo Music Journal' 2001
  • 'Burning Ice' (Cape Farewell catalogue) 2006
  • 'The Fundamentals of Sonic Art and Sound Design', published by AVA Academia 2007
  • 'Klangräume der Kunst', 2010
  • 'The Wire Magazine', Issue No. 265 March 2006, Issue No. 291 May 2008

Film, radio and dance

Film

  • 'Water Wrackets', film by Peter Greenaway, music by Max Eastley – 1978
  • 'Clocks of the Midnight Hours', the work of Max Eastley directed by Simon Reynell, Channel 4 TV/Arts Council Great Britain – 1989
  • 'Art from a Changing Arctic', Produced by Cape Farewell, directed by David Hinton – 2005
  • 'Kinetic Drawings', Film by Helen Petts of the exhibition at the Metropole Gallery, Folkestone – 2008
  • 'Piper of Invisible Fires', Film by Helen Petts and Max Eastley at Dilston Grove, London – 2010

Radio

Dance

Eastley composed music for the Siobhan Davies Production: 'Plants and Ghosts' in 2002.

References

Reviews

References

  1. "Max Eastley: Images of Sound".
  2. Buttimer, Colin. "BBC - Music - Review of Max Eastley and David Toop - Doll Creature".
  3. "a life saved by a spider and two doves".
  4. "'The Time of the Ancient Astronaut', collaboration between Max Eastley and The Spaceheads".
  5. "The 49 Americans".
  6. "'New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments' on modisti.com".
  7. "Obscure (UK) - CDS and Vinyl at Discogs".
  8. "Incus33".
  9. "Incus Records for improvised, experimental, avant-garde music".
  10. "Max Eastley / Steve Beresford / Paul Burwell / David Toop - Whirled Music".
  11. "Quartz Publications".
  12. "Kahondo Style - My Heart's In Motion".
  13. "Nato".
  14. "Various - At Close Quarters".
  15. "These Records".
  16. "David Toop And Max Eastley - Buried Dreams".
  17. "Beyond".
  18. "Various - Ambient 4: Isolationism".
  19. "Music".
  20. "Peter Cusack Max Eastley (PD 14)".
  21. "Second Layer Records".
  22. "absurd".
  23. "Martyn Bates & Max Eastley – Songs of Transformation".
  24. "Max Eastley's ARCTIC".
  25. "Archived copy".
  26. "'A Very Long Way from Anywhere Else' with Spaceheads on the Spaceheads website".
  27. "Another Timbre".
  28. "Max Eastley - Installation recordings (PD 26)".
  29. "The Mimi Festival, Marseille gig. Recorded and used on the album: 'A Very Long Way from Anywhere Else'".
  30. "Max Eastley with Thomas Koner, Asmus Tietchens and Victor Gama at Atlantic Waves 2006".
  31. [http://www.gulbenkian.org.uk/news/press-releases/2006/atlanticwaves2006 Atlantic waves 2006 on Gulbenkian.org.uk] {{webarchive. link. (24 December 2012)
  32. "Arctic - Cape Farewell - the cultural response to climate change".
  33. (20 June 2007). "Plays Well With Others".
  34. {{YouTube. a9q_lhoutqg. Video footage of Max Eastley performing with various artists at The Vortex, London
  35. "Foyles Bookshop - Search".
  36. (19 January 2011). "Tate Britain|Late at Tate Britain".
  37. (12 May 2009). "Tate Britain|Late at Tate Britain|Late at Tate Britain".
  38. "Performance program for Nobel Laureate Symposium on Cape Farewell website".
  39. "IndieLondon: Pestival - South Bank Centre - Your London Reviews".
  40. "Program for Rome Film Festival on the Cape Farewell website".
  41. "Archived copy".
  42. (10 July 2011). "Things to see and do Ireland".
  43. link. (21 May 2010)
  44. [http://www.cork2005.ie/programme/strands/film/soundout.shtml2005] {{dead link. (March 2020)
  45. "Hamburg 2007 - Cape Farewell - the cultural response to climate change".
  46. (March 2020)
  47. "Max Eastley appearing with 'Whirled Music' in EMI Quarterly Journal Vol.V #2".
  48. "ICC | Catalog".
  49. Toop, David. (1 December 2001). "Introduction: Not Necessarily "English Music"". Leonardo Music Journal.
  50. ""Wasser für die Elefanten" – Rezension".
  51. "Kiefer, Peter (Hg.), Klangräume der Kunst positionen Online-Shop – das Portal für neue Musik im Internet positionen Online-Shop – das Portal für neue Musik im Internet".
  52. Walmsley, Rob Young, Marc Masters, Philip Clark, Edwin Pouncey, Dan Warburton, Derek. "The Wire 265".
  53. Hickey, Rob Young, Louise Gray, David Stubbs, Philip Sherburne, Clive Bell, Derek Walmsley, Andy Hamilton, Jon Dale, David. "The Wire 291".
  54. "Description of the short film 'Water Wrackets'".
  55. "Max Eastley videos - The Wire".
  56. {{YouTube. E6WHdZPzfW8. Footage of the film 'Kinetic Drawings' by Helen Petts
  57. "Matt's Gallery - TAPS: Improvisations with Paul Burwell".
  58. "Review of Siobhan Davies' 'Plants and Ghosts' performance by Ann Williams on Ballet Magazine".

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1944-birthsmusicians-from-torquayliving-peoplebritish-experimental-musiciansincus-records-artistsartists-from-torquay