Cornish Semiconductor Corporation

On offshoot of the Organised Atoms project, Cornish Semiconductor Corporation joins the heritages of Cornish mining and Cornish techno and explores the possibilities of sound making from 270 million year old semiconducting minerals. This project is supported using public funding by Arts Council England via a Research and Development grant.

The project comprises various linked activities:

  • Investigating Cornish mine sites - there are many thousands of abandoned mines in Cornwall each with their own histories and unique crystal material which has grown differently, all of which seem to create distinct sonic possibilities.
  • Rediscovering the first electronic 'devices' (crystal radios) from the 1920's, which were much more obviously linked with the earth through their use of natural minerals to convert radio waves into sound.
  • Developing new electronic instruments which can incorporate this pre-silicon semiconductor technology. The aim is to use Cornish granite, soldered copper pipes, and CNC milled copper circuit boards alongside natural semiconductors to use raw materials to embrace, rather than obfuscate the earthly roots of our technology and the people involved in our supply chains.
  • Record and release music to document specific locations and histories of the sites the semiconductings come from (who worked there e.g. the Bal Maidens and stories we know of the sites).

There are already two main releases on bandcamp:

220 below adit (techno from mine waste): Made from material from Ale & Cakes mine, Gwennap. All proceeds raised are going to the Panzi Foundation, supporting victims of sexual violence in conflict mining areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an illegal exploitation that ends in our laptops and mobile phones.

Arsenic Labyrinth: a limited (recycled) cassette release including a live performance, microphotographs of Cornish crystals and samples of fluorite in from Wheal Unity Wood, Chacewater.

There is also a new website where this work will be documented as the project progresses.

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