Transplant

Transplant was a three-year collaborative research project with photographer Tim Wainwright funded by Arts Council England and other sources. It explores territory on the borders of art and anthropology, extending the sensory turn in ethnography to investigate relationships between sound and still image.

Continuing Wynne’s pursuit of socially-engaged sound arts practice and multi-channel installation, it began with a year-long residency at Harefield Hospital, a world-leading centre for cardio-thoracic transplantation. The artists recorded and photographed patients, the devices they were attached to or had implanted, and the hospital environment, researching and developing multiple outcomes.

Key outputs were a 24-channel sound/photography installation in which the photographs are the source of the sound, London and Uxbridge, 2008; and ‘Transplant’, a published book of essays and interviews containing a DVD. The book and DVD were exhibited in ‘Sound Art: Sound as a Medium of Art’, Karlsruhe 2012-13. They are also used to train junior doctors at Harefield.

Related outputs include: ‘ITU’, a surround-sound video shown internationally 2008-11; ‘Hearts, Lungs and Minds’, an award-winning ‘composed documentary’, BBC Radio 3 2008; ‘Part and Parcel’, an 8-channel sound work, Cambridge 2008 and Manchester 2012.

The research was presented at conferences in Durham 2009, Oxford and Manchester 2012 CPD workshops for TATE Modern 2008 and CREATE 2010.

Publications include Wynne’s book chapters ‘ITU: The Din of Recovery’, with video ‘ITU in The Art of Immersive Soundscapes’ 2013, ‘Risky Practice: Artists in the Transplant Ward in Risky Engagements: Encounters between Science, Art and Public Health’ 2013, ‘Transplant’ video (22-minute excerpt) on DVD accompanying ‘Beyond Text: Critical Practice and Sensory Anthropology’ 2013.

Read more about Transplant on John Wynne's website: www.sensitivebrigade.com/Transplant.htm

Images by Tim Wainwright

Transplant

Collaborative research project

2008 - 2013

Research Links: