Site responsive performances

Hesbjerg revisted, the performance
Hesbjerg revisited, the performance
Hesbjerg revisited, the performance
Poul Udbye Pock-Steen

Site responsive performances – relate the music to the history, architecture and ambience of the venue

”A concert? A performance? A site-specific music installation? A video shoot? [...] All these terms fit Via Artis Konsort's contribution to the festival. [...] Atmospheric, demanding silence[...] A weeping cello leads us into the next room. Floor boards creek, cracked window panes, tapestry that seems to peel itself off the walls. A soprano voice somewhere. Where is she? We gather around and follow the sounds into a large room occupied by a huge circus domino installation [...] We are going upstairs. Can the staircase carry our weight? The rooms on the first floor resonate with Russian orthodox music, viola da gamba and Italian vocal grace [...] Now we have gotten familiar with the concept, the unexpected, the paradox, the contrasting and the anachronistic [...] It all makes sense when we stand in the garden and listen to the full ensemble and a choir singing from the open windows ”The Day Retreats”. Night is falling, the windows are closing, the building goes to rest, and the bats take over.”

This review was written by a music critic from the main newspaper in Odense, Denmark and it was NOT mend to be positive! The author was of the opinion that music should be performed in a concert hall, with no disturbing elements around!

As a producer and composer of site-responsive performances I obviously do not agree! I think that a site responsive approach to composition can do at lot of positive things for the music; first of all it can provide a fantastic framework to the composer. A site responsive approach can guide the audience to at more integrated experience of the music, because the music experience relates to a specific site and not to a, somehow obsolete, concert tradition, which worked very well in the 19th century but do not longer pleases a lot of potential listeners to classical music (another obsolete definition by the way, but that's another discussion!). As a side effect a site-responsive approach also invites creative minds to interdisciplinary collaborations across the art forms, theater, video, plastic arts, literature, etc.

The musical performance the critic referenced above was titled ”Hesbjerg Revisited”, a musical journey through the abandoned 19th century Hesbjerg Castle. A 75 minutes long very raw and up-close performance reflecting the castle's anachronistic history and architecture with an original mix of renaissance pastiche, neo-romantic choir parts, cinematic circus music for odd instruments, algorithmic electronic sound scapes and manipulated real sound samples. This sound world, the ”Hesbjerg Suite”, was composed specifically for the occasion by composer Poul Udbye Pock-Steen and produced and performed by the Danish ensemble Via Artis Konsort. The audience was met by circus artists and musicians in front of the castle and led by them on a guided, magical trip around the castle and its gardens, following the dimming of the natural light at dusk (there is almost no electricity and light left in the castle). Guided mostly by the performers themselves, the audience would experience music and new-circus performances in the different settings and rooms ranging from solo performances to fuller chamber and vocal set-ups.

A key part of ”Hesbjerg Revisited” was involving the audience in different stages of the project. Early on in the process a highly skilled local amateur choir was invited to participate, local people have helped provide knowledge about the castle, and the audience was encouraged to document their personal impressions during our performance at the castle using their cell phones and small cameras– and send it to us afterwards.

The bits and pieces provided by the audience have now been edited and color-graded. The result, a 9 minute long patchwork-video, ”Hesbjerg revisited by Via Artis Konsort”, is presented as a pitch at Classical:Next, Willem Burger Zaal, Wednesday 16th of May at 13.30. (among other interesting pitches!)

I would love to meet up with organizers, musicians, producers, composers etc. with an interest in these matters. So if you have any experience in site-responsive performances, or if you would like me to share mine, please come to the pitch or/and visit me at the stand of the Danish Arts Council delegation.

I'm looking forward to meet you!
Poul Udbye Pock-Steen
Via Artis Konsort
Telephone at Classical:Next: +45 26 96 19 84

Photos by Ard Jongsma -Still Words Photography

article posted by:Poul Udbye Pock-Steen, Via Artis Konsort

Links