You may remember that last year, when I was making Triquetra, that I met Dr Eleanor Barraclough and became involved in contributing audio from Triquetra for a short piece on 'Nightwaves' on Radio 3, (starting at 22:45) looking at the power of Old Norse and Old English as languages.
Eleanor's work is part of the New Generation Thinkers program at the BBC.
I was delighted to be asked to contribute sound to another piece by Eleanor, this time focussing on the difference between the facts and fiction about the Vikings. The differences between myth and reality are quite marked in some areas. Extracts from 'Triquetra' and 'Contours' are both heard in this film. (click on the links to see/hear the pieces online).
In addition, right now there is a unique exhibition on the Vikings at the British Museum too, so it couldn't be a better time to dig deep into one of my favourite subjects.
Showing posts with label Illuminating York Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illuminating York Festival. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
An interview with Musey online
It's been an interesting 2014 so far!
Musey is a Harvard University startup. They have developed an app that can be found here.
The idea of the app is to let you know where to find art and artists outside traditional venues and institutions. It benefits artists & those who wish to see art or attend alternative events, providing a usable digital platform for them to find each other.
Judy Sue Fulton, one of Musey's dedicated co-founders and a graduate of Harvard University, kindly asked me if I would be happy to be interviewed for their blog. The results of our conversations over Skype and the Atlantic Ocean can be heard here.
The posts also contain some behind-the-scenes pictures of 'Rose' from the Illuminating York Festival in 2010 as well as some written info on how a piece like 'Crown of Light', for the Durham Lumiere Festival last year, was approached technically.
Musey is a Harvard University startup. They have developed an app that can be found here.
The idea of the app is to let you know where to find art and artists outside traditional venues and institutions. It benefits artists & those who wish to see art or attend alternative events, providing a usable digital platform for them to find each other.
Judy Sue Fulton, one of Musey's dedicated co-founders and a graduate of Harvard University, kindly asked me if I would be happy to be interviewed for their blog. The results of our conversations over Skype and the Atlantic Ocean can be heard here.
The posts also contain some behind-the-scenes pictures of 'Rose' from the Illuminating York Festival in 2010 as well as some written info on how a piece like 'Crown of Light', for the Durham Lumiere Festival last year, was approached technically.
Friday, 8 November 2013
A Triquetra Conversation
Ross and I had a conversation with a couple of people in a windy Eye Of York about 'Triquetra'.
That conversation, recorded by Nathan Johnston, can be heard here now in all its ad hoc glory!
That conversation, recorded by Nathan Johnston, can be heard here now in all its ad hoc glory!
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
A Guide to 'Triquetra': 2. The Jelling Dynasty
Harald Bluetooth (King of Denmark 958-986, King of Norway 970-986)
Harald Bluetooth began ruling Denmark in 958AD & left the Danes a notable legacy. Whilst he did not get to England, he laid the foundations for his son to do so by consolidating and reinforcing Denmark as a single entity.
His achievements in this area form the core of his story and some of this is now key archaeology in Denmark.
One of the Jelling Stones in Denmark is a carved stone monument he erected in memory of his parents, which relates not just where and from whom he comes from personally but announces how he was the king to make the Danes Christian.
The 'Heimskringla', another important document once again penned by Snorri Sturluson, says the same thing. The Heimskringla is a series of sagas of Norwegian kings that takes other notable neighbouring kings into its annals.
We spent a great deal of time with this document, working with several sagas for all three of our Danish kings.
Neil Oliver recently emphasised in his historical work on the Vikings that becoming Christian was highly politically advantageous, offering a certain amount of protection from Christian neighbours. Whether Harald was truly converted remains open to question, though he did build a church at Jelling.
Harald was also practical king, shoring up the land defences, or the Danavirke (Dane-work) against outside invaders. This extensive series of ditches still remain in parts of Denmark and were reinforced further during later eras.
We are told Sweyn Forkbeard, his son, decided he wanted something to rule over & requested to have part of Denmark for his own. Harald was going to keep his kingdom in one piece, no matter what.
Thus came Harald's downfall. Not taking "no" for an answer, Sweyn gathered forces to attack his own father, Harald was wounded and died. Sweyn took over the whole kingdom of Denmark & Norway in 986AD.
Sweyn Forkbeard (King of Denmark 986-1014, King of Norway 986-995, 999-1014)
Sweyn goes raiding, choosing England as a target. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us Sweyn raided for a considerable number of years. In Triquetra, there are extracts from the highly vivid descriptions of battle from the heroic Old English poem 'The Battle of Maldon', that actually took place in 991 in Essex.
Sweyn last came to England in 1013, 1000 years ago. The people, presumably ground down by raiding, accepted him as king.
