One day conference and associated events at University of Greenwich, Stockwell Street Building
The Stephen Lawrence Gallery is delighted to be partnering with Culture& to deliver this event which combines academic papers with exhibited works and performance.
Monumentality, in the form of public statues, has become an increasingly contested topic since the advent of popular movements against colonial statuary in South Africa, the United States and the UK.
Researchers and artists share new research on and responses to monuments; asking what relevance they have and, especially in the UK context, whether the policy of ‘Retain and Explain’ is an effective response to demands for the removal of statues that commemorate colonial violence and exploitation.
Registration: More information and registration details are available on the Culture& website (via “INFO” link below). Tickets are £10.00.
University of Greenwich Staff and Students can register for free by emailing the Galleries directly on ugg@gre.ac.uk.
Showing concurrently with “Layered & Interwoven”: Divya Sharma and Emmanuel Boateng exhibit work at SPUD Gallery in Sway Village, the New Forest. Until 31 July. More information HERE
In association with Layered and Interwoven at The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, there is an opportunity to attend this Artist Talk and Private View at a solo exhibition of artwork by participating artist Tova Mckenzie-Bassant, held at Greenwich West Community and Arts Centre.
Hosted by the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, experimental Composer Lola de la Mata presents a performance and exhibition of musical sculptures for her Debut Album ‘Oceans on Azimuth’, alongside special guest Abstract Turntablist, Sound Artist and DJ, Maria Chávez.
The night will feature a talk around Tinnitus and Aural Diversity between Lola de la Mata, Maria Chávez and Jono Heale, Director at ACS (custom musician earplugs) and moderated by Amy Skjerseth.
The event will be opened and accompanied by a fine selection of music by Silvia Mal DJ (Sagome).
There will be the opportunity to have impressions taken of your ears. As a creative method of archiving the listening focused event, these will be displayed in the space throughout the night. After the event, Lola will combine these into a cast sculpture.
Sound will be provided by the wonderous Isa, along with installation/tech from Eduard….yes- the IKLECTIK dream team!
An Avant-garde Auditory Odyssey Into Tinnitus – Lola’s compositions feature sonic landscapes crafted from throbbing heartbeats and tinnitus phantoms. Translated forms of hearing and listening are explored throughout the project in collaged poems which ricochet amongst field recordings, prepared string instruments, a Claravox theremin, an ear canal shaped gong, and other glass inventions.
Programme:
6.30pm – Silvia Mal DJ 7.30pm – Talk (moderated by Amy Skjerseth) 8.30pm – Lola de la Mata 9.30pm – Maria Chávez 10.15pm – Silvia Mal DJ
The project features collaborations with biophysicists A.J.Hudspeth and Francesco Gianoli, and resident musicologist Lana Norris from The Hudspeth Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, NYC.
About the Artists:
Lola de la Mata London born French/Spanish conceptual sound artist, composer, curator and musician (violin/voice/theremin). Lola harnesses improvisation in her collaborative performances with fellow musicians, dancers and queer performance artists, most recently with Eve Stainton. With her gaze focused the architecture of the ear and its auditory illusions, Tinnitus and Aural Diversity form the core of her research practice, inspiring sculptural musical instruments. She has received commissions from the Riot Ensemble, Zubin Kanga, Nonclassical, Lisson Gallery, Spitalfields Music Festival, and crafted soundtracks for experimental film, documentary and the award winning feature film STOPMOTION by Robert Morgan, which will received its North America release February 2024.
Maria Chávez Born in Lima, Peru and based in NYC, Maria Chávez is best known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist and DJ. Coincidence, chance and failures are themes that unite her work across mediums, including improvised performance, sound and marble sculpture, visual art, and book objects. Her approach is rooted in Deep Listening, a form of embodied listening developed by her late mentor Pauline Oliveros. Maria is the only abstract turntablist in the world who performs with a rare needle known as the RAKE Double Needle. This special device contains two needles on one head, allowing it to read two different segments of a single record at the same time. Her work has been featured and supported by a myriad of institutions over the past decades including Rewire Festival, Counterflows Festival, Donau Festival, MoMA & MoMA PS1, The Getty, The Wire, MOCA Jacksonville, Black Mountain College Museum, Cambridge University Press and many, many more. Chavez’s 2012 book, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable has garnered a reputation as both an academic resource on turntablism and a foundational text for a new generation of turntablists.
Amy Skjerseth Amy Skjerseth is Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Audiovisual Media at the University of Liverpool. There, she also co-directs the Music and Audiovisual Media MA program. Her monograph-in-progress, Audiovisual Thinking: Visual Waves of Popular Music (under contract with University of California Press), explores how 1960s transistor radios to 2000s vocaloids influenced both musical and visual culture. Her second book, also in progress, is called The Feminist Wall of Sound. She publishes on topics ranging from sound for stop-motion animation to gendered and raced representations of pop stars in media. Her work appears in Journal of Popular Music Studies; Music, Sound, and the Moving Image; and more. She also creates video essays and podcasts.
