Exhibitions | Sonic Bed_London
by Kaffe Matthews and music for bodies playing "Transamorem -
Transmortem" by Eliane Radigue
Sun 12 June - Sun 26 June
Studio 1
12 noon - 9pm
Free
Sonic Bed London is a purpose built portable
venue which plays music that moves for the prone bodies of an
audience. Subtle, dynamic and at times beyond hearing, Sonic Bed
plays music to feel rather than just listen to.
Sonic Bed London was commissioned by Electra for
Her Noise, 2005 supported by the Arts Council
England and Women in Music, and is a central pin in
the research project "music for bodies" exploring sound,
architecture, furniture, clothes and the vibrations of the human
body to make new music and ways of enjoying it
(www.musicforbodies.net). It was awarded a Distinction at Prix
Ars Electronica Digital Music 2006 and has been exhibited in
Austria, France and London.
Sound and Music presents the first major UK retrospective of the
work of Eliane Radigue, one of the most celebrated and influential
of living composers. This London-wide festival stages a curated
selection of Radigue's work including her extraordinary
compositions for acoustic instruments, her classic electronic
compositions and a unique presentation of her installation
works.
At Watermans audience members will be able to experience some of
Radigue's rarely heard and most minimal music on a sonic bed
designed by the artist Kaffe Matthews. Listeners will be able to
lie within Radigue's slowly evolving soundscapes and feel the music
move up, down and around their bodies in ever changing patterns of
vibration. This west London bed is mirrored by another in the east
end, at Rich Mix in Bethnal Green, which plays another unique
Radigue work.
Since the 1960s Eliane Radigue (born Paris, 1932) has created a
singular, powerful and individual body of work. Strongly influenced
by her studies of Tibetan Buddhism, her works since the mid 70s
have explored slowly evolving states where musical change is
perceived as environmental in scale, constant in evolution and
virtually imperceptible in transformation. Often monumental in
duration, her music communicates a sublime spiritual power,
transporting the listener on a journey into the very heart of
sound. A true original, Radigue has followed an artistic path
unfettered through association to any schools and trends. She is
now celebrated as a true innovator, pioneer and musical visionary.
The audience at Triptych will be truly immersed in sound in venues
chosen in consultation with the artist for their resonant beauty
and rich acoustics.
Stand here and you will hear the music, lie in the Bed and you
will feel it make another sense, transformed into an immersive and
intimate experience
Other events in the Triptych season include: Café Oto - Free
launch event
Emmanuel Holterbach is Eliane Radigue's assistant and an
acknowledged expert on her music. Using rarely heard audio examples
from Radigue's personal archive he'll explore the major periods of
the composer's output and the context and ongoing reception of her
work. This event is free and unticketed
Christ Church Spitalfields Performances as part of Spitalfields
Music's Summer Festival of Radigue's celebrated collaborations with
performers including the first UK performance of the monumental
Naldjorlak trilogy and the world premiere of Occam 1 for solo harp,
a work completed this year on her 79th birthday.
St. Stephens Walbrook. Eight concerts of Radigue's classic
electronic works in one of London's most beautiful acoustics. This
concert series will including the epic Trilogie De Le Mort, a
spiritual acoustic journey reflecting on the transcendence of
death, and a special concert of the composer's early and very
rarely heard feedback works.
Works in the Triptych season are performed by leading
international musicians who have become key collaborators with
Eliane Radigue, including Charles Curtis, Carol Robinson, Bruno
Martinez, Kasper T Toeplitz, Rhodri Davies and The Lappetites.
"Eliane Radigue's creative output ranks as one of the most
revered oeuvres in all of electronic music." (Boomkat)
"A total epiphany"
(The Wire on Naldjorlak)
"Time stops, sound surrounds, and when it's done, you're
changed."
(Dusted magazine on Jetsun Mila)
"a steady stream of sonic activity taking place right at the edge
of one's perception"
(New York Times)
Review in
The Guardian
Please see www.soundandmusic.org for
full programme details
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