On Christmas Day 1013, Sweyn was officially declared King Of England, as well as already being King elsewhere. He didn't last long, about 5 weeks or so. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states he died around Feb 3rd 1014. His remains rested in York for a while before being transferred back to Denmark. Having achieved his prize he didn't live long enough to really enjoy it or leave any lasting personal influence.
With this irony came, for me, a little Anglo-Saxon philosophy. Life, they believed, was on loan, nothing lasts forever. Death awaits us all. Triquetra sums this up prior to Sweyn's demise in a passage from Beowulf to convey this attitude of the times.
Cnut The Great (King of England 1016-1035, King of Denmark 1018-1035, King of Norway 1028-1035)
Cnut became King of England eventually in 1016, after re-conquering England as Aethelred had returned to England when Sweyn died.
Cnut's ruling style was somewhat different to his predecessors. In order to be accepted by the English people, he chose to be like them. He supported the Christian church, spent money and made a very public show of paying due respect. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dutifully records this activity. He transferred the bones of St Alphege, the Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury killed by vikings in 1012, to Canterbury. He paid for new bells at Winchester Cathedral.
In 1020, he wrote a ground-breaking letter now preserved in the York Gospels, declaring the kind of Christian king he intends to be and how he believes his people should also behave. This letter is not written in Latin, the language of the church and scholars, but in Old English, the language of the people.
By now, he was king of England, Denmark, Norway and had parts of Sweden and Scotland also. Where Gorm the Old started with little, Cnut had the North Sea Empire to rule.
As a powerful Christian figure he could attend important European functions, such as the crowning of Conrad II as the new Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1035, after 20 years of a highly successful reign, Cnut died and was buried in Winchester Cathedral, where his remains still rest today.
Harald Bluetooth began ruling Denmark in 958AD & left the Danes a notable legacy. Whilst he did not get to England, he laid the foundations for his son to do so by consolidating and reinforcing Denmark as a single entity.
His achievements in this area form the core of his story and some of this is now key archaeology in Denmark.
The Jelling Rune Stones
One of the Jelling Stones in Denmark is a carved stone monument he erected in memory of his parents, which relates not just where and from whom he comes from personally but announces how he was the king to make the Danes Christian.
The 'Heimskringla', another important document once again penned by Snorri Sturluson, says the same thing. The Heimskringla is a series of sagas of Norwegian kings that takes other notable neighbouring kings into its annals.
The Kringla Leaf - c.1260
We spent a great deal of time with this document, working with several sagas for all three of our Danish kings.
Neil Oliver recently emphasised in his historical work on the Vikings that becoming Christian was highly politically advantageous, offering a certain amount of protection from Christian neighbours. Whether Harald was truly converted remains open to question, though he did build a church at Jelling.
Harald was also practical king, shoring up the land defences, or the Danavirke (Dane-work) against outside invaders. This extensive series of ditches still remain in parts of Denmark and were reinforced further during later eras.
We are told Sweyn Forkbeard, his son, decided he wanted something to rule over & requested to have part of Denmark for his own. Harald was going to keep his kingdom in one piece, no matter what.
Thus came Harald's downfall. Not taking "no" for an answer, Sweyn gathered forces to attack his own father, Harald was wounded and died. Sweyn took over the whole kingdom of Denmark & Norway in 986AD.
Sweyn Forkbeard (King of Denmark 986-1014, King of Norway 986-995, 999-1014)
Sweyn goes raiding, choosing England as a target. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us Sweyn raided for a considerable number of years. In Triquetra, there are extracts from the highly vivid descriptions of battle from the heroic Old English poem 'The Battle of Maldon', that actually took place in 991 in Essex.
Sweyn last came to England in 1013, 1000 years ago. The people, presumably ground down by raiding, accepted him as king.
Sweyn Forkbeard Coin
On Christmas Day 1013, Sweyn was officially declared King Of England, as well as already being King elsewhere. He didn't last long, about 5 weeks or so. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states he died around Feb 3rd 1014. His remains rested in York for a while before being transferred back to Denmark. Having achieved his prize he didn't live long enough to really enjoy it or leave any lasting personal influence.
With this irony came, for me, a little Anglo-Saxon philosophy. Life, they believed, was on loan, nothing lasts forever. Death awaits us all. Triquetra sums this up prior to Sweyn's demise in a passage from Beowulf to convey this attitude of the times.
A page of Beowulf from the British Library
Cnut The Great (King of England 1016-1035, King of Denmark 1018-1035, King of Norway 1028-1035)
Cnut became King of England eventually in 1016, after re-conquering England as Aethelred had returned to England when Sweyn died.
Cnut's ruling style was somewhat different to his predecessors. In order to be accepted by the English people, he chose to be like them. He supported the Christian church, spent money and made a very public show of paying due respect. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dutifully records this activity. He transferred the bones of St Alphege, the Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury killed by vikings in 1012, to Canterbury. He paid for new bells at Winchester Cathedral.
