Compositions for Involuntary Strings, Michaela Davies
When: 31st October – 3rd November 2013
Where: At various venues across Glasgow
£: Ticket prices vary depending on the event. Some events are free
What is it?
Sonica 2013 is a weekend of world-class sonic art, all with a strong visual element and will take place at various venues around Glasgow from 31st October to 3 November.
Singing mosquitoes from France, an involuntary string quartet from Australia, whispering trumpets from the Netherlands, and a multi-media opera set in the UN-policed buffer zone in Cyprus; Sonica takes you on an international journey around the senses.
Sonica has a mission to produce high quality, cutting edge work by established international artists, provide a UK platform for further performances of exceptional and rarely seen work, and act as a showcase for the best emerging local and international talent.
Highlights will include the UK premiere of Voice, an audio-visual duet by Norwegian artist Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje and light designer HC Gilje, first seen in 2012 at Kontraste Festival in Minoretenkirchein Krems, Austria.
Yannis Kyriakides brings his multi-media opera The Buffer Zone to Scotland for the first time. The audio-visual work explores the boundaries of separation using the recorded voices of UN soldiers, nature field recordings, the sound of military technology, piano and cello.
Whispers, Rob van Rijswijk, Jeroen Stijbos and Pierluigi Pompei
Whispers is a ceramic sound sculpture produced by November Music and composers Rob van Rijswijk and Jeroen Strijbos, with visual artist Pierluigi Pompeï. In a darkened room five white ceramic horns light up. Each horn allows the viewer a glimpse of a sound world balancing between speech and noise. The different resonance frequencies of each horn form a pentatonic system that is central to this installation.
This year’s Sonica Artist in Residence is Australian composer and artist Michaela Davies. Davies’s recent work uses live percussion, sonified data and composed MIDI scores to control motor function in performers via electric muscle stimulation (EMS) blurring the lines between who is actually playing in the performance. Davies is spending a month in Glasgow, developing Involuntary Playing, which will culminate in a performance at Tramway on 2nd November.
Walk with Me – Sounds in Your Pocket has been specially commissioned for Sonica. Dutch composers Rob van Rijswijk and Jeroen Strijbos have created a sound processing musical smartphone app that blurs the boundaries between installation and composition. Using GPS data to trigger specific sound events, the pair have created a sound walk with music through Glasgow that amplifies the sonic aura of everyday sound into a personalised cinematic experience.
Lunchbox is a series of unique lunchbox performances created by multidisciplinary performance artist Josh Armstrong. A brown cardboard box invites you to go on a solo lunchtime adventure, full of sounds, tastes, and smells. Hidden behind treats and sweets a performance unfolds in the most unlikely of places.
More info: sonic-a.co.uk