Robin Rimbaud, new-found star of TV chat shows, MTV and Radio 4 is the creative force behind the media-friendly Scanner projects. Until now these have consisted of two beautifully packaged CD releases of what can be best described as an audio collage of recordings of peoples private telephone conversations. These recordings have been illicitly made by Robin using his hand-held Scanner device. Interesting, but is it art? How did you first come across the electronic Scanner? What made you think of its use as a music making device? Assuming of course that all sound can be construed as music.

I have been recording for 15 years, collecting and collating a vast range of environmental and field recordings. Amongst these tapes are several featuring simply the human voice. I've always been interested in communication and how people interact with others. Discovering the actual Scanner device itself (which is a relatively simple but long range rdaio receiver) provided me with the chance to tune in directly to the language and lives of private individuals. Being a creative person I immediatle saw the artistic potential of utilising these voices and collating them into various scapes. My work is partly about taking technology and finding an alternative use for it so that it becomes relevant to society. These kind of machines are developed to help those in power keep us at arms length. In some ways I feel that my use of it subverts that. Then again consider;- why does someone invent and commercially market a device such as this?

Your use of the Scanner device has seemed to have captured peoples imagination. Are you surprised by the amount of media interest in your work?

In some ways I am surprised by the amount of media attention my work has received, but having conducted countless interviews relating to this subject over the last 18 months I have learnt a lot about the way in which media operates and how journalism involves the constant searching for a new story, a new angle and an absolute lack of knowledge or interest in a story except for its copy deadline of yesterday!

There is a danger that the Scanner albums can be seen as purely novelty records with no lasting value. Is this a concern?

Does it matter?

If by novelty I assume you mean gimmick I think this is a valid point that I am clearly aware of. This can operate in a number of ways. Chiefly being that people will be intrigued by the concept and tune into the work and thereby discover material they would otherwise never have access to on a commercial level. I understand that I cannot continue with this work on a constant level and in some ways I trust that the CD's demonstrate this to some extent. THe 1st CD put the emphasis completely on the intercepted 'phone calls, the second had a more experimental 3D use of sound to counterbalance the voices and the most recent work - Mass Observation, contains barely any traceable voices, merely layers of digital and analogue signals intercepted and treated hinged into a couple of quite deliberately acidic dance tracks.

Scanner shares a label with respected noise/art terrorists such as the Hafler Trio. Do you feel that your work should be judged by such benchmark criteria given that essentially both are experiments in the use of sound and its perception by the music consuming public? Do you feel an affinity with such artists or do you perceive Scanner to be outside that scene?

Naturally I cannot deny my influences and associations with other artists and I cannot judge or guide how others perceive the work. I have always been interested in the use of sound from a variety of perspectives;- the pleasure of sound, the power of sound, its ability to endanger lives through the application of certain tones and so on. And so yes, I feel an affinity with any artist trying to use sound in a creative manner.

The music media has adopted you as a Techno-guru and you have become an accepted part of the Rave/Ambient/Techno circus. As you are essentially working in an experimental area that is traditionally un-music media friendly, how do you view this state of affairs?

I still look upon this adoption of the tag "Techno guru" with my tongue firmly placed in my cheek. I think that it can only be a healthy situation if the reception to the Scanner work is so positive. Perhaps it will open up ears to all the other valuable material still hidden away in independent record stores the world over and let out such important work as that of Jim O'Rourke, Main, Paul Schutze, Zoviet France and so on.

I do enjoy the Techno scene more than any other scene, it's the most open minded and imaginative period of creative sound work that I have known. Such a period of cross fertilaisation between genres e.g. David Toop working with a Techno label or Bill Laswell working on Fax can only be positive.

There could be a moral concern about your use of recorded private telephone conversations as an invasion of privacy. Do you care? More importantly, should you?

Arguably the most controversial issue has been the issue of privacy, but I believe that there is no such thing as real privacy anymore. Video cameras survey our every movement in the streets, the Underground, the buses, the shops. We are all featured on countless home videos without consent. There is this paradox of privacy and ibnvasion that interests me. One reads in the national newspapers that a certain rock star broke up with his wife and communicated with her over fax exchanges. These were apparantly so personal that she could not even allow her mother to read them and yet she did allow the newspapers to print them! Privacy has a price it seems. It's important to remember that I use what is simply available on open access in the shops, but what else exists? What do higher authorities have access to? How much are we being watched without our knowledge. This is the covert political agenda of Scanner. If my work at least points out to people that this is the realistic situation and that perhaps they should reconsider how they pass information across to others in the light of this. I wish to emphasise that I deliberately edit out any identifying material from the official releases in terms of addresses, phone numbers and so on.

There is a concern about Copyright in the use of such material. Do you believe that such a thing exists or do you believe that the artist can treat such material as found sound and use it as he sees fit?

Spoken word in this context is not copyright. Copyright is an issue that does interest me me in many ways. I recently read that lawyers are trying to change record company contracts to include all new mediums, even if they have not been invented yet! The Government will not give strength to Copyright so it can be exploited. A culture of looking after people has dissolved into a culture of people fending for themselves. The first Scanner CD contained a text "All recordings public domain" which is open to debate. People are welcome to sample the work with credit if possible. I am a great admirer of the artists that deal with this side of the industry legal battle, such as The Tape Beatles, Negativland and John Oswald.

Ultimately, Scanner cannot continue to just release records containing just telephone conversations amid other sounds and noises. Not only will the joke wear a bit thin but the artistic merit will become diluted. Where does Scanner go from here?

This relates back to an earlier question. As I said, I am clearly aware that the success of Scanner is partly due to the inclusion of these intercepted personal calls but there is certainly more to it than that. There is a "Scanner" method of working that I can apply to other projects without having to rely on this gimmick element. More than that, a mere look at the range and scope of future work gives a clue to the direction I am moving in.

Robin's plans include various Scanner albums and 12"s for a variety of labels, odd projects such as a stereo testing album for Discreet/Indiscreet and interval pieces for Cyberorgasm 3 and remixes for Coil, Scorn and the Sabres of Paradise.

INTERVIEW BY ANDREW LEEDS BURTON

LONDON DECEMBER 1994.