Cnut gives a cross to Hyde Abbey
In 1020, he wrote a ground-breaking letter now preserved in the York Gospels, declaring the kind of Christian king he intends to be and how he believes his people should also behave. This letter is not written in Latin, the language of the church and scholars, but in Old English, the language of the people.
By now, he was king of England, Denmark, Norway and had parts of Sweden and Scotland also. Where Gorm the Old started with little, Cnut had the North Sea Empire to rule.
As a powerful Christian figure he could attend important European functions, such as the crowning of Conrad II as the new Holy Roman Emperor.
In 1035, after 20 years of a highly successful reign, Cnut died and was buried in Winchester Cathedral, where his remains still rest today.
A Guide to 'Triquetra' - 1. Creating The World
The best stories start with "once upon a time" and this is no different.
Once upon a time, there was nothing, so says the Prose Edda, before it begins to describe the creation of the world, from the meeting of the realms of Fire and Ice and how that created the germs of Life in water droplets through to the fallen giant Ymer giving his very flesh and bones to the creation of the material world. If that wasn't enough, Othin casts down the Midgard serpent Jormungand, that gigantic offspring of Loki, into the ocean around Midgard, surrounding this new earthly creation by biting his own tail.
This story, written down in the 13th century, is believed to have strong roots back into earlier older stories, passed via oral traditions, from the pre-Christian period of Scandinavian history.
For us, and for Triquetra, we wish to charter the story arc of the change from paganism to Christianity and so found this a natural starting point. Such dramatic storytelling from the quill of the 12th-13th century skald Snorri Sturluson also finds a natural mirror in the interpretation of meteorological and cosmic phenomena of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
The Chronicle is a determined attempt to document the history of the English people. Begun in the late 9th century during the reign of Alfred the Great, himself a champion of the ideals of literacy and the spreading & storing of knowledge, it was maintained long after his passing and contains a detailed and colourful interpretation of the perceived ill omens & final devastating effects of the first viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793 AD.
This is the first point England really felt viking presence and raiding activity and as such, we felt it worth drawing real life and myth together, the fiery dragons in the sky and the dragon headed ships coming from overseas.
To get a good detailed idea & explanation of the sheer power of the Old Norse language here as well as the Old English counterpart, I recommend this recent BBC Radio 3 broadcast on 'Nightwaves'. This short piece (starting at 22:45) features extracts from the Triquetra sound piece alongside Dr Eleanor Barraclough's excellent piece on the sound of spoken Norse and Old English word, how colourful and descriptive they are, hinting at what makes them compelling for so many people.
Once upon a time, there was nothing, so says the Prose Edda, before it begins to describe the creation of the world, from the meeting of the realms of Fire and Ice and how that created the germs of Life in water droplets through to the fallen giant Ymer giving his very flesh and bones to the creation of the material world. If that wasn't enough, Othin casts down the Midgard serpent Jormungand, that gigantic offspring of Loki, into the ocean around Midgard, surrounding this new earthly creation by biting his own tail.
18th Century title page for the Prose Edda
This story, written down in the 13th century, is believed to have strong roots back into earlier older stories, passed via oral traditions, from the pre-Christian period of Scandinavian history.
For us, and for Triquetra, we wish to charter the story arc of the change from paganism to Christianity and so found this a natural starting point. Such dramatic storytelling from the quill of the 12th-13th century skald Snorri Sturluson also finds a natural mirror in the interpretation of meteorological and cosmic phenomena of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
The Chronicle is a determined attempt to document the history of the English people. Begun in the late 9th century during the reign of Alfred the Great, himself a champion of the ideals of literacy and the spreading & storing of knowledge, it was maintained long after his passing and contains a detailed and colourful interpretation of the perceived ill omens & final devastating effects of the first viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793 AD.
Lindisfarne Abbey today
This is the first point England really felt viking presence and raiding activity and as such, we felt it worth drawing real life and myth together, the fiery dragons in the sky and the dragon headed ships coming from overseas.
To get a good detailed idea & explanation of the sheer power of the Old Norse language here as well as the Old English counterpart, I recommend this recent BBC Radio 3 broadcast on 'Nightwaves'. This short piece (starting at 22:45) features extracts from the Triquetra sound piece alongside Dr Eleanor Barraclough's excellent piece on the sound of spoken Norse and Old English word, how colourful and descriptive they are, hinting at what makes them compelling for so many people.
Triquetra at the Illuminating York Festival
Triquetra: The Shield Wall
Ross Ashton (of The Projection Studio) and myself were delighted to have won a commission from the Illuminating York Festival this year to bring the early medieval period of Scandinavian & English history to life.
