Stephen Cornford is a sculptor working with music, sound and noise. His principal materials are musical instruments and audio technologies, which he treats with a disregard for their normal function in an effort to forget their iconography and focus on their physicality.
His work most often takes the form of indeterminate sound installations in which mechanical processes give rise to a music based on chance phenomena. The subjective presence of the audience, their simultaneous exploration of sound and space is crucial to the work, marking out Stephen’s approach as perceptual rather than conceptual.
Cornford studied sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art before recently completing a Masters in Time-Based Arts Practices at Dartington College of Arts. In the last three years he has exhibited and performed extensively across the UK and Europe.
Recent exhibitions include his first solo show at Elevator Gallery (London), ArtEx Sonora (MACUF, La Coruña), Asian Gates (Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover) and We Live Here (Arnolfini, Bristol). Stephen is also one-half of the mechanical rock band Human Separation, alongside Matthew Appleby.