For 17 years Vicki Bennett has been making CDs, radio, and A/V multimedia under the name People Like Us. By animating and recontextualising found footage collages Vicki gives an equally witty and dark view of popular culture with a surrealistic edge. People Like Us broadcasts an ongoing experimental arts radio and podcast show on WFMU, called "DO or DIY", which, since it began in 2003, has had over three quarters of a million Realplayer hits.

Vicki has shown work at, amongst others, Tate Modern, The National Film Theatre, Purcell Room, The ICA, Sydney Opera House, Pompidou Centre, Sonar in Barcelona, The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the BBC and Channel 4. She has also performed radio sessions for the BBC's John Peel, Mixing It, and also CBC, KPFA and many more in the US. There have been features in The Observer, The Wire, NME, BBC website and Bizarre Magazine. People Like Us have been commissioned by The Arts Council England, The BBC, Sonic Arts Network, Forma, LUX and Lovebytes amongst others (see further down for full list).

The music of People Like Us can be bought in independent music shops such as Rough Trade, and any major experimental/leftfield music retailer in Europe, the US and beyond (PLU has recently been released in Russia). The entire back catalogue is also available for free download on her website, which has been generously hosted by UbuWeb (www.ubu.com) in conjunction with PennSound (www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound), which is searchable on all US university library systems. PLU has been released on labels such as Tigerbeat6, Soleilmoon, Sonic Arts Network, Staalplaat and For Us Records (Rough Trade), both solo, and also collaborating with Matmos, Ergo Phizmiz, Wobbly and members of Negativland. She has recently had a track released on Chicks on Speed Records and created an Arts Council of England funded record with Ergo Phizmiz, making it available for free - testing out new distribution systems.

Late Spring saw a retrospective of People Like Us at alt.gallery and a PLU curated CD entitled Smiling Through My Teeth, with Sonic Arts Network. The June 2008 edition of The Wire featured a 4 page interview, and the July edition featured a review of Smiling Through My Teeth (scroll down for full list of reviews).

People Like Us recently put a number of films online at UbuWeb.

Vicki has just been awarded the Great North Run Moving Image Commission 2009.

Artist Statement

For 17 years I have been working with A/V multimedia under the name People Like Us. The output has consisted of 20 album releases, numerous singles, live sets (both solo and collaborations), remixes, a DVD, and over 150 radio shows. I am primarily involved working almost exclusively with audio and visual archives of various kinds, and processing analogue and digital media across many platforms and formats. Working with archives reflects my philosophy that past works should be readily available for reference both in theory and practice for present and future practitioners.

The art of People Like Us centres on the appropriating or sampling of works that exist with a previous context. This "raw" footage is sometimes recognisable with its own history and connotations, and sometimes obscure, abstract or concrete sounds. The golden rule is always to recontextualise the source's sound or meaning, the aim being to take this footage on a journey, where along the way it meets other material, all collaborating on a platform that could never happen in real life, creating a unique atmosphere.

Links

http://www.peoplelikeus.org - People Like Us website
http://www.wfmu.org/peoplelikeus - People Like Us weekly radio show on WFMU, NY/internet at wfmu.org
Essay on People Like Us by Drew Daniel, commissioned by alt.gallery, Spring 2008