For followers of my blog and my work, you will know that this is not unfamiliar territory for me - 'Contours', a quadrophonic sound installation focusses on the sounds of the languages of Old Norse, Old English and their modern descendants in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, English and Icelandic. It also worked specifically with the poetry of the Poetic Edda and Beowulf to construct a sonic atmosphere that worked with the roots of skaldic storytelling and ritual. The aim was to focus on the father of the Norse gods, Othin/Odin as the generator of myth, story & tradition through a digital oral tradition.
Triquetra takes a different view. This time we position ourselves firmly in history to look at the fascinating story of Harald Bluetooth, Sweyn Forkbeard & Canute the Great, the three kings of the Jelling dynasty who oversaw enormous political and religious change amongst the lands that connect to the North Sea.
I decided from the outset to return to the original languages of Old Norse and Old English and I feel enormously privileged to have been supported by volunteer academics and students from a number of universities, who really wanted to support this project. The knowledge base this country holds of this material is rather humbling and worthy of mention, so my thanks go to the universities of Aberystwyth, Cambridge, Sheffield, Warwick and York for being the home and teaching centres for such an amazing period of literature and history. Named thanks will come to those individuals later!
I decided to let the texts themselves tell the story and when you listen you're as likely to hear history chronicles as well as poetry, not to mention some solid sagas from Iceland. It took 6 months of research and reading to select the parts that referred to the story specifically, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as well as passages which capture something of the attitude and philosophy of both the vikings and the Anglo-Saxons they set out to plunder and rule over!
I was able to build on the knowledge base I had built through 'Contours' and take it out even further. The sharp-eared amongst you will also hear me re-visit certain fragments of early music that were heard in Contours, re-arranged and placed into a new context within this piece.
The audio experience, I hope, is a rich one.
The visual experience is a striking one and already many images of the projection are circulating through all forms of media.
I finish this post with some links to some of those images and articles before I present you with my online guide to Triquetra & its history for the curious!
I do hope those who are able to come to York over the next four days will be able to experience this piece which is very special to both Ross and myself.
Triquetra projected onto Clifford's Tower.
Written article on some background to how Triquetra came to be
PDF brochure of Illuminating York 2013
Illuminating York website
To see more pictures, go here for Ross' photostream of The Projection Studio works.
You can follow me on Twitter for updates using the button in the sidebar.
You can also follow Ross Ashton on Twitter by searching for @projstudio
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Have A Listen...An Autumnal Special
The need to be productive has been upon me somewhat this autumn. More projects announced in due course.
In the meantime, when I can, I have been gathering together some edits and material to share with you in this blog. Many people have requested I put my work together for a website. I enjoy writing directly in this way about the things that move me, blog style, and also to put short messages into the ether via Twitter.
For those of you who are new, there are links to works online for 'Contours' on this site, played at Odin's Glow in 2009 and at Illuminating York 2011, outside York Minster.
For more long standing people, here are some edits for you to hear. All of this material hasn't been heard since it was played at the relevant arts exhibitions and events.
I know some enquiries have come in this week. Answering those, yes indeed, details about the original piece we did for the Illuminating York Festival in 2008 are available for viewing and hearing online! Parts from our archive footage for 'Accendo' have been available for viewing for some time and can be seen online here. A short explanation on the inspiration behind it can be found in the same place. The theme of the relationship between art, science and the transmission of knowledge is a fascinating one. I seized on the opportunity to work with a combination of self-written scripts and original texts by Alcuin of York. The soundscape was complex and perhaps deserving of a post in its own right.
But moving on...
I should mention that as I put the extract here, there are also some very good images to be found on my fellow creator Ross Ashton's flickr photostream here: rehearsal shots and event pictures.
If you click on the title, you'll go to pages on this blog where I spoke about it at the time.
This edit contains extracts from the sections 'Yorkshire Rose' and 'The Rose Garden' where I worked with a number of local performers, many involved in the Mystery Plays cycle, to record poetry for the piece. Early music enthusiasts present at the time may have spotted the musical motif (which returned throughout in various disguises) of the medieval carol ' 'Ther is no rose'.
VIA MARIS
THE CURIOSITY BOX
A little something seasonal and wintry.
I was commissioned to create a piece to accompany an interactive video snow globe created by The Projection Studio in 2008. It doesn't feature on this blog, but was destined for the award-winning Enchanted Parks 2008, along with a sound installation I created for the rose garden there, called 'All My Love'.
Tweet
In the meantime, when I can, I have been gathering together some edits and material to share with you in this blog. Many people have requested I put my work together for a website. I enjoy writing directly in this way about the things that move me, blog style, and also to put short messages into the ether via Twitter.
For those of you who are new, there are links to works online for 'Contours' on this site, played at Odin's Glow in 2009 and at Illuminating York 2011, outside York Minster.
For more long standing people, here are some edits for you to hear. All of this material hasn't been heard since it was played at the relevant arts exhibitions and events.
