“The worldwide spread of COVID-19 and the associated social changes have impacted our lives in a manner that has no precedent in recent times. How has the initial shock changed our professional and personal relationships? Does this pandemic mark a permanent change to how we work and share? Is this a societal event that will soon be normalised?
ISSTA has invited international artists working with sound to share their responses to this situation as composers and performers. We have curated a series of three concerts featuring live performance and fixed media works in audio and video formats. We feel that this selection of work demonstrates a range of changing methods of individual practice, collaboration, and sonic discovery made during 2020.
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CONCERT 1: Living Spaces / / Friday 14 August 2-4pm BST
An afternoon concert of music and discussions with composers and performers on themes of listening, field recording, soundscapes and sonic environments.
Featuring performances and works by Bill Vine, Caroline Boë, Evidence, HIVE Choir, Judith Goodman & David Ross, Michael Speers, Pete Stollery, Sarah Ellen Lundy, Teddy Hunter and Viv Corringham.
CONCERT 2: Consequences / / Friday 14 August 7-9pm BST
An evening concert of music and discussions with composers and performers on themes of chance, improvisation, synthesis and tonality.
Featuring performances and works by Adam Pultz Melby, Ben Glas, Brian Bridges, Catherine Lee & Juniana Lanning, Eric Lyon, Iris Garrelfs, Lars Bröndum, Lynlee, Mirism, and Monty Adkins & Hali Santamas
CONCERT 3: Transitions / / Saturday 15 August 7-9pm BST
An evening concert of music and discussions with composers and performers on themes of systems, networks, collaboration and distortion.
Featuring performances and works by Cecilia Suhr, Didem Coskunseven & Shania Selvendran, John Bowers & Paul Stapleton, John D’Arcy, Laura Nygren & Michele Cheng, Rob Casey, Rosa Park, The Quiet Club
We hope these concerts will allow us to come together in convivial atmospheres where we can share our insights, discoveries, and accomplishments.”
Live text from Zoom event:
19:58:57 From Brona Martin : Iris you might make it bigger using the view options. We can’t on our end I’m afraid
19:59:53 From i.garrelfs@gold.ac.uk : Thanks Bona, doesn’t´t seem to work this end, no worries :)
20:01:48 From Brona Martin To Ben Glas(privately) : Hey Ben, we had programmed you for 10 mins.
20:01:59 From Brona Martin To Ben Glas(privately) : If we can get closer to this it would be great
20:02:05 From Maura McDonnell : Score For Islands - Fabulous
20:03:46 From Sarah Ellen : oh my!
20:03:58 From Sarah Ellen : brilliant!
20:04:04 From Brona Martin To i.garrelfs@gold.ac.uk(privately) : Just put JPEGS into the chat of the score. Hope that helps. Zoom is annoying!
20:04:35 From i.garrelfs@gold.ac.uk To Brona Martin(privately) : Thanks!
20:05:49 From Sarah Ellen : no good, no goos
20:06:08 From Brona Martin : If anyone can’t turn on their mic because you need permission from the host just let us know in the chat
20:09:40 From Sarah Ellen : deergod, freereign=profeignn YES more of THISSS
20:09:46 From Mark Boyd : FLUXUS LIVES!!! this is GREAT!
20:13:35 From Ben Glas : 5 more minutes everybody!
20:17:14 From Brona Martin : 1 more minute
20:18:18 From Ben Glas : Fade iut
20:18:20 From Ben Glas : Out!
20:19:14 From Brona Martin To Ben Glas(privately) : Ben can you end this
20:19:15 From Brona Martin To Ben Glas(privately) : Thank you
20:19:26 From Brona Martin To Ben Glas(privately) : fantastic
Score For Islands: Zoom Edition
(by ben glas)
1. Begin by picking something to read out loud.
It can be anything you would like, really.
It can be a book,
an article off the web,
a zine,
or anything that catches
your imagination
in the moment.
2. Scour the writing and find something you fancy reading.
When you feel ready:
3. Begin reading out loud.
4. You may read however you would like.
you may read as fast
or as
s l o w l y
as you would like.
You may whisper,
yell,
sing,
chant,
yelp,
or speak
in any way you feel fit.
5. You may also, at any time,
start and stop
to select a new piece of writing to read
or, simply,
to listen.
6. Perhaps you overhear another performer
reading something that is
harmonic
or
dissonant
to what you are reading?
Take into consideration
how the context of your text
is working with
or against
the text of the other readers.
You may make personal choices
about how you read
and how your text
relates to other performers
and their texts.
7. There are no right or wrong connections to be made
just opinions,
social constructions,
personal biases
and happenstance synchronicities.
(and that’s totally natural)
*a note to both audience members and performers:
your zoom interface curation
and personal positioning within
is wholly up to you.
The sifting and cycling through
the various readers
is
the act of composing.
The underlying concept of this piece is that there are connections to be found everywhere.
Just as no person is an island, neither are the concepts that unfold both mundanely
and spiritually.
Our minds may act as abstract projectors, beaming assumptions
and concretizing patterns; internally and externally.
Wherever the truth may lie, this composition is based on the audience members projecting,
searching and making assumptive connections between the various texts and contexts
as read and presented by the various performers of the piece.
Audience members, at any point, may become performers-
simply through reading out loud and joining the chaotic choir.
Thank You for your attention and participation.
I hope you are well and safe.
Happy composing,
Ben