Workshops/Residencies/Commissions/Collaborations

Selected Performances and Screenings

November 2008 - Sound Source, SPNM, Kings Place, London
October 2008 - Shift Electronic Arts Festival, Basel, Switzerland
July 2008 - South Bank Centre, London - reworking Daphne Oram's archive
June 2008 - Beaconsfield, London - as part of Matmos event
May 2008 - Opening of People Like Us retrospective, with cinema screenings and CD launch - more details at alt.gallery
March 2008 - Screening of Work, Rest & Play at Other Cinema, SF
March 2008 - Screening of Skew Gardens at Curzon, Soho, London
March 2008 - Sightsonic, York - solo concert and joint concert with Ergo Phizmiz
November 2007 - Live soundtrack to Christian Marclay's Screen Play, as part of the Wire 25 anniversary series, London
October 2007 - Touch live event in Balham, London
June 2007 - Bilbao "Copy Your Idols" conference
May 2007 - 3 Screen video premiere of Work, Rest & Play at Lovebytes International Festival of Digital Media, Sheffield
February 2007 - Session for Mixing It, BBC Radio 3
November 2006 - Encounters 12th Annual International Short Film Festival, Bristol (screening of Story Without End)
November 2006 - La Casa Encendida, Madrid (screening of The Remote Controller)
November 2006 - Fundacio La Caixa. Mediateca, Barcelona (screening of Story Without End)
October 2006 - La Blanche Nuit, Paris (screening of Story Without End)
September 2006 - Exis Experimental Film and Video Festival, Seoul, Korea (screening of Story Without End)
July 2006 - Miguel Dias Vila Do Conde ISFF, Portugal (screening of Story Without End)
June 2006 - Sonal Cinema, Barcelona (screening of Story Without End)
June 2006 - BOOTS - Live collaboration with Ergo Phizmiz - info here
May 2006 - European Media Art Festival, Osnabrueck (screening of Story Without End)
April 2006 - Britspotting, Berlin (screening of Story Without End)
April 2006 - Porto at Casa Da Musica, Porto
March 2006 - Photographers' Gallery, London (screening of Story Without End)
March 2006 - Visual Arts Ipswich, Ipswich (screening of Story Without End)
February 2006 - Club Transmediale, Berlin (screening of Story Without End)
January 2006 - Le Cube, Paris
January 2006 - Flatpack Festival, Birmingham
November 2005 - Other Cinema, San Francisco
November 2005 - UC Davis, Davis, California
November 2005 - Leeds Film Festival
October 2005 - Nulle Part Ailleurs Production (screening of We Edit Life)
October 2005 - Experimentaclub in Madrid http://www.experimentaclub.com/festart05.htm#plus
September 2005 - Etrange Festival at Forum Des Images in Paris. http://www.etrangefestival.com/
July 2005 - Optronica at The National Film Theatre, London
June 2005 - Mission Creek Music Festival, California
April 2005 - Britspotting, Berlin (screening of The Remote Controller)
April 2005 - Femme Totale, Dortmund (screening of The Remote Controller)
February 2005 - AHRB Centre for British Film and Television, London (screening of We Edit Life and The Remote Controller)
February 2005 - Cinilingus, Belfast (screening of We Edit Life)
January 2005 - Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Stuttgart (screening of The Remote Controller)
December 2004 - Live concert as part of Christian Marclay's Sounds of Christmas installation at the Tate Modern, London
November 2004 - Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival (screening of The Remote Controller)
November 2004 - Tromsø Kunstforening (screening of The Remote Controller)
November 2004 - Festival International du Film Independant (screening of The Remote Controller)
November 2004 - INVIDEO, Milano (screening of The Remote Controller)
October 2004 - Leeds International Film Festival, Leeds (screening of The Remote Controller and We Edit Life)
October 2004 - Backup Festival, Weimar (screening of The Remote Controller)
October 2004 - Bath Michael Tippett Centre
September 2004 - Seoul New and Film Festival - Seoul (screening of The Remote Controller)
September 2004 - Barcelona LEM Festival
August 2004 - Chicago Underground Film Festival (screening of The Remote Controller)
August 2004 - Oslo Studio 04 Festival
June 2004 - The Music Hall, Shrewsbury (screening of We Edit Life)
May 2004 - BBC Radio 3 - Mixing It - Live Session/broadcast
April 2004 - Toronto Images Festival http://www.imagesfestival.com
March 2004 - Virginia Film Festival http://www.vafilm.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=251
March 2004 - New York Underground Film Festival http://www.nyuff.com/
February 2004 - First Anniversary of 2003 FACT, Liverpool
January 2004 - Hanger, Barcelona (screening of The Remote Controller)
January 2004 - Rotterdam Film Festival (screening of The Remote Controller)
November 2003 - Sample Culture Now at The Tate Modern http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/sampleculture.htm
October 2003 - Oslo S-, Oslo (screening of The Remote Controller)
October 2003 - Wheels Instead of Hooves, Newcastle (screening of We Edit Life)
October 2003 - City of Women, International Festival of Contemporary Arts Ljubljana, Slovenia
October 2003 - Dissonanze Festival of Electronic Music and Digital Art, at MACROl, Rome -
September 2003 - Kino Central, Berlin (screening of The Remote Controller)
September 2003 - The Pompidou Centre, Paris
July 2003 - The ICA, London - screenings of The Remote Controller and We Edit Life as part of their Radical Entertainment season
June 2003 - Le Fresnoy, Studio National Des Arts Contemporains, France
March 2003 POL Pol Festival, Frankfurt
February 2003 - Club Transmediale, Berlin at "Maria am Ostbahnhof"
January 2003 - Session for John Peel, for BBC Radio 1
November 2002 - Avanto Festival at Kiasma Centre, Helsinki, Finland
September 2002 - Sound Unseen Festival at The Walker Center, Minneapolis, USA
June 2002 - South Bank's Meltdown Festival, Queen Elisabeth Hall, London - visuals for Baby Zizanie
May 2002 - South Bank's ETHER Festival, Purcell Room, London
April 2002 - US tour (New York, Portland, San Francisco and LA)
December 2001 - Dysfunktional Beats at 93ft East, London
November 2001 - Laptops Live at the ICA, London
November 2001 - Futuresonic, Manchester
October 2001 - Sydney Opera House, Australia
June 2001 - London Musicians’ Collective’s Tenth Annual Festival, Purcell Room, London
June 2001 - Sonar Festival, Barcelona – collaboration with Matmos (US)
May 2001 - Catalyst/Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast
April 2001 - EMAF – Osnabreuck
March 2001 - Lovebytes Festival, Sheffield
March 2001 - Dingwalls, London in association with Mixing It, BBC Radio 3
February 2001 - London Lux Cinema in association with The Wire magazine
December 2000 - Bristol Cube Cinema, in association with The Wire magazine
December 2000 - Lisbon Numero Festival in association with Warp Records of London
November 2000 - Burning Bush, Dundee Contemporary Arts
October 2000 - Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media (FCMM)
May 2000 - Brooklyn Experimental Music Festival, NYC
April 2000 - Komedia, Brighton
June 2000 - TransEuropa 2000, Hildesheim
March 2000 - Exit Festival, Creteil
June 2000 - Sonar 2000, Barcelona
February 2000 - Brussels 2000, European City of Culture Festival
January 2000 - Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) event
October 1999 - Fylkingen, Stockholm
October 1999 - Nottingham Expo Festival
September 1999 - Ars Electronica, Linz – collaboration with Negativland (US)
August 1999 - Festival of the Regions, Enns
September 1996 - Dutch Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF) at V2, Rotterdam

