Zoë Strachan and I continue our exploration of performing live experimental radio artwork. Up Closeness is a dialogue between two green urban spaces, a close look at the local. An attempt to find small connections amid the dislocation from everyday life. Field recordings and voice sounds are combined with found and composed text to animate distinct temporal spaces. Live improvisation and embedded writing practice enact a mimetic re-inhabiting of space.
We first performed Up Closeness as a live broadcast at Radiophrenia Glasgow on 20th November 2020 in CCA Glasgow.
Necessary Notes: A Vocal Response – solo performance as part of the Stolen Voices album launch on 8th February 2020.
“Nichola Scrutton is, as ever, an absolute wonder- her voice can disarm, charm and bewitch….She takes the listener into otherwordly realms, an uncertain space between sleep and consciousness.” (The Tempohouse)
Read the full review by Lorna Irvine.
The album launch was part of a creative research project by Rebecca Collins and Johanna Linsley – more here. The event forms part of ‘The Sonic Study Series: Act I Sonic Practice’ and is a pop-up event for the Festival of Creative Learning 2020, University of Edinburgh. Many thanks to Rebecca and Johanna for the invitation. More info about the event at CCA Stolen Voices.
From the archive – Bruised was my first solo performance work, made in the early 1990s as part of a collaborative project Segami Dance Company with New Zealand performer Hugh Major. Read more at Segami. I am currently going through archive materials to see what remains from that time.
From the archive – Segami Dance Company was a collaborative project with New Zealand performer Hugh Major in the early 1990s in Edinburgh, Scotland. We joined forces after our paths crossed while working in the experimental theatre scene.
We created a handful of works including Bruised (solo), My Heart and My Legs, This Glorious Prison, and Shifting Sands, and performed in Edinburgh, London and a few venues in New Zealand’s north island. During our stay in New Zealand we also held workshops and collaborated with performing arts students to create their own contribution to our performance.
Our main influences were Butoh dance, other movement practices like Tai Chi, and indigenous cultures – we were interested in creating intense, contemplative, energetic work. I am currently going through archive materials to see what remains from that time.
Delighted to be working with Ian Spink, Aya Kobayashi, Skye Reynolds, Selina Boyack and Stella Boyack to develop Radio Play. The immediate focus was a scratch performance for UNFIX Festival 2019. Here’s more info about the event on Sunday 31st March at CCA Glasgow Scratch Night. We re-visited the work for Batch2 Festival In August 2019.
Radio Play A and new work-in-progress Radio Play B performances at Batch Festival in the Borders on Sunday 18th August 2019.
With Ian Spink, Skye Reynolds, Selina Boyack, Rebecca Moore and Stella. Huge thanks to Claire Pencak for hosting. Visit Batch Festival on Facebook for more information.
I was delighted to be selected for a residency at Q-O2 in Brussels for two weeks May/June 2019. See more info at Q-O2. Part of my priority was to reflect on Night Vision – a new work-in-progress originally developed at Rough Mix Residency with Magnetic North Theatre Company. While I was there I also made some recordings, explored some visual artwork as an extension of the Night Vision text and, and gave an improvised performance with cellist Arnold Noid Haberl as part of a public sharing at the Q-O2 space.
Many thanks indeed to all at Q-O2!
Zoë Strachan and I created Rays & Correlations for a live broadcast from the Radiophrenia studio on 15th May 2019. This is our third collaborative radio artwork. Previous works are In Transit and Static Flux.
Inspired by the patterns of cosmic ray interactions in a cloud chamber, we imagine the myriad signals and attempts at communication that might enter a sphere and intersect, cluster, miss or fade away. Rays & Correlations is a voice-focused improvised performance with layers of interactive soundscape.
The listener is invited to find a thread to hold onto amid interweaving sparse and dense streams of words and evocations – and to decide whether the sound space is literal, as inside a kind of radome, or metaphorical – representing any individual consciousness trying to make sense of human connection.
The next performance is at CCA, Glasgow on 26th April 2019. More details at Sonic Bothy’s Facebook page.
Read the article at the link below…
Here’s a link to the review online – scroll down the page to find Sonic Bothy’s album write up…
Scots Whae Hae New Musical Success
For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.
Night Vision (working title) is an interdisciplinary performance project.
The starting point was a series of non-narrative texts and drawings captured in the middle of the night lying down in a semi-conscious state. This was a new approach for me.
Early inquiries focused on selection and how to interact with the texts. What happens when these words and symbols are given voice, off the page? In 2019, initial ideas were explored in a Magnetic North Rough Mix Residency including a public performance at Perth Theatre.
The work is now in the next phase of development. More information to follow…
