Modern Art Oxford Residency – February 2018
Vanessa Grasse arrived on the last weekend of the residency and we discussed the theme of the residency, with aesthetics, emotions, movements, philosophy, as well as connection to audience members. We decided to keep improvising, but change the structure accordingly to how each one went, in order to present 6 different performances.
All R&D and open process, with lots of contact with the audience.
Photos by Stu Allsop
Bitches Brew, Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh – Nov 2016
Myself, and Vanessa Grasse (dance, movement, improviser) – our first improvisations together as a duo in Nov 2016.
Vanessa flies in, we do a tiny pep talk, we sort out the aesthetics of movements, and we set up for gig. This gig at Bitches Brew, Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh is my first in Scotland doing my own work, even though im collaborating with Van this time. Emma Smith booked us. She is the organiser of Bitches Brew.
Vanessa’s movements are sometimes following me, and sometimes leading the way, depending on the moment. I don’t have a good video of this gig, but I am using this sandbox which I show below (filmed in STEIM, Amsterdam).
This above, is the sandbox i made in Den Haag and STEIM. Just doing the odd sonic/gestural check up, making sure the sensors worked. Using MaxMSP, and live capture projected onto a three layered hand-made screen which also has light sensors. In the second half, you can see the screen showing the images of my hand as it gets captured (by a camera) on its travels over the sandbox. You can hear the sounds work with the movement. As it is an experiment, it is an R&D process as always, not the ‘finished’ product.
Vanessa Grasse & myself below, at Bitches Brew, @ Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, organised by Emma Smith. November 2016 (Next day’s concert at Glad Cafe, Glasgow)
