Coastal blip

The walled coastal town of Conwy is unquestionably full of beauty. Its 14th Century church, Stephenson-built railway and views over the north Welsh estuary. It is also a hotbed of creativity; of blippy electronic music, of Dadaist performance, and of consciousness-expanding soundscapes. Bringing these elements to a wider audience is artist and founder of electronica label Blipfonica, Emma Louis.

Louis grew up in the area, at a time when Conwy had a thriving fishing industry, with the quayside a local focal point for trade and activity. Now, these buildings are long gone, although the memories linger, often reawakened by the sounds that are more omnipresent. Her teenage years in the town were signified by one song, The Orb's A huge ever growing pulsating brain that rules from the centre of the Ultraworld - a long, textured, interplanetary soundscape which has clearly influenced Louis' own work.

Her soundscape work with Blipfonica artist Ed Wright has re-opened this personal archive: the sounds of the sea, the wind through the rigging of the boats, and the local trains have all helped her to reconnect with Conwy after a career as a stage manager in London. On Louis' return, her interest in the local music scene led to work in organising local music events, although to her surprise, while a cluster of experimental digital musicians were in the area, many of these local events did not give them a platform to perform.

Blipfonica was established to play exactly that role – to bring these musicians "... out of their bedrooms, which is where some of these artists were working – in their home studios, on their laptops". As a label, it has a handful of artists, with an experimental, digital focus. As a promotions vehicle, it works with these artists in a variety of environments, both modern and traditional. Produced in collaboration with Bangor University, the forthcoming Blipfonica Proms will showcase the label's artists in the unique and historical setting of Penrallt Church. Joining them will be a 20-strong string ensemble, alongside percussionists and a vibraphone player. In one piece, developed by label signing Andrew Hodges, the label's artists are to be strategically placed around the interior of the church. They will have the same 4-bar phrase to play in a certain pattern, creating a wall of sound that is brought into three dimensions by the acoustics of the setting.

Other, less grand, venues are equally important, encouraging participation as well as a sense of performance. A recent show at a nightclub featured a "digital interplay room", where the audience could compose their own music using software and constructed digital instruments.

There is certainly something of the theatrical in Blipfonica; given the way in which the whole music industry is moving from recorded to live music to find fans and revenue, this appears to be a good thing. There are certainly a number of reasons as to why Blipfonica would want to focus so much on live performance – it makes the artist's work more accessible; a performance can invigorate the composition; and it makes money for the label. One further reason is from Louis herself, concerning her own love of performance, and how she expresses it – through Blipfonica, and through her own projects.

Eyes and ears

Louis' own projects have made something of a stir around the town. While Conwy isn't necessarily the first place that one might think of as ripe for Dadaist intervention, Louis has used the town as something of a canvas. With the Hugo Ball-inspired creation Philharmonium Cegunium, Louis works with improvised sound using found and recycled items, while wearing a top-hat-and-tails and playing word and sound games with her public audience, finding humour in whatever the reaction turns out to be. "The teenagers think it's fantastic. They give me a rude word and I make a poem out of it. They think it's hilarious but so do I, even though I play it very straight and serious. They are in stitches and I am laughing so much inside. It's so much good fun. On the other side of the coin, some people just don't get it, and I find that really funny as well." For members of Cegunium's audience that are in a fixed spot, such as an ATM queue, they are given a full-on performance: "They can't run away. They're trapped."

The link with Dadaism and Ball clearly stems from the performer being in on the joke, even though the joke is the audience. Street theatre with intellectual or radical elements is perhaps more rare than it should be. "Even though art has changed so much, people still have a narrow mindset about what is art, and what is entertainment. It is fun to challenge that and to enjoy it."

For Conwy's digital arts festival Blinc, Take your ears for a walk gives Louis another opportunity to challenge definitions; that of a soundscape. A mapped walk around Conwy gives 9 points where the visitor is invited to stand and listen. For the visitor, this time becomes contemplative; it's where sounds that one may not always here, particularly in more urban environments, gradually fade into the foreground of one's consciousness, creating a naturally-produced soundscape. How the visitor engages with it is effectively down to them, and as the sounds are essentially natural, the experience will be different each time and for each person. There is no technology, no equipment, except for the visitor's ears, consciousness, and imagination. Although we are "listening" more and more, such as with iPod use, our relationship with sound and attention is changing. Louis is giving this relationship something of a reboot.

Working in a nascent local scene has clearly given Louis an opportunity to express her work on her own terms. Where some would see it as too limiting, too stifling, she has made extensive use of the natural and built environments around her, blending influences from her past with the media of the present. It's a feast for the eyes, the ears, memory, and consciousness itself.

Emma Louis is founder of Blipfonica. Further information on the label and its acts and the Blipfonica Proms can be found on its website.

Blinc takes place across Conwy on 22 and 23/10/11. Further information can be found on the Blinc website and on Twitter at @blincdigital.