I’m delighted to be on a residency at Q-O2 in Brussels for two weeks. See more info at Q-O2.
My priority will be to reflect on Night Vision – a new work-in-progress originally developed at Rough Mix 2019 with Magnetic North Theatre Company. That residency culminated in a live performance….
My reflections will focus on how Night Vision moves forward. If time allows, I will also continue working on a series of visual images that emerged from the source texts as a separate thread.
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. Static Flux was also originally performed as a live broadcast on Radiophrenia and then selected for a Spoken Word live performance at Hidden Door Festival 2018 in Edinburgh.
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.
Tectonics Review The Guardian ****7th May 2019
…”Downstairs in the Old Fruitmarket, Scottish vocalist Nichola Scrutton breathed deeply into a mic, the sounds mirrored by clarinettist Alex South across the room. In between, the audience were caught in a dexterous layering of breath that felt like the wash and roll of the sea.”…
Read the full Tectonics review online…
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 inclusive ensemble, Learning Space and founder Claire Docherty visit Sonic Bothy’s website
A clip of my composition Lateral will be included in BBC Radio 4 prog Shaped by the River Clyde. The programme is about artist and humanitarian George Parsonage, and features artist Minty Donald. Many thanks to Minty for including my work.
Minty originally commissioned Lateral as part of High-Slack-Low-Slack-High for Glasgow International Festival in 2012.
Following up that performance on Dixon Street by the River Clyde, I created a studio version, which has been broadcast internationally.
The starting point for Night Vision is a series of non-narrative texts captured through an experimental writing practice in the middle of the night lying down in a semi-conscious, or liminal, state.
This is a very different artistic approach for me. Early inquiries were focused on selection, how to interact with the texts, and what happens when these words/sounds are given voice off the page?
The work was initially developed at Rough Mix, Magnetic North’s creative development programme. The residency was held in Perth Theatre in January 2019. Big, big thanks to Magnetic North and the artists and performers involved in the residency. Thanks to Lorna, Neil, Ian and Laurie for the first performance sharing of Night Vision. And thanks to Lise for recordings, chat and tech support.
I am very excited to have been selected for the Magnetic North Rough Mix Residency. The residency will be taking place in Perth Theatre, Perth, Scotland for two weeks in January 2019. Read the announcement of participating artists at MN Rough Mix 2019
There will be a sharing of work on 18th January at 6 pm at Perth Theatre. All welcome – free but ticketed from Horsecross Arts.
And here’s a lovely photo by Brian Hartley from the performance…
I was absolutely delighted to be part of the opening of the Beton 7 Festival in Athens on 4th June 2018. The event opened with an introduction by curator Demosthenes Agrafiotis, followed by my solo performance When Night Comes, screenings of Wendy Kirkup’s two films Touches Bloquees and film from a score, and a Q + A session with Wendy and me in conversation with Simon Murray.
After the opening the festival runs from 5th – 17th June 2018. The theme of the festival was “Visions-V_Ideas, Performances”…
“Visions-V_ideas, Performances” celebrates 5 years since its launch at BETON7. In April 2014, it was stated that the set of actions of the festival aimed at exploring the interface between performance and video in the specific frame of the Votanikos neighbourhood – the site of BETON7, Center for the Arts.
A review may be necessary, not in the sense of a conclusion but an assessment for future adjustments. According to a terminology, performance is at the crossroad of the living arts (arts vivants), which rely on the human body as the main tool, in order to found its artistic idiosyncrasy or specificity (dance for example) and the visual arts, where physical elements allow to shape primarily spatial structures (e.g. sculpture). At this crossroad, the video is entering, which is the field, the opportunity to create a new version of what is happening at the aforementioned crossroad from aesthetic and social point of view.”
Many thanks to Rania and Demosthenes for their invitation, welcome and hospitality.
When Night Comes
When Night Comes is a solo performance created in dialogue with Wendy Kirkup’s art film film from a score.
In the film, I performed Berio’s Sequenza III for solo voice. After Wendy’s films were selected to be screened at the Beton 7 Festival in Athens, I was invited to perform at the opening as a response to the film before the screening.
The performance is improvised. I draw inspiration and gestures from both my knowledge of Berio’s score and the compositional and material aesthetic of the film itself.
The performance and screenings originally took place at the 5th Edition of the Beton 7 Festival in Athens, Greece
2018
Opening of the Beton 7 Festival, Athens, Greece
