Trevor Mathison

From Signal to Decay: Volume 6

Date: 16.09. – 15.10.23 
Location: Atelier Nord, Olaf Ryes plass 2 (entrance from Sofienberggata). 
Opening hours: The exhibition is open from 12:00 to 17:00 during the period 16th to 24th of September 2023. For the remainder of the exhibition period, we will maintain our regular opening hours, Thursday and Friday 15:00-18:00, Saturday and Sunday 12:00-17:00.

Please join us for the exhibition opening on Friday 15th of September from 19:00.

For his first exhibition in Norway, From Signal to Decay: Volume 6, Trevor Mathison has transformed Atelier Nord’s gallery space into an immersive soundscape where the history of the building itself soaks into the sonic experience. In an act of sonic archeology, Mathison’s work combines video, drawing, sculpture, archival material and sound to stretch time and dissolve space.

Exhibited in different versions in London, Brussels and elsewhere, From Signal to Decay appears in its Oslo version as part of Ultima Contemporary Music Festival. The Atelier Nord installation consists of several elements: a video screened inside a black box, shot by Mathison on the island of Skye in Scotland; a sculpture of tape loops hanging from a wall, and an organic soundscape that permeates the rest of the building. The sound environment is composed from the building’s unique location, vibrations and resonance, including the heating and electrical systems and real time sounds of the outside environment added to the mix via a microphone mounted on the outside of the building. 

From Signal to Decay: Volume 1 at Goldsmiths CCA in London was described by The Guardian as “an engrossing show” and “an unexpected and thoughtful delight”. This latest site-specific version of the installation represents a unique opportunity to experience Mathison’s powerful sound art as it continues to evolve.

Trevor Mathison (born 1960) is a British artist, musician, composer, sound designer and recordist. He integrates archival material into his sonic art, combining the fragments to create haunting aural landscapes. He was the resident composer, sound designer and audio recordist of the internationally renowned artist group, the Black Audio Film Collective, whose poetic, haunting documentaries such as Handsworth Songs (1986), Twilight City (1989) and Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993) examined the black-British and post-colonial experience in Britain. 

Trevor Mathison’s previous experimental electronic music projects include dub techno outfit Hallucinator (1993-2000), artist collective Flow Motion (1993-2000), and Dubmorphology, a production and performance group with fellow media artist, Gary Stewart (2003–present). He recently composed a score for Akomfrah & Dread Scott’s Slave Rebellion Re-enactment (2019), and Garrett Bradley’s award-winning feature film America (2019).

From Signal To Decay: Volume 6 is curated by Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom and Oliver Fuke, with Rob Young and Ida Lykken Ghosh. The project, which is ongoing, originated at Goldsmiths CCA in London in 2022. The exhibition is supported by the Bergesen Foundation and the Municipality of Oslo.