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Site specific, open performance as part of the program of Kolla Festival 2019, Steinfort, Luxembourg.
Picture: Emiel Wendel
The Performance was open to everyone and took place for 6 times inside a tunnel at night time. The environment was prepared with some torches pointed to the stream of water that was passing through the tunnel so that the reflections on the tunnel's ceiling would create a fluctuating pattern and a ritualistic diffused light.
The number of participants ranged from 6 to 40 people depending on the day.
The success of the event, encouraging people to come again and making the number of participants increase every session, was due to some fundamental features of the space that allowed people to be free and not recognised as the source of their own sounds:
The light was extremely dim so that was impossible to discern people's faces
The acoustic of the tunnel made it very difficult to associate a sound with its source due to the strong reverberation of the space.
Every session started with some simple instructions:
-spread in the space
-listen to each other
-don't play always but only when you are ready
-be silent for the first two minutes
From the third time The Soundscopy became a platform where to collaborate with other artists as well as the public.
One session was held by a spoken word artist and a singer that prepared a story set in an underwater world to frame the improvisation.
The last session was prepared in collaboration with a musical conductor that through some gestures, explained beforehand to the participant, could direct the participants leading the free improvisation to more structured shapes.
The tunnel is a public path that connects the village of Steinfort with the Natural Park of Mirador, therefore there were people passing through the tunnel during the performances. The tunnel itself was located under the main pathway to the festival that hosted the residency, therefore the sounds of participants were hearable from above. These features created a very open environment were both willing participants and unexpected ones could meet together to improvise with voice and objects.
PUBLICATION