Album/Single Releases

"Another Kind of Humor Another Kind of Murder" (split with Abraxas) World Serpent (CD/LP) 1992
"Lowest Common Dominator" Staalplaat (CD) 1994
"It’s Terrorific!" Staalplaat (DAT) 1994
"Guide To Broadcasting" Staalplaat (3"CD) 1994
"Beware The Whim Reaper" Staalplaat(CD) 1996
"Jumble Massive" Soleilmoon Recordings (LP) 1996
"File Under Easy Listening/File Under Sleazy Listening" (split with Sniper) Kleptones 1 (LP) 1996
"Lassie House" Staalplaat (10" Picture Disc) 1997
"Blundersonix/Special Mix" (split with TFU) Kleptones(LP) 1997
"People Like Us and Sniper Play The Three DJs of The Apocalypse" (with Sniper) Kleptones (LP) 1997
"Hate People Like You" Staalplaat (CD) 1997
"People Like Us Meet The Jet Black Hair People In Concert" Audioview (CD) 1999
"Hate People Like Us" (remix of PLU by Coil, Negativland, Death in June, Barbed, Christoph Heemann, Bruce Gilbert, Stock, Hausen & Walkman, Rehberg & Bauer, Mika Vainio, Boyd Rice, Dummy Run, Farmer's Manual and Sons of Silence. 2CD features additionally Cyclobe, Req1, V/VM, Sniper, Mr Rotorvator, Felix Kubin, Xper. Xr, Venoz [TKS], Katy Brown and Dr P Li Khan. There was an additional remix by Andy Votel/Badly Drawn Boy, excluded for legal reasons. Caciocavallo/CAD1 (CD) and Staalplaat (2CD) 1999 2CD
"Thermos Explorer" Hot Air (CD) 2000
"A Fistful of Knuckles" Caciocavallo (CD) 2000
"Swing Largo/Going Out Of My Town" Klang Galerie (7") 2001
"Home-Roam-Play/Work-All-Day" (split 12" with remix by Matmos) Wicked Witch Records (12") 2001 recalled due to faulty pressing
"Recyclopaedia Britannica" Mess Media/Mess (CD) April 2002
"Preserved Cowgirl" Asphodel - remix of Tipsy (CD) August 2002
"Stifled Love" - Mess Media/Mess 2 (12") October 2002
7" single - Rough Trade label For Us Records October 2002
"Volatile Media" Lovebytes label (DVD) March 2003
"Wide Open Spaces" Tigerbeat6 label (CD) collaboration with Matmos and Wobbly May 2003
"Nothing Special" Mess03 (CD) collaboration with Kenny G June 2003
"A Call For Silence" - (CD) Sonic Arts Network February 2004
"Abridged Too Far" - (mp3) online album at Ubuweb. August 2004
"Windpipe Moods" - (CD) Mukow October 2004
"Story Without End" - (DVD) Sonic Arts Network October 2005
"Fom Fom" - (CD) - track for Chicks On Speed's compilation Girl Monster - Chicks on Speed Records Summer 2006
"All Together Now" - (CD) - self released August 2006
"Honeysuckle Boulevard" - (10") - self released collaboration with Ergo Phizmiz January 2007
"Perpetuum Mobile - (CD) - Soleilmoon Recordings April 2007
"On The Rooftops Of London" - (CDS) - self released May 2007
"Rhapsody In Glue" - (online album) - PLURGO1 - bleep.com May 2008
"Smiling Through My Teeth" - (CD) - Sonic Arts Network May 2008

