Gavin Clark is a multidisciplinary artist that specialises in audio, music and film. He holds an HND in Sound Production from Glasgow Clyde College and has recently graduated with a Bachelors degree in Sound for Moving Image at the Glasgow School of Art. Born and bred in Glasgow City, his work heavily touches on urbanisation, street culture, and mental health.

From a young age Gavin has been heavily influenced by rap music, UK Grime, skateboarding and UK Rave culture. A DJ and producer under the moniker as Dvsty music, he made a heavy mark on the Glasgow club scene known for rapid-fire sets, percolated with Grime, early Dubstep, Funky, Gqom, Rap, and Drill. Along with hosting the seminal Subcity grime show – Digital Dust – and putting on various raves including Turfed at Stereo and The Hotboyz in the legendary Art School Vic Bar. Having produced for over a decade, he has various releases, including Astral Black’s Frass FM Tape series, and took part in Red Bull’s Riddim Rally in 2017. This direct affiliation to street music and culture influences many aspects of his audio and filming style.

Having grown up in-between two realities of Glasgow, a city deeply scarred by multigenerational poverty, sat shoulder to shoulder with leafy enclaves of the middle class, Gavin’s work also explores the impact that these stark contrasts have on the mental health of himself and communities across the city. He is particularly interested in the inequalities of sound, where ambient noise and quiet is heavily drawn upon regional and class lines. And how this influences mental well-being, creativity and music across city-scapes.

Everything about Gavin’s work is informed by his own experience of living and surviving in the city. This no-frills, no-bullshit approach casts a light on the intersecting struggles of urban life. Along with the unrelenting, innovations of beauty and creativity we find in all our cities across the globe: from Glasgow to NYC to Johannesburg and beyond. This contradiction of struggle and beauty are what define Gavin as an artist and a creative, inviting us all to see the city scape through lived authentic experience.

Roberto Facchini is a multidisciplinary artist who works with both sound and visual media. With a background in electronic music and a passion for synthesisers, Roberto is constantly seeking to discover new creative processes and explore sound creation through non-traditional methods, and is driven by a fascination with the relationship between sound and technology.

Drawing on a range of contemporary influences, Roberto has a particular interest in the themes of body-horror, dystopia and the personal and societal impact of industrialisation and technological advancement. These concepts inform his audio-visual work, and he builds upon them to present ideas in abstract forms. Roberto also focuses on interactive audio, particularly working on sound for games. He has taken part in a number of Game Jams, and is currently exploring the process of sound implementation with game audio middleware.

Through the work presented in this showcase, Roberto aims to demonstrate both his conceptual and technical capabilities. While the two pieces may seem disparate, both required competence in planning and research, technical knowledge and aesthetic decision-making, skills that are transferable across a range of fields and creative practices.

I am a graduate from the School of Simulation and Visualisation where I had been studying BDes Sound for the Moving Image. I started this course two years ago completely besotted with the idea of sound design and what really grabbed my attention was how it can elicit and manipulate emotions in a variety of different ways. So, I completed my HND studies and moved on to the GSA to put my interests to good use.

Over the last couple of years I have really grown in my field and obtained knowledge and skills that I didn’t think I would have otherwise. Also, studying at the GSA has allowed me to gain the confidence and abilities that I need to take me where I want to go in the future.

Throughout my graduate degree show you can see a range of different projects I have worked on and gained a lot of experience from and exploring different ranges of emotion is a big part of that. I would love to be able to put my skills to good use and also allow them to become more refined in a professional capacity.

I have also discovered with my time at GSA that I have a passion for voice artistry, so my showreel can also be found here and on my website!

Ryan Al-Shybani is an aspiring artist and sound designer working with live recordings and analogue technologies. Drawing on his interests in culturally significant spaces and middle-eastern references, Ryan uses a mixture of original and recycled sonic material; manipulating these into atmospheric compositions.

Through his explorations of techniques used by pioneers such as Trevor Cox, Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram, Ryan has incorporated a range of processes into his work; shaping his own style, which he imagines as a dream state.

His curiosity for space & environment have lead the artist to generate a library of impulse responses from industrial & agricultural sites around Scotland. These are then used to sculpt sonic experiences, that throw listeners into surreal environments.

Moving forward, Ryan looks to gain exposure to evolving practices in sound; particularly those pioneered in subculture. Continuing to build his compositions for film, the artist will be working with communities to transmit their cultural signature in experimental ways.

Contact – ryanalshybani@gmail.com

I am a Sound for Moving graduate at Glasgow School of Art.

My current practice is in audio recording and reproduction for all aspects of the moving picture, mainly composition and sound design for film. With a specialised interest in the Science Fiction and Horror genres, my work reflects innovative practices in modern film sound, as well as a respect for the more practical methods of film making.

My current work includes a collection of short films and soundscapes that demonstrate an aptitude for storytelling using sound, as well as melding the sounds of our everyday environment into sonic collages of Musique Concrete. My focus is in the recording and reproduction of stereo and spatial audio to aid the immersive experience, recreating sonic spaces using only the processing and manipulation of sound waves and the ability to soundtrack any visual medium.

Kirstin is a final year student at Glasgow School of Art studying Sound and the Moving Image. Last year in her 3rd year degree show, she presented a documentary film featuring the brutalist architecture of St. Peter’s Seminary, Cardross. The film focused on the decay and isolation of this A-Listed building, the creative opportunities it affords and its final abandonment through the decision not to grant state care status.
Her greatest passion is in the area of Health and Wellbeing strengthened by her own experiences having, and dealing with, dyspraxia. She conveys the constant fight in her head of trying to process too much information through visuals and sounds exemplified in her short 360 film My Brain and Me.
Kirstin also has an interest in science fiction particularly dystopian worlds. She has taken a short radio drama from the Sediverse series and transformed an existing episode into an online binaural audio piece called Dust.
Kirstin was awarded, at the end of last year, an ‘Outstanding Achievement Certificate’, recognition of her work during the 3rd year of her degree at GSA.

Sean De Francesco is a Scottish Italian filmmaker who has spent his time at Glasgow School of Art (GSA) developing his skills in shooting, directing and editing film, as well as composing and manipulating sound on a number of academic and commercial projects. Outside of GSA, Sean has worked as a freelance videographer, director, sound engineer and assistant for a number of clients including a wide variety of musicians and organisations, including BBC Scotland, SSE Hydro and Tenement TV.

Coming from a working class background, Sean’s approach to film-making is informed by the belief that both the making of and appreciation of art should be accessible to all. Great stories can still be told on film with little to no funds and a lack of resources should not necessarily undermine quality, as Sean’s work hopes to prove. The ingenuity required when working under such constraints has pushed his development as a film-maker and led to his increased understanding and appreciation of all aspects of production, as well as an ability to make the most of every creative opportunity.

This showcase provides a snapshot of Sean’s work while at GSA. The feature presentation is the documentary short “Bosco Regina”, which is a portrait of a man and his dogs, which showcases his shooting skills and ability to craft a compelling narrative. The music video “Not To Need You” is a single take performance piece which illustrates his ability to devise and direct innovative and engaging content, which is intended to be aesthetically captivating whilst also meaningful as the cinematography and movement reflects the themes of absence within the song. Finally, a showreel has been included to illustrate the wide range of different work Sean has been involved in since exploring his creative practice at GSA.

In the future, Sean hopes to continue writing and creating his own content on a self-shooting basis. In addition, Sean also wishes to seek opportunities within the Film and Television sectors, which will allow him to work on more ambitious projects and collaborate with other creative individuals, with a final aim to specialise in writing and directing.