Danny McCarthy is a man truly immersed in sound. Aside from being one of Irelands leading sound/visual/performance artists, Mc Carthy can be also found leading the Quiet Club (along with Mick O'Shea), one of the countries most sought-after and highly regarded sound-improvisation acts. In addition to these roles, McCarthy also holds a position in the UCC Music Department where he lectures in sound art, while he is acknowledged as being a founding member of Soundworks and its successor, Intermedia.

Inherently fascinated by the intricacies of sound and the manner in which these travelling vibrations are perceived differently by each individual and the subsequent effects they have, sound is not just a source of inspiration for the Cork native, but rather a material – a building block and utensil with which to create. In his eyes and through his ears all manner of sound-frequency transmissions can be manipulated, sculpted, shaped and re-imagined as thought-provoking art, bridging disparities between visual art, post-modernism, sound-art and performance art.

McCarthy's latest exhibition, 'Listening With The Sound Turned Off', begins at the Triskel Arts Centre (of which Mc Carthy is also a founding director) tomorrow, Friday, July 4. Despite having exhibited in Germany, Canada and Japan in recent times, this, he told the Cork Independent, is his first in Cork in over 10 years.

"In that period I did a lot of individual pieces for group shows etc and several installations like 'Walls Have Hears p433' in the Crawford Gallery and 'Sound Insight' at the Irish Guide Dogs Headquarters as part of Cork 2005, plus there were individual pieces in shows abroad. One year I showed in six or seven countries outside of Ireland so I really have been very busy.

"I was also curating things like 'Sound Out' and the CD 'Bend It Like Beckett'. The invitation to show in the Triskel came at the right time as I had been working on this body of work for a while and it was at the stage of it all coming together and the individual spaces in Triskel seemed to suit the nature of the works. Also, being a co founder of the Triskel and one of the first artists to exhibit there the 30th anniversary seemed like a nice time as well. Whilst The Quiet Club has been very successful we both retain our own individual practices and Mick, who I hugely respect, is creating some wonderful work in his own right also.

A number of themes run through the exhibition, themes which Mc Carthy has routinely touched upon in previous works – the medium and mechanics of sound functioning as a singular artistic entity and a material, the individual and collective interpretation of sounds, the contrast between an auditory sources ability to leave a lasting imprint, juxtaposed by its ultimately transparent nature, and of course the notion of space and a subsequent philosophical concept of causality on sound.

"I have always been fascinated by sound and recall as a child loving to play with the radio and its shortwave band," says Mc Carthy, when questioned on these themes. "This is something that seems common to a lot of sound artists - there is a PhD there for the writing - also playing with my mothers reel to reel tape recorder. I am also very interested in acoustic ecology and one of the installations, 'No More/No More', is based around a sound I remember from my summer holidays as a child on my uncle's farm of a cow being milked by hand, a sound one doesn't hear anymore as most milking is now done by machine, which of course is another interesting sound. So using my old family home as a studio and being totally alone in the space for the first time these thoughts and sounds came flooding back. Also following the passing away of my father, aunt and uncle in a very short space of time reminded me of the impermanency of all things in a very focused way. So this informed the work in a very strong and practical way and let me to creating the work in the manner I did."

So, is there ultimately a particular point to the exhibition, an aspect or notion of sound that Danny would like the viewers to take with them? And, if so, does this art equate to his work as lecturer in Sound Art at UCC - are the principals, in essence, formed from a simple appreciation of sound, or is it that combined with a knowledge of how to use sound in art that defines the exhibition?

"I teach a module called 'Sounds Like Listening' and it deals with the practice of listening and tries to make students aware of the different aspects of sound art that are out there both acoustic and electronic, both visual and audible. It deals with sound walking, acoustic ecology, field recording and improvisation. One girl had worn her I-pod every day going to college for three years and when she managed to leave it she off discovered what a wonderful audio experience it is just to walk to college and listen as she walked.