I know some enquiries have come in this week. Answering those, yes indeed, details about the original piece we did for the Illuminating York Festival in 2008 are available for viewing and hearing online! Parts from our archive footage for 'Accendo' have been available for viewing for some time and can be seen online here. A short explanation on the inspiration behind it can be found in the same place. The theme of the relationship between art, science and the transmission of knowledge is a fascinating one. I seized on the opportunity to work with a combination of self-written scripts and original texts by Alcuin of York. The soundscape was complex and perhaps deserving of a post in its own right.
But moving on...
ROSE - ILLUMINATING YORK 2010
I should mention that as I put the extract here, there are also some very good images to be found on my fellow creator Ross Ashton's flickr photostream here: rehearsal shots and event pictures.
If you click on the title, you'll go to pages on this blog where I spoke about it at the time.
This edit contains extracts from the sections 'Yorkshire Rose' and 'The Rose Garden' where I worked with a number of local performers, many involved in the Mystery Plays cycle, to record poetry for the piece. Early music enthusiasts present at the time may have spotted the musical motif (which returned throughout in various disguises) of the medieval carol ' 'Ther is no rose'.
VIA MARIS
This is a son et lumiere seen/heard at St Andrews Festival 2009.
The first part of the edit is from 'The Dream of St. Regulus', the second part is 'Fish Tango'.
THE CURIOSITY BOX
A little something seasonal and wintry.
I was commissioned to create a piece to accompany an interactive video snow globe created by The Projection Studio in 2008. It doesn't feature on this blog, but was destined for the award-winning Enchanted Parks 2008, along with a sound installation I created for the rose garden there, called 'All My Love'.
Tweet
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Contours at Illuminating York 2011
I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to re-exhibit 'Contours' at such a rich historic site. Many thanks to everybody who came to experience 'Contours' in the Dean's Park. I am told by worthy statisticians that Contours welcomed 50,000 people into its circle of light over the four days of the Festival and those of you who were kind enough to offer your thoughts at the onsite surveys said how much you enjoyed engaging with it.
I would like to thank everybody who came, including those who I spoke with during the artist one-on-one sessions at the Park. This Festival has always been a pleasure to be involved with and the level of organiser support to facilitate what I have needed to do has always been impressive and efficient, so thank you also to everybody who worked with me on re-shaping Contours for York. Special thanks has to go to Nev Milson, the lighting designer who worked to make the Contours circle structure a reality and to the production manager Ben Pugh for all the onsite technical arrangements and negotiations for the work.
I really enjoyed the one-on-ones with the people who came. It was really rewarding to show you images of the original texts, the reproduction lyre I played for it, show you the scripts and translations we worked with and wrote. Highlights must be letting people have a go on my flutes made of sheep and deer bone!
You can retweet all Contours posts and information from the button below, or hear it if you click here.
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Wednesday, 2 November 2011
'Contours' - The Weekend: Illuminating York 2011
As part of the event, over the final two days, I set up a spot in the information tent where I showed some of the instruments I used for the piece, as well as my research work and the numerous scripts in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, English and Icelandic. I was also able to show images of the original texts of the Poetic Edda and Beowulf.
As part of the these conversations, certain questions came up regularly. The first one was where the idea came from for 'Contours' originally. As well as showing the original site, I was able to explain how I had decided to adapt it for the Dean's Park and why.
Night In The Dean's Park
Those of you who have read my notes before will notice that the piece originally was in a field and had a strong relationship with the rural landscape there. For the Dean's Park, I felt it was more appropriate to work within a circle of light, where people could enter the circle and essentially walk into a sound world which was filled with sounds known to the Viking and Saxon population, the shapes of music and words.
The circle made it clear where to stand and that you could enter and exit this world.
Late Evening: Friday Night
Most importantly, I wanted to embrace the idea of oral tradition. This poetry is powerful and very vivid in its imagery. It was a conscious decision to have the words be the strongest element, that translation into English was part of the piece and that visuals should contribute atmosphere but not dominate. For some people, this was a very new experience. We are now a very visual society, we expect our information to come via visual form. This was not always the case. Hearing was the sense that alerted us to what we could not see when lighting was poor or non-existent. For some people in certain parts of the world that is still the case. I was aware that the power of storytelling for earlier communities really relied on our ability to listen and to allow the words to paint pictures inside our heads. I wanted to combine this early style of storytelling and entertainment with technology to surround us with those words and music, to help those pictures form without dictating what those pictures are.
I knew this would make the piece challenging and very different. I was pleased then to see how many people contacted me who found it moving and entirely new and exciting to experience.
First Playback: Friday Night - 400 people present
I'm very grateful to the Illuminating York Festival for seeing how this piece illuminated York's history by combining modern technology with older techniques of storytelling and inviting myself to the Festival to restage the installation by the Minster.
As part of the these conversations, certain questions came up regularly. The first one was where the idea came from for 'Contours' originally. As well as showing the original site, I was able to explain how I had decided to adapt it for the Dean's Park and why.