Smiling Through My Teeth review - Hair Entertainment (October 2008)
Rhapsody In Glue review - Goute Mes Disques (November 2008)
DO or DIY chart - The Wire (October 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Orkus (November 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Rumore (October 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - Blow Up (September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Westzeit (October 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Ox (October 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Le Son Du Grisli (September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Sound Projector (May 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Frieze magazine (September 2008)
Rhapsody In Glue review - Pop News (September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Octopus Record Of The Week (September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Rock Delux(September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - D Side(September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Titel Magazine (September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Schlendrian (September 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - Vital Weekly 162 (September 2008)
Mention in the Guardian (UK) - Click That Dial! (August 11 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - O Dominio Dos Deuses (July 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue/Smiling Through My Teeth Review - Incendiary Mag (July 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - Octopus (July 2008)
Smiling Through My Teeth review - The Wire (August 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - Skug (July 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - D-Side (July 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - Choices Cologne (July 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - The Wire (July 2008)
Rhapsody in Glue review - Titel-Magazin / CD of the Week (June 2008)
People Like Us interview - The Wire (June 2008)
Perpetuum Mobile - Music For Maniacs (October 2007)
Perpetuum Mobile - Geiger (September 2007)
Perpetuum Mobile - Bad Alchemy (August 2007)
Perpetuum Mobile - Brainwashed (June 2007)
Perpetuum Mobile - RifRaf (June 2007)
Perpetuum Mobile - Rolling Stone (Mexico!!) June 2007
Perpetuum Mobile - Review in Norman Records June 2007
Perpetuum Mobile - Review in Jumbo June 2007
Perpetuum Mobile - Review in Loop June 2007
Perpetuum Mobile - Review in Boomkat June 2007
Perpetuum Mobile - Review in Cologne Choices June 2007
Story Without End - Review in Jazzthetik July 2006
Story Without End - Review in Trax Magazine June 2006
Interview with People Like Us in The Observer 6 November 2006 - here, here and here
Story Without End - Review in Black Jan 2006
Story Without End - Review and Interview April 2006
Story Without End - Review in Cinemania May 2006
Story Without End - Review in The Wire May 2006
Story Without End - Review by Kevin Hamilton February 2006
Story Without End - Blow Up February 2006
Story Without End - Rock Delux Magazine February 2006
Story Without End - Magic Magazine February 2006
Story Without End - Debug Magazine January 2006
Story Without End - Intro Magazine February 2006
Story Without End - Sonic Seducer Magazine February 2006
Story Without End - D Side Magazine January 2006
Story Without End - Go Magazine January 2006
Story Without End - Bad Alchemy Magazine January 2006
Story Without End - Clone Magazine January 2006
Story Without End - Metro Magazine Summer 2005
"The Remote Controller" won second prize in the Backup Festival in Weimar 2004
Worked on a film/installation commission with Sonic Arts Network, 2004-2005
Worked on a film commission for LUX, 2004
Article featuring media work of PLU on BBC site July 2002
Review of People Like Us album, Recyclopaedia Britannica, on BBC website 2002
PLU get a mention in Larry Lessig's blog 2003
Very good interview with Kenny G on WFMU, March 2003
Small mention in The Guardian (UK)
Sound Unseen Festival, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis 2002
Sound Unseen Festival, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis2 2002
Ether Festival Flyer, Purcell Room, London 2002
Ether Festival review in The Wire, Purcell Room, London 2002
Ether Festival reviews, Purcell Room, London 2002
Sight and Sound magazine 2002
Lovebytes Festival Programme, Sheffield 2002
Lovebytes Festival Programme, Sheffield 2 2002
Oblique Lu Nights Festival, Nantes, France 2002
People Like Us at Sound Unseen, Minneapolis 2002
LMC 10th Anniversary Festival, Purcell Room, London 2001
LMC 10th Anniversay Festival, Purcell Room, London 2 2001
Laptops Live ICA, London 2 2001
Laptops Live, ICA, London 2001
Futuresonic Festival, Manchester 2001
EMAF, Osnabruck, Germany 2001
Electrofringe, Newcastle, Australia 2001
Reviews in NME and Bizarre Magazine 2001
Sydney Opera House flyer 1 2001
Sydney Opera House flyer 2 2001
Sydney Opera House ticket 2001
Lux Centre, London 2001
BBC Radio Times 2001
Sound Projector interview 2000
Exit Festival, Creteil, France 2000
The Wire magazine interview 1999
San Francisco Bay Guardian review 1999
Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria 1998
NME Single of the Week 1996
NME Interview 1996
NME Interview 1995

(there are some gaps where we got bored and gave up collecting them... also bear in mind that 5++ years ago feels like a VERY long time ago, so you are best off taking notice of things from the last year or two.)