Marc Garrett and Ruth Catlow

"When a noise of a close friend disappears the presence remains, but one still misses the essence of their being. So much so, that it critiques one's own inner reasoning. These moments question life and its rhythms in such a way that it belittles one's immediate relation to the world - we try to avoid the void as it eats our noise perpetually..."

Kate & Patrick

We received some very sad news this morning that Patrick Simons, Sound Artist, Net Artist and Musician, died this Saturday.

It is hard to know how to share this kind of unfortunate news with others, especially on the Internet. But, we are going to try...because Patrick contributed to this community. He was here.

Patrick, was a genuine, lovable and open minded man; interested in art, philosophy, politics, social contexts and contemporary ideas, community, experimental music and sound art. He was a decent human being. Critical minded yet friendly, he has been a good and very close friend to us for over 10 years. Kate Southworth and Patrick have shared a rare and magical journey together. Two very dynamic and creative individuals in their own right, but also completely in love with each other. The work they created together is important, it reflects a poetic and mutual imagination, at the same time wonderful personal, political art and a clear representation of their love for each other: they collaborated as Gloriousninth (http://gloriousninth.net).

We have visited their family home in Cornwall most of our recent summers, and were always amazed by the open and critical conversations shared by Kate, Patrick and (their older daughter) Bella, while Aphra contributed with her usual, playful and imgaginative sense of wonder. A passionate family always alive, awake and free in spirit, and this is what in part Patrick has helped to create with Kate - a magic far bigger in heart than any art, and more beautiful than this text will ever manage to illustrate.

Our memory of Patrick, is rich and varied; conversations about art, politics, ecology interspersed with his witty humour and playful, unexpected views and witty diversions;  sitting together in the back garden, drinking wine and eating bitter dark greens that he had grown himself. He was very forgiving, when we accidentally broke their garden hammock by both sitting on it at once. A wise soul who knew what really counted, that was love.

The love that Kate and Patrick shared, we also share ourselves, which makes his absense feel even more profound. In a world dominated by horrid corporate souless, shallowness and emptiness, their  presence has always offered a breath of fresh air. Our most vivid memory (and sounds) of Patrick, will be of him walking along the costal paths of Falmouth making field recordings of the tides, the birds, the air, feeling the energy of life around him. And, as far as we are concerned his soul is still wandering around out there, in his element with what really mattered to him, nature and the 'real' values of what life gives us all, but too often lose touch with.

A few years ago we ate garlic with them over the network
http://november.gloriousninth.net/networked_performance.html

They have continued to make extraordinary work with unexpected combinations of (structural and thematic) materials to subvert binaries : material, immaterial, life, death, visibility, invisibility.

audio by artist Patrick Simons Glorious Ninth
http://k-radio.org/radio/audio/by/artist/patrick_simons_glorious_ninth

http://lovepotion.gloriousninth.net/

http://www.gloriousninth.net/invisibility_phial/

http://cc.gloriousninth.net/

we love it.
we love you.
we miss you.

Marc & Ruth.