Night In The Dean's Park
Those of you who have read my notes before will notice that the piece originally was in a field and had a strong relationship with the rural landscape there. For the Dean's Park, I felt it was more appropriate to work within a circle of light, where people could enter the circle and essentially walk into a sound world which was filled with sounds known to the Viking and Saxon population, the shapes of music and words.
The circle made it clear where to stand and that you could enter and exit this world.
Late Evening: Friday Night
Most importantly, I wanted to embrace the idea of oral tradition. This poetry is powerful and very vivid in its imagery. It was a conscious decision to have the words be the strongest element, that translation into English was part of the piece and that visuals should contribute atmosphere but not dominate. For some people, this was a very new experience. We are now a very visual society, we expect our information to come via visual form. This was not always the case. Hearing was the sense that alerted us to what we could not see when lighting was poor or non-existent. For some people in certain parts of the world that is still the case. I was aware that the power of storytelling for earlier communities really relied on our ability to listen and to allow the words to paint pictures inside our heads. I wanted to combine this early style of storytelling and entertainment with technology to surround us with those words and music, to help those pictures form without dictating what those pictures are.
I knew this would make the piece challenging and very different. I was pleased then to see how many people contacted me who found it moving and entirely new and exciting to experience.
First Playback: Friday Night - 400 people present
I'm very grateful to the Illuminating York Festival for seeing how this piece illuminated York's history by combining modern technology with older techniques of storytelling and inviting myself to the Festival to restage the installation by the Minster.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
'Contours' First Night: Illuminating York 2011
The Illuminating York festival successfully got underway last night with reports from the public of a bending building down at the Eye of York and ethereal Viking presence at the Dean's Park by the Minster.
The atmosphere in the Park was quite wonderful - the piece invites the listener to stand within a circle of light to hear the languages and the poetry, to experience the sounds of early medieval instruments and even older instruments, such as the bullroarer and bone flute.
The idea of the circle on this site for me opens up all the ideas associated with the passing on of stories via oral tradition, the way you gather around a fire to be entertained and informed by those who have committed to memory both myths and how one should approach the gods.
The Contours site early evening, prior to opening...
For Contours in York, this knowledge, this experience, comes to you as you stand in the centre of the sound moving around you, the Viking and Anglo-Saxon ancestors come to you. There is also the unity of experience offered to everyone in the circle.
Usually we all look to a specific given point for visual stimulus. Inside the circle, there is no fixed point, you can move round the circle and hear it differently wherever you stand, the circle changes its atmosphere through the supporting lighting and 'woodsmoke'.
My experience of the site has been quite powerful when the weather actually gets going and the wind is whipping through the trees. It was originally conceived to work within and fuse with a rural environment so instead of the weather detracting from the experience, in the Dean's Park it positively enhances it. So, if it is windy, definitely come down! The sounds of the rustling trees with the kulning, the raven cries, the music and the whispered poetry is a unique and very positive experience.
If anybody out there is particularly drawn by ideas of Viking history, epic poetry and the Edda, talk of the Nordic gods in a suggestive atmosphere, one which spreads over the Park and seems to just enhance the peaceful mysticism of the space next to the Minster, then this is the place for you! (Between 6.30pm and 10pm every evening, last night Saturday.)
I must also say a word here about my companion here on lighting, Nev Milson. He has done a wonderful job of supporting this installation and working with me on creating an overall feel in the unpredictable outdoors. The lighting and effects are being manipulated live in response to the audience throughout the evening.
Here are some pictures from the circle last night. Some are a little soft due to low light conditions, but they give an interesting impression of what it going on:
The atmosphere in the Park was quite wonderful - the piece invites the listener to stand within a circle of light to hear the languages and the poetry, to experience the sounds of early medieval instruments and even older instruments, such as the bullroarer and bone flute.
The idea of the circle on this site for me opens up all the ideas associated with the passing on of stories via oral tradition, the way you gather around a fire to be entertained and informed by those who have committed to memory both myths and how one should approach the gods.
The Contours site early evening, prior to opening...
For Contours in York, this knowledge, this experience, comes to you as you stand in the centre of the sound moving around you, the Viking and Anglo-Saxon ancestors come to you. There is also the unity of experience offered to everyone in the circle.
Usually we all look to a specific given point for visual stimulus. Inside the circle, there is no fixed point, you can move round the circle and hear it differently wherever you stand, the circle changes its atmosphere through the supporting lighting and 'woodsmoke'.
My experience of the site has been quite powerful when the weather actually gets going and the wind is whipping through the trees. It was originally conceived to work within and fuse with a rural environment so instead of the weather detracting from the experience, in the Dean's Park it positively enhances it. So, if it is windy, definitely come down! The sounds of the rustling trees with the kulning, the raven cries, the music and the whispered poetry is a unique and very positive experience.
