Sunday 14 May 2023, 8pm
Sonorities Festival Belfast and SPACE21 in Slemani began an inter-festival collaboration last year (2022) to exchange artistic programmes, including live performances, workshops and artistic research activities. This collaboration aims to establish long-term projects involving both Sonorities and SPACE21 to support local artists and promote local audience development in and across both locations, with a particular focus on experimental music and sound art practices.
We are delighted that Cafe OTO is hosting our shared programme on the 13th & 14th May 2023. This will be the first time our new inter-festival collaboration has been showcased outside of Belfast and Slemani. The work will feature an audio-visual exhibition of materials from site-specific performances and other artworks developed through remote collaboration. This exhibition will form a site for collective improvisation, featuring performers from our new collective of artists commissioned by our two festivals.
SPACE21 curator: Hardi Kurda
Sonorities Festival Belfast artistic director: Paul Stapleton
This project is made possible with support from British Council in Northern Ireland and Iraq.
SPACE21 is also pleased to present an additional work as part of the 14th May programme: a new collaboration between SPACE21 and Melos Female Vocal Collective from Vilnius to perform EVERYTHING is ILLEGAL LONDON 145 by Hardi Kurda. Supported by Lithuanian Culture Institute.
Co-created by London-based sound artist Hardi Kurda and Melos collective (Vilnius), EVERYTHING IS ILLEGAL London 145 is a found score performance which was developed during Hardi residency in Vilnius in 2022. Hardi explored the meaning of illegalness through colleting stories from the city where the work perform. This time is about London. Hardi deconstructed the London map through a transparent score and find a relation with the latest newspapers, radio and field recording from the same day of the performance, will be recorded by Melos vocalists. Hardi asked the singers to search for materials draw their attentions within the city during their visit in London before the performance. For example, tracking their walking map, record the sound from the city of conversations, and borrow lines from newsletters and samples from the local radio stations. These combination of the found materials became the musical score for the performance.
