“...[with] a hushed aesthetic that shelters a powerful compositional vision. Even when pitched at the fringes of audibility, Chartier’s sounds have an extraordinarily seductive quality.”
(The Wire, UK)

Civilian Art Projects presents Richard Chartier, Interior Field, a multi-channel sound work created from field recordings of a variety of small and large spaces from around the world.

Through his compositional practice, Chartier utilizes the unique physicalities of these environments to create a newly defined acoustic space. According to the artist, “Interior Field is a 65- minute transposition of location, focus, and experience itself.” To this end, Chartier transforms the center gallery at Civilian Art Projects into a darkened space where the visitor may relax and focus on the sound composition. A significant portion of this new piece utilizes several binaural audio recordings made at the unique 1905 McMillan Sand Filtration Site in Washington, DC during a sudden heavy rainstorm.

For the exhibition, two limited edition, archival prints titled “s is for... (1)" and "s is for... (2)" by the artist will be available. The prints depict two unique spaces whose audio recordings appear as elements in the sound work. The first images are of a bright blue sky bisected by the rusted metal, circular surface view inside a Richard Serra sculpture. The second image is from a similar perspective, this time from inside the McMillan Sand Filtration site in rainy darkness, and was created for this exhibit.

Richard Chartier’s monochromatic aesthetic has come to define an audio culture surrounding minimalism. Working predominately with sounds that exist at the edges of perception, Chartier crafts a powerful -- albeit subtle -- statement about notions of space and sound density. Interior Field is a continuation of Chartier's exploration of field recordings that began with Fields for Recording on 2010's A Field for Mixing (Room40, Australia). A stereo version of Interior Field will be published as a limited edition by the Japanese sound art label mAtter.

For stereo audio excerpts from Interior Field, please visit 3particles.com

Richard Chartier (b.1971), sound artist, is considered one of the key figures in the current movement of reductionist electronic sound art, which has been termed both "microsound" and Neo-Modernist. Chartier's minimalist digital work explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception and the act of listening itself. Chartier's sound works/installations have been presented in galleries and museums internationally, including the 2002's Whitney Biennial, and he has performed his work live across Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America at digital art/electronic music festivals and exhibits. In 2000, he formed the recording label LINE, and has since curated its continuing documentation of compositional and installation work by international sound artists/composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. In 2010, Chartier was awarded a Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship to explore the National Museum of American History’s collection of 19th-Century acoustic apparatus for scientific demonstration. In 2011, Chartier curated and designed the new media exhibit Data/Fields at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia, including five noted international artists: Ryoji Ikeda, Mark Fell, Andy Graydon, France Jobin, and Caleb Coppock.

Chartier’s websites: www.3particles.com and www.lineimprint.com

Special thanks to: Yann Novak + France Jobin for technical assistance and inspiration, John Salatti + Hugh Youngblood for coordinating special access to McMillan for recording sessions.

Please contact the gallery for additional information or images.

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June 22 - July 28, 2012

Opening Reception: Friday, June 22, 7-9pm

Civilian Art Projects presents Richard Chartier, Interior Field, a multi-channel sound work created from field recordings of a variety of small and large spaces from around the world. Through his compositional practice, Chartier utilizes the unique physicalities of these environments to create a newly defined acoustic space. According to the artist, “Interior Field is a 65- minute transposition of location, focus, and experience itself.”