If anybody out there is particularly drawn by ideas of Viking history, epic poetry and the Edda, talk of the Nordic gods in a suggestive atmosphere, one which spreads over the Park and seems to just enhance the peaceful mysticism of the space next to the Minster, then this is the place for you! (Between 6.30pm and 10pm every evening, last night Saturday.)
I must also say a word here about my companion here on lighting, Nev Milson. He has done a wonderful job of supporting this installation and working with me on creating an overall feel in the unpredictable outdoors. The lighting and effects are being manipulated live in response to the audience throughout the evening.
Here are some pictures from the circle last night. Some are a little soft due to low light conditions, but they give an interesting impression of what it going on:
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Contours Installation: Illuminating York 2011
Yesterday was a beautiful day onsite at York Minster, atmospheric and evocative.
Here are some pictures of activity yesterday:
After dark, the Park was transformed:
Looking forward to seeing how it looks tonight.
Here are some pictures of activity yesterday:
After dark, the Park was transformed:
Looking forward to seeing how it looks tonight.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
'Contours' at Illuminating York 2011
I am absolutely delighted to announce that 'Contours', my piece exploring the poetic, religious and musical culture of the Viking settlers and Anglo-Saxons, is to be part of the Illuminating York Festival this year.
I have been part of the Festival twice before, collaborating with Ross Ashton on both occasions for twin-site installation 'Accendo' in 2008 and last year with 'Rose', a son et lumiere at York Minster. This year though is a entirely fresh approach from the Festival to continue to explore new interpretations of what 'illuminating York' means, and understanding that includes an expansion of ideas and perceptions of York as a place. Already famous for its Viking heritage, to be able to take in Contours as a new expression of what that heritage means is quite meaningful. As a sound creator, this development for the Festival is very exciting and I am pleased to be part of it, and supply the "early" history portion of this year's public art to juxtapose with the more modern history of "Envisions" at the Castle Museum.
In the meantime, here is a link to the Festival brochure. i plan to be onsite throughout the Festival. As usual, I like to make myself available for anyone who wants to talk about 'Contours' or anything else!
I have been part of the Festival twice before, collaborating with Ross Ashton on both occasions for twin-site installation 'Accendo' in 2008 and last year with 'Rose', a son et lumiere at York Minster. This year though is a entirely fresh approach from the Festival to continue to explore new interpretations of what 'illuminating York' means, and understanding that includes an expansion of ideas and perceptions of York as a place. Already famous for its Viking heritage, to be able to take in Contours as a new expression of what that heritage means is quite meaningful. As a sound creator, this development for the Festival is very exciting and I am pleased to be part of it, and supply the "early" history portion of this year's public art to juxtapose with the more modern history of "Envisions" at the Castle Museum.
In the meantime, here is a link to the Festival brochure. i plan to be onsite throughout the Festival. As usual, I like to make myself available for anyone who wants to talk about 'Contours' or anything else!
Monday, 12 September 2011
Autumn 2011 Update
It may appear that not a lot has been happening over the past few months as I haven't posted.
I find that many projects go through certain stages and at the earliest stages I prefer to focus on the work at hand rather than create posts about it.
I have been a little behind as some projects have completed in the interim so in this post I will give a brief round-up of what has been happening and speak about the individual projects in their turn.
So, here's the update:
EARLIER THIS YEAR: A son et lumiere I programmed last year has won an industry award. I programmed the historical piece for the Purana Quila in Delhi to form part of the cultural programme for the Commonwealth Games in India last year.
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo took a new step forward as the new stands allowed for better positioning of technology and new inclusion of lighting technology. Very pleasing and exciting from a projecting point of view.
THIS MONTH: The Diespeker Wharf Project son et lumiere, a private commission, went live and was hugely successful. I created the soundtrack for that work, which covered 2000 years of history of the site.
COMING SOON: I have been invited back to the Illuminating York Festival this October to re-exhibit my sound work, 'Contours'. This is very exciting for me to be part of exploring a new interpretation of York's heritage and history after 'Accendo' in 2008 and 'Rose' in 2010.
I find that many projects go through certain stages and at the earliest stages I prefer to focus on the work at hand rather than create posts about it.
I have been a little behind as some projects have completed in the interim so in this post I will give a brief round-up of what has been happening and speak about the individual projects in their turn.
So, here's the update:
EARLIER THIS YEAR: A son et lumiere I programmed last year has won an industry award. I programmed the historical piece for the Purana Quila in Delhi to form part of the cultural programme for the Commonwealth Games in India last year.
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo took a new step forward as the new stands allowed for better positioning of technology and new inclusion of lighting technology. Very pleasing and exciting from a projecting point of view.
THIS MONTH: The Diespeker Wharf Project son et lumiere, a private commission, went live and was hugely successful. I created the soundtrack for that work, which covered 2000 years of history of the site.
