Resonance Series 8 - Dougal Verinder Gedge

Published on 2020-07-14 00:00:00 by Jasper Golding

Welcome to this edition of the ‘Resonance Series a feature curated by Jasper Golding, about the interplay between art forms. A love for showcasing and sharing music is at the centre of Loose Lips and there are numerous ways in which this can be done.Music massively influences visual art, and vice versa. This feature, running every other Tuesday, introduces you to musical individuals via their visual art first, telling a personal story of their creative output and how different mediums influence each other.Studying both Graphic Design and Experimental Communication has located Dougal Verinder-Gedge at the middle-ground between what would be considered ‘design’ and ‘art’. A youth experienced through the internet has heavily influenced his work, obliging him to question the meaning of ‘authenticity’ in both physical and digital realms.
__Self professing his work and practice to be experimental by nature, Verinder-Gedge seeks to constantly question and raise awareness of topics which the general public would generally overlook.**

**Dougal Verinder-Gedge AKA @Dougalofcourse is a deluxe example of what the future holds for graphic design, art and communication. Untold cheek that’s demolishing new grounds through his free reign over visual language and identity. Part climber, part runner part societal commenteur, Dougal somehow straddles many worlds, the thematic brainchild of this synergy is like a fresh new baby of an unknown race, a kind of more socially acceptable version of nietzsches ubermensch; not to be ignored, lest we miss zarathustra’s redemptive message.

****PLAY! is a series of posters with the intention of delivering the initial feelings of single letters visually using Mental onomatopoeia.What does the feeling of a word look like?
****As with most current artists, Dougal’s works can be followed closely through his Instagram , a personal favourite post of mine being a documentation of his climbing of the large bronze statue: Unfurl by Eilis O’connell as he climbs, ascending text describes the process:**‘a rather easy climb with obvious concentration on the crack in the front… once up, one should realise how thin and sharp the inside of the sculpture is.’******Dougal often turns to music, as another set of sensory data with which to imbue his personal experience and inherently also his means of communication with the reverence and mysticism. Dougal tells me: “I’m working with soundworks to expand my interpersonal relationships with my computer and technology., using static sound like an armature for my body,”
He goes on to tell me that he has a “complete disinterest in actual music, rather using the sound as a protective bubble” His relationship with sound is something most people overlook, he looks at the purely physical form that it brings, almost devoid of cultural, or narrative connotations. He looks at his “discovery into loud noise and sounds as a form form of controlling (his) surroundings”. Cool, huh.

Dougal Verinder Gedge · Botolph Sounds

Verinder-Gedge’s use of sound and a means of communication can also be found in his collaborative project ‘export radio’, which has been hailed as one of the 5 ways in which Th Royal College of Art are staying connected over lock-down. Dougal talks about the transformation that radio has undergone during lockdown and the ways in which this has lent itself to new readings of the form:
‘Working within the confines of Covid-19 has actually enabled us to explore collaborations with other art schools and the wider artistic community. Working digitally and from across the continent via ZOOM has enabled us both to observe ExPort Radio through a different lens. We realised that it is not the duty of experimental practitioners to compromise when it comes to road-blocks such as Covid-19. Across the continent, and further afield, art-radio and student-radio stations are broadcasting and sharing music, conversation and discourse almost daily without fail. (Dougal Verinder-Gedge, RCA.ac.uk/news-and-events, 5 ways the RCA community are staying connected 12th June 2020)

******I’m glad I bumped into this dude and his omnipotent neon flame/ tribal adorned mountain climber flex. He brings new insights in to the world, paving his own way and hence leading new generations in his wake. New wave postmodernists of the 1970’s would look at Dougal and realise there is a future after all, though understand it they would most certainly not.****Dougal is currently undertaking a masters and RCA London and continues to produce work in his field of experimental communication.**Verinder-Gede’s ‘export radio’ that can be heard here: **http://export-radio.club/?i=1And his main site is here:
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https://dougalgedge.tumblr.com/