1. Hearing Complex
the sound art of John Wiggins
an exhbition proposal for the HBO ART GALLERY
double click to hear “Texture 1”

2. Hearing Complex
the sound art of John Wiggins
an exhbition proposal for the HBO ART GALLERY
A proposal for an HBO Gallery installation
of the sound art of HBO alumni, sound
designer John Wiggins. By Fran Shea
This proposal is an exploration of John Wiggins,
contemporary acoustic artist and sound engineer. His
underground compositions have had serious influence in
the world of sound artists and designers. He is a well
known creator and innovator in the commercial world as
well as among sound artists.
The following presentation seeks to continue to bring
attention to the fact that HBO has long influenced and
encouraged artists.
double click to hear “Texture 1”
I invite you to meet our own John Wiggins in this new
way and consider an installation of his work for
inclusion in the HBO Gallery.

3. In the summer of 1980 I came to HBO Studios in NYC
directly from college. I was hired as a production
assistant and charged with creating simple
promotional pieces for the nascent movie channel’s
entertainment fare. Mostly I was writing and
producing promos for movies and an occasional prize
fight.
My mentors and co-creators were young, artistic
technicians, editors and audio guys. Among them was
John Wiggins. A true original. John was and is an
artist who always added sonic color to even the most
pedestrian channel ID.
I spent many YEARS in edit room 5 creating shows
that won me awards and accolades, sitting right
alongside a guy who was by day winning awards in his
own right and by night creating breakthrough sound
art, at home, in his basement.
Over the years his passion for sound would find its
way into countless productions. Mixing freaky
background sounds deep into the soundtracks of
sports documentaries, or textural audio on top of
traditional music, John would evoke feeling where
simple music would ordinarily dwell.
I spent 10 years at HBO in NYC. John stayed a
little longer after HBO built him his own audio
suite to address the growing demand for his special
talents. He left after 22 years to work from a
John Wiggins in his basement simple studio space in Soho called Wonderland Sound
which attracts a constant stream of devoted clients.
He recently moved his work back to his basement
when he realized his clients would follow him
anywhere in search of his unique and original sound.

4. Known as a commercial sound
designer,few know John Wiggins
as an influential experimental
sound artist
John would most easily be recognized for work
associated with the images here.
He has won numerous commercial industry awards and
is known as a traditional sound designer. Those who
know him well, however know of his long standing
work in the area of sound creation and innovation in
the experimental and sound art arenas.

5. Hearing Complex - the sound art of John Wiggins
an HBO GALLERY installation
From his early work as an
experimental artist who
traded tapes with other
audiophiles through the
mail, to a well regarded
sound artist.
You are invited to consider
an installation of select
pieces of the John Wiggins
collection for inclusion in
the HBO Gallery.
Below you will find a considered approach to the
show’s theme.
Wiggins (left) and collaborator John Wood

6. Wiggins early work was captured on cassette tapes and pressed
LP’s. Recordings were traded with fellow enthusiasts across the
globe. The proposed gallery show would seek to show a progression
of his interest in sound including works across the decade which
would be chosen by Wiggins with help from archivist Don Campau,
long time Wiggins, and underground music critic and sound
archivist.
Don Campau
Sound art critic and enthusiast Don Campau includes
Wiggins work in The Living Archive of Underground
Music saying, “Those already familiar with Wiggins sound
investigations of minute particles, crackling granulations and
forays into the world of musique concrete may be surprised by the
direction. Of course his penchant for microscopic detail is evident
as is his ear for combining variegated tones. This time though the
As an artist John has grown from his early work
sound field is richer, less dry and perhaps, more human. Sort of
where he was motivated to create sounds that no one
like he has arrived on this planet with a language that might be had ever heard.
interpreted although still difficult to crack” Over the years he was able to describe his process
“I had a method where I made sounds of all origin, recorded
in another interview Campau said of John’s early work, “Of and layered them in multiple analog tape machines and then
all the people in the underground scene John seemed to be mixed it all together-to DAT- to make thick, original sounding
the composer most closely aligned with “serious” electronic music.”
work, that is.”

7. Early Work...
These recordings on cassette and vinyl represent a wider variety of recordings from
which the show pieces would be selected.
“Engrossing and weird, his music existed in another
universe, perhaps not even parallel to ours but somehow in
communication with us. Albeit slightly different, “granular
synthesis” is a term thrown around these days and to my
way of thinking Wiggins was there way ahead of the pack
working with equipment that made it much more difficult to
accomplish.” Don Campau
All the Truth At Once 1986 LP
“All sounds on this cassette are real. Each was sampled in
and manipulated by an 8 bit computer and then recorded and
edited on a 4 track. No synthesizers were used”. John
Wiggins
Particle Music 1985 cassette

8. Later Work... as Wiggins continued to create he became
more interested in merging his underground interests with the
work he was doing as a sound designer. He continued to create
sound pieces for himself and his underground audience while he
also created original pieces mixed within traditional
television shows and on air promotions...
John Wiggins playing in his band “The Robinsons”

9. Here is a sample of how pieces might be
included with a brief description by Wiggins.
For the purposes of this proposal there are
more recent pieces as they are more easily
accessible at present.
double click on sound button
“SLED” – many musics use sound as a “sled” for emotional outpouring. Sound is an
entity unto itself and carries it’s own identities. Not a ride.
“DEAD QUIET” – I realized the only really “quiet” place on earth was my studio – dead
quiet until I get there. Then this comes out.
“Inner Chord”When I look back at all the different techniques I've used to create music I
see that I've never really abandoned any of them. I've kept them all, and they run along
side each other in tandem, like multiple worlds. Many components make up my voice
and I refuse to label myself or align to a single style or language.
“QUALIA 1” – very thick, very soft, very loud – like a solar wind.

10. Show Proposal-
Date: TBD
Collection: 10 pieces of audio and 10
accompanying framed images detailing Wiggins
growth as an artist over 3 decades.
Length of audio experience: 1 minute each
HBO ART GALLERY
Process:
Equipment:High quality (Dr. Dre Beats)
headphones connected to high quality MP3 Visuals: The pieces would be accompanied by
players that are built into fixed simple framed photography and artwork that is
pushbutton audioboxes meaningful of the period in which the audio
was written. Additionally, written
descriptions of Wiggins commentary will be
hung adjacent. As Wiggins is also a painter
Curation: These pieces would be chosen by the exhibit may include some of this work,
Wiggins, Campau and myself to create a as well.
visual and audio story of an artists path in
sound exploration and growth. High quality
(Dr. Dre Beats) Headphones connected to Experience: The exhibit will invite guests
high to listen to Wiggins work and experience the
growth of an artist who has added greatly
to the HBO body of work.

11. FOR INFORMATION regarding
this proposal...
Please contact:
Fran Shea
franshea@verizon.net
310-977-8086