Statement

I am an artist working predominantly with sound, sometimes enhanced with video and photography. My work combines electronic tones with digitally processed acoustic sounds including field recordings and musical instruments. I have produced several site-specific commissions and am particularly interested in the resonance of spaces, their history and atmosphere, and wider notions of place and memory.

Recent works include: Treatments and Textures, a DJ mix of atmospheric textural ambient and electroacoustic tracks for Tate Liverpool’s Sculpture Remixed collection display; Binary, a commission for the National Trust manor house Oxburgh Hall, in which the venue’s Victorian wallpaper was converted into sound; Chimes for a Wall Drawing, a live performance on processed chime bars, guitar and sine waves which took Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #1136 as an inspiration and graphic score; Quay Tones, an audiovisual installation which explored the history and atmosphere of the Middle Ages trading port King’s Lynn through images focusing on weathered fragments of architecture and scenery and processed recordings of baroque harpsichord tones and field recordings.

I have been producing glitchy melodic electronic music under the name Cheju since 2004, blending warm synth tones, crunchy broken beats and layered atmospheric textures. Releases as Cheju include 4 CD albums – Pica (Unlabel, 2006), Diode (U-Cover, 2007), Broken Waves (Boltfish Recordings, 2009) and Waiting for Tomorrow (Distant Noise, 2009) – and EPs and compilation appearances on labels including Static Caravan, Smallfish Records, Awkward Silence, October Man Recordings, Rednetic, Symbolic Interaction and Interchill. I am also co-owner of electronica label Boltfish Recordings and have performed live at venues including the Glade Festival, Sunrise Festival, Big Chill House, InSpiral Lounge, Synergy Project, STFU and GlitchNight.

Time Lapse (Hibernate, 2010) is my debut CD release under my own name and combines the warm emotive electronic melodies of my Cheju output with the more minimal drones and field recordings-based sensibility of my sound art work. Melodies are still integral to the music, but are more subtle, fragmented, and submerged among beds of droning ambient textures and environmental sounds.

Education

MA Arts Criticism (Distinction), City University, London, 1997
BA (Hons) History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, 1995

Residencies

Estonian Artists' Association, Tallinn, Estonia
23 - 30 October 2011

Selected Exhibitions

Image & Resonance, Foundation Destellos, Argentina
2012

Seeing Sound 2, Bath Spa University, UK
29 - 30 October 2011

Wonderpia, Nanji Studio Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
22 August - 4 September 2011

Re/Flux, ICA, London, UK
16 July 2011

Sculpture Remixed, Tate Liverpool, UK
12 November 2009 - 26 June 2011

Lightworks, Grimsby Minster, UK
18 March 2011

Odd Place, ARTSIDE, Seoul, South Korea
17 November - 12 December 2010

KRiK Festival, Spirit, Rijeka, Croatia
1 December 2010

Soundgate, Kunsten / Utzon Centre / Platform4, Aalborg, Denmark
15 October - 14 November 2010

BBC Norfolk Film Festival, Fusion at The Forum, Norwich, UK
11 - 30 October 2010

(D)FEFV, Decumanus Gallery, Krk, Croatia
2 - 3 October 2010

Sonic Vigil V, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, Ireland
17 - 24 July 2010

Location Location, Stramash Space, UK
14 February 2010 - 31 March 2010

SoundImageSound VII, Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific, Stockton, USA
26 March 2010

A Thing About Machines, Herbert Gallery, Coventry, UK
24 - 27 September 2009

Trading As...: Hanse Art Project, King's Lynn Arts Centre, UK
12 July - 8 August 2009

Transfixed Motion / Transitory Still, Sheffield Institute of Art and Design Gallery, UK
3 - 18 April 2009

Sound:Space 2008, South Hill Park, Bracknell, UK
20 September – 16 November 2008

Black Powder + White Party, Kyung Hee University Museum of Arts, Seoul, South Korea
13 September – 19 October 2007

Fresh Interventions, Oxburgh Hall (National Trust), Norfolk, UK
14 April – 28 June 2007

Selected Performances

Hibernate & Home Normal Christmas Show, The Victoria, Dalston, London, UK
18 December 2011

Late at Tate: Colour Remixed, Tate Liverpool, UK
15 August 2009

Leap 08, Liverpool Lighthouse, UK
1 March 2008

Black Powder + White Party Opening Performance, Kyung Hee University Museum of Arts, Seoul, South Korea
13 September 2007

Detune, King’s Lynn Arts Centre, UK
10 February 2007

Julian Opie in the 90s and Kira Kim: A Palace of Mirages Opening Performance, King’s Lynn Arts Centre, UK
26 January 2007

Selected Discography

Wil Bolton - Silver, Hibernate, 2012
Wil Bolton - Quarry Bank, Time Released Sound, 2011
Wil Bolton - Chimes for a Wall Drawing, Cathedral Transmissions, 2011
Wil Bolton - Melt, Rural Colours, 2011
Various - A Silent Swaying Breath: A Public Record, Soundfjord/Audio Gourmet, 2011
Various - Just a Moment, Audio Gourmet, 2011
Various - Kanshin, Hibernate/Fluid Audio, 2011
Various - Hibernate Sampler Vol. 3, Hibernate, 2011
Various - Hibernate in Arran: Chris Dooks Vs Hibernate Recordings, Hibernate, 2011
Wil Bolton - Time Lapse, Hibernate, 2010
Various - Grey is the Colour of Hope, cantaudio, 2010