COMING SOON: I have been invited back to the Illuminating York Festival this October to re-exhibit my sound work, 'Contours'. This is very exciting for me to be part of exploring a new interpretation of York's heritage and history after 'Accendo' in 2008 and 'Rose' in 2010.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
"Rose" - The Flower of Flowers: Illuminating York 2010
"Ut Rosa Flos Florum, sic est Domus Ista Domorum"
(As the rose is the flower of flowers, so is this the house of houses)
Inscription at the entrance of the Chapter House, York Minster.
Currently live at York Minster, “Rose” is a son et lumière installation for the Illuminating York Festival. A collaborative work by myself and Ross Ashton, we had such a positive experience creating “Accendo” for the Festival in 2008 that we decided to put forward “Rose” as a project idea for the Minster this year.
The piece is an exploration of the rose, within the central focus of the whole piece being the Rose Window in the Minster. The window gave us our initial inspiration and we found the rose itself to be a very deep and powerful symbol, not least because it is the symbol of Yorkshire and the city of York.
The piece follows a journey from earth to sky, and I wanted to make it one seamless growing flow of sound. It begins with a section which moves through Yorkshire. From a sound perspective, this includes sounds of birds native to Yorkshire and includes recordings of woodland birds and samples of others, including birds of prey, and one of my favourites, the red kite, with recordings by Helen Olive of redkites.net. (Many thanks Helen).
This part is also quite sensual, blending wild nature with other human and more industrial sounds.
This section transforms into the Rose Garden, where spoken poetry speaks of love, emotion, and the rose as a symbol of love. I very much wanted to fuse the sounds of a living thriving natural world with the emotional capacity we have for deep feeling and response.
The voices in this section give way to a recording of the Magnificat by the York Minster choir (permission kindly granted by Regent Records) which takes us to another Rose, that of the Virgin Mary, that ideal of selfless womanhood. This connects strongly to the Minster itself. I wanted to use a Renaissance piece for this section as that contains the polyphony that I could hear in my head, a natural progression from the Rose Garden, from spoken poetry to layers of song.
The final section builds out of the Magnificat chanting. Perfection is symbolised by tones played on glasses with additional sounds of glass as visually we see images of the mathematical significance of the five petalled flower change to vibrant colours and the architectural shape of the building is reimagined in lifesize stained glass.
All my volunteer speakers for “Rose” are local to York and they are:
Sue Casson
Rob Jeffs
Lindsay Ibbotson
Nick Ibbotson
Jill Pratt
Graham Sanderson
Sue Skirrow
Gweno Williams
Tony Wright
Paul Yardley
The recording sessions were a joy and their enthusiasm for the project tremendous, so many thanks indeed to them.
Those of a medieval bent may be interested to know that the medieval carol "There Is no Rose" also appears as musical quotes within each section with a variety of additional harmonies.
If anyone has found themselves intrigued by the compositions of Lassus from listening to "Rose", the Magnificat I chose can be found on this disc along with other compositions of his. Lassus was one of the first Renaissance composers I studied and so I have always had a special resonance for me personally.
Lassus - Great Choral Works
I’ve found the response to be enormously positive, the people of York have been incredibly supportive of the piece and it has been yet another great experience for me working in this city. The culture of York and Yorkshire is incredibly rich and vibrant and it has been a privilege to have been invited back to be part of that once again.
Attendance figures are currently around 40,000 and the Festival still has one more night to go, so do come down for the last night tonight.
Tweet
"Rose" - A review
I have decided to include a post with a link through to this blog as the writer, as well as being a good writer, has really captured many of the things that, for me, "Rose" is about, from ideas to realisation. I will follow this link up with a different view of "Rose", with a little more about its structure and content as I have received some tweets asking questions.
In the meantime, do please read this post.
Grow Happy Rose
Tweet
In the meantime, do please read this post.
Grow Happy Rose
Tweet
Sunday, 3 October 2010
New Work at York: "Rose"
This year, Ross Ashton and I have been commissioned as a collaborative team again to create a son et lumiere work for York Minster for the Illuminating York Festival. Following our very positive experience with "Accendo" in 2008, I was very happy to be invited back to create a piece again for the Festival.
This time, the piece is called "Rose" and will be installed on the South Transept, focussed around the rose window in the Minster.
There is a great deal of richness and depth in the symbology we have chosen to explore with this and so far, once again, it is proving a very positive and fertile project so I'm certain I will enjoy my immersion in it!
Click here for more direct details from the website itself.
This time, the piece is called "Rose" and will be installed on the South Transept, focussed around the rose window in the Minster.
There is a great deal of richness and depth in the symbology we have chosen to explore with this and so far, once again, it is proving a very positive and fertile project so I'm certain I will enjoy my immersion in it!
Click here for more direct details from the website itself.