Martin Creed was born in Wakefield, England, in 1968, but from the age of three was brought up in Glasgow. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London from 1986 – 1990 where he was influenced by the Minimal Art of the 1960s. He continued to work in London until 2001 when he moved to Alicudi, Italy. The same year he was awarded the Turner Prize. Using primarily 'everyday' and 'mundane' materials, Creed consciously avoids making 'aesthetic-led' decisions when creating a piece. He numbers each of his works according to a non-linear system that is unrelated to typical structures of time and meaning. Once a number is assigned, it is never used again. Work No. 117 (1995) is an audio-cassette tape of all the sounds on a drum machine; the inner sleeve in the cassette box also contains text by John O’Reilly. This work is an unlimited edition, published by Galleria Paolo Vitolo, Milan, Italy in 1995.