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July 2009

Hello

Rock and roll was the theme to close the month of June with the debut North American tour for Githead and what an adventure this was.

Professor Scanner and his fellow Gits, Colin, Malka and Max took our show on the road from Calgary to Toronto and Brampton. Participating in the Sled Island Music Festival, we arrived in Calgary to strict immigration and customs procedures, where once again I was quizzed on my minimalist luggage and clothing. “Where’s the rest of your clothing?” has become a mantra through American and Canadian customs of recent so am fully prepared for such intrigue. Rehearsing in a local church for two days, our highly amplified sessions were frequently interrupted for requests to pause whilst the Jazz-a-Size exercise classes could take place, and prayer classes and choir practice could follow.



Out of our leotards and putting down our sheet music we performed a grand show alongside family favourites Health and Holy Fuck, and set off at 04.00 a.m. to Toronto to swap the heat saturated streets of Alberta for damp and humid Southern Ontario. A live broadcast on Orchard TV will be archived for future pleasure. This was an especially unusual encounter, set up in a barn in the countryside, with veggie burgers and buns for starters and a live performance for the main course before a select gang of supporters and a web audience.

June has been an extremely busy month too. From designing the sound of mosquito DNA for an exhibition soon to open in London, to live shows in Lisbon, Den Haag and an exceptionally busy mini Scanner weekend in Napoli. The latter offered a chance to perform in the exquisite vineyards in the city at Vigna S. Martino with Roberto Paci Dalò, immediately after the most Hollywood style thunderstorm that cut out electricity and water supplies to the area for some time. The skies remained clear for a brief moment whilst the audience sat immersed beneath ripening grapes and we sound tracked the darkness of the night.



Faultline, my collaboration with choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh has begun being taught on the AQA GCSE Dance syllabus in the UK and will remain there for the next 6-7 years. Students will study both the choreography and the production itself, including all collaborating elements, and in anticipation of this Faultine is now available on iTunes for download. Combining the operatic talents of soprano Patricia Rozario, who also sung on my latest album Rockets, Unto the Edges of Edges, and with a vocal arrangement by celebrated composer Errollyn Wallen, it’s an immersive and a gloomily evocative score. It will also be performed live as part of the Dance Umbrella season in London later this year at the Southbank Centre too.

With barely time to readjust my body clock I return to New York City in early July for a very special live performance at Winter Garden at the World Financial Center. Performing alongside Mountains on 7 July it will be rare live return to this beautiful city and even more appealing a completely free show in the extraordinary surroundings of palm trees and projections in the midst of the obligatory Blackberry/iPhone community.

Then it’s off to Monte Carlo for the premiere of Pavillon d'Armide, the new ballet by Matjash Mrozewski for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. An entirely new work, the soundtrack weaves a way around Handel’s Rinaldo in a splendidly grand and emotive manner. Performed by a cast of extraordinarily impressive dancers the work will tour in the future.
So once again in between suitcases I bid thee farewell.

Until next time

Robin

::: read :::
Banks Violette: Elevator to the Gallows (Kunsthalle Wien)
Various: Millesuoni, Deleuze, Guattari e la musica elettronica (Cronopio)
Michael Raedecker: Line-Up (GEM)
Hermann Nitsch, Museum Naples (Edition Morra)

::: film:::
Sunshine Cleaning, Christine Jeffs, USA
Accident, Joseph Losey, UK
Drag Me to Hell, Sam Raimi, USA
Muriel, Alain Resnais. France

Exhibitions

‘Awake Are Only the Spirits’ - On Ghosts and Their Media
Hartware MedienKunstVerein
PHOENIX Halle Dortmund
16 May – 18 October 2009

The exhibition ‘Awake Are Only the Spirits’ – On Ghosts and Their  
Media is dedicated to a topic that appears, at first glance, timeless: it involves the presence of the supernatural – the appearance of ghosts and (trans-)communication with ‘the beyond’ facilitated by technical media. The exhibition shows 22 international artistic positions questioning the existence of ghosts, exploring the integration of new media and technologies in spiritualist contexts, investigating the making-visible or making-perceptible of the invisible, and tracing the political implications as well as the aesthetics of such contemporary trans-communication  
phenomena. Artists include Lucas & Jason Ajemian, Sam Ashley, Kathrin Günter, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Tim Hecker, Susan Hiller, Chris Marker and Scanner.

www.hmkv.de

Night Haunts
By Sukhdev Sandhu
Design Mind Unit
Sound Design Scanner

Artangel Interaction invited writer and historian Sukhdev Sandhu to write a nocturnal journal unfolding over the course of 2006. His postings will appear sequentially at this microsite specially designed by Mind Unit. Sandhu's forays see him prospecting in the London night with the people who drive its pulse, from the avian police to security guards, zookeepers and exorcists. Acclaimed artist and musician Scanner has collaborated with Sukhdev and Ian Budden of Mind Unit to compose the sound for the site. If you would like to be kept informed as each episode is posted, join artangel's mailing list by clicking here .

www.nighthaunts.org.uk
www.artangel.org.uk



Bittersweet Songs for the Sleepless City
Artangel Interaction

NightJam is the latest project in Artangel Interaction’s Nights of London series of artist-led collaborations with people who have a special view on a hidden side of the nocturnal city. Scanner invited young people at New Horizon Youth Centre in King’s Cross to collaborate on a creative project that expresses how the city at night looks and sounds to their ears and eyes. Through music and voice workshops they explored the sense of freedom and fear, celebration and solitude of the concealing darkness. Meanwhile, they captured their nights on disposable cameras, taking images that are at times eerie, startling, contemplative and funny. NightJam presents two elusive visual and musical journeys through the city’s ‘quiet’ hours.

NightJam presents two music tracks, a film, photographs, that can be experienced and freely downloaded. Now featuring remixes of NightJam by Stephen Vitiello, Hakan Lidbo, Troy Banarzi, Si-cut.db and Pete Lockett.

www.nightjam.org.uk