Audiograft (2023)
OVADA, Oxford
Sonic Objects by Rita Evans performed by Anna Jane Houghton, Sharon Phelan, Catherine Ross and Beth Shearsby.
Live sound engineering by Jon Samsworth, Curated by Patrick Farmer and Paul Whitty, the Sonic Art Research Unit, Oxford Brookes University, with the help of Oxford Contemporary Music.
Stills from footage by Tom Thistlewaite
Through the use of Evan’s sonic objects, a collective inquiry is initiated, which is generative of feedback methods of composing and improvising, developing spaces of multiplicity and communality. The sculptures serve as both actors and mediators, operated via touch and movement, allowing the player to discover a deep materiality of sound that responds to the people and location that the objects are created for. These spheres whether imaginary, site-specific or a combination of both, are understood through the activation of body and instrument. Evan’s sculptures are built to amplify the sound of a collective focus, one of people working on a task together, generative of the polyrhythms and a chorus of group dynamics, which vary greatly depending on each new site and performers.
Audiograft Festival is curated by Patrick Farmer and Paul Whitty in association with Oxford Contemporary Music; its 2023 iteration saw the sonic sculptures of Rita Evans activated by myself, Sharon Phelan, Catherine Ross and Beth Shearsby, in the disused aibertorie that is now OVADA Gallery, Oxford. The artists spent three days in residence followed by a live public performance, showcasing the result of symbiosis between body and instrument, initiating the repetitive playing of vibrating strings; various pipes and wavering surfaces. Within the acoustics of the warehouse, the group instigated conversational dialogues, utilising the sculptures as interactive tools to aid in the process of blurring the boundaries of the individual performer, and shifting bodies into a collective state of active inquiry.
Below: In-Residence Polaroids by Anna Jane Houghton
Audiograft (2022)
MAO, Modern Art Oxford
Composition by Tim Parkinson performed by Ryoko Akama, Anna Jane Houghton, Sharon Phelan, Catherine Ross and Beth Shearsby.
The Oxford Triptych
6 performers (2 accordions, drum, cymbal, 12 2-litre plastic bottles, 4 tin cans, casio organ, 4 cardboard boxes (c.80x50x25cm), string, 4 black refuse bags, assorted materials to make a mask, audio track) [30']