Sonic Arrangements in the Infinite Fill

Void Gallery Derry 2019

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performance with 20minute sound piece made using handmade ceramic bells
 

Sonic Arrangements in the Infinite Fill was a site-specific performance on the Walker Plinth along Derry Walls. Sound, movement and costume combined to explore the dual forces of attraction and repulsion, taking as a starting point the transformation of the city walls from defensive architecture to tourist destination. The costumes, inspired by armour, referenced both protection and pageantry, while the choreography centred on gestures of knotting together and pulling apart whilst responding to and interacting with a sound piece composed from my ongoing series of ceramic bell idols.Bells, traditionally worn to ward off evil spirits and to call people to worship, embody this same tension: a repelling of harm and an invitation to gather. The ceramic bells are based on 7th–6th century BCE goddess idols, symbolic of natural forces and the relentless passage of time. The performance finished on the Walker plinth, once the base for a neoclassical column that stretched up into the sky.  Both columns and bell towers are architectural forms designed to elevate, to bridge earth and sky, body and beyond. The absence of the original column leaves a space between the land and the cosmos, open to be filled by a new ritual, a gesture linking the body to the limitless sky.

In collaboration with Echo Echo Dance company; dancers Kelly Quigley and Zoe Ramsey