Okay folks, day four of Sound Symposium! We can do this- go team! Catch a few winks of sleep, have a healthy breakfast and dive back in. Quiet music last night was stunning with Marie-Anne Trudel and William Parker.  There are still tickets for Wednesday’s quiet music concert so get them while they last!

A preview of Paul Bendsza and Krista Vincent’s collaboration was in the second space at the Hall before tonight’s show and Paul was inviting people to contribute to preparing the piano with him by bringing in meaningful and ritual objects, suggestions and notes to share in the happiness pursuit for their show Tuesday night.

Davida Monk and Bill Horist: Putting On the Ice Shirt

“Interactivity” means a few different things, sometimes referring to digital environments and individuals, or spatial triggering by bodies of audience effecting sound and light.

My favourite kind of interactivity is when an artist invites audience to engage, and really listens to their response, allowing it to change the work, and perhaps, even the artist. I also like when the audience is asked to engage (if they like) and they then wander in thought, considering the meaning of the invitation and what a response might mean. A kind of geometry of response is triggered and it moves in many directions, rippling out and returning in complex patterns. I look forward to Krista and Paul’s performance on Tuesday.

The main program at the LSPU Hall moved from the Ice Shirt through hair shirts and significant Newfoundland dogs and into a kind of sophisticated Joe’s garage with a group of friends who clearly love to play together.

Davida Monk and Bill Horist take on the commitment to improvising together in Putting On the Ice Shirt. Being together for 13 years does not mean that improvising together is made easier- it may make it even more demanding as we are sometimes, ironically, less aware of our close partners, daily intimacy giving away to habit, listening to each other disappearing into our own projections. These artists are clearly up to the task of listening to each other, deeply.

I didn’t experience the elemental spaciousness of sky and majesty of the glacier in this work, which I longed for. The character’s trapped and tortured screams and aloneness and fear in the north came through for me and a kind of contained fire in the belly and ground of earth which allows Eriksdottir to greet the demon and enter her power. Of course the power is already hers and the journey is about remembering. I know nothing about this duo’s process but I hope they are able to continue to explore this work and the energies that emerge from it. I loved the sound when Horist used two bows simultaneously and many of the gestures and sounds. I felt that more spaciousness and breath would be something to explore in the overall composition in keeping with glaciers, icebergs and sky. The small break where Davida moved in silence was beautiful but felt very short.

Michelle Bush and I had great fun at Night Music after the main show where Craig Squires, Roz McPhail, Ken Aldcroft and many other local and visiting artists took the stage.  Good vibes, good times and a variety of beer on tap!

 

Looking forward to Michelle’s blogging which starts Tuesday!