Tag: University of York

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When art bonds with science and cycling meets pollution head on, a frontier-pushing exhibition results at Blossom Street Gallery

Art science interface at Blossom Street Gallery: Artist Clare Nattress and scientist Dr Daniel Bryant stand either side of her pollution-marked bicycle. Picture: Matt Waudby

ARE people really aware of the dangers of polluted air close to home in York, ask arts researcher, educator and cyclist Clare Nattress and atmosphere scientist Dr Daniel Bryant?

Their studies are the subject of a collaborative exhibition under the title of The Art Science Interface: Making York’s Air Pollution Visible, on show at Blossom Street Gallery, York, with project support from the National Environmental Research Council.

“The work shines a light on the air pollution experienced in York while cycling with the objective of making the invisible, visible,” says conceptual artist and University of York St John graphic design lecturer Clare, whose white-painted, pollution-splattered, unwashed bike forms the exhibition centrepiece.

The same Bombtrack Beyond +1 German bike on which Clare had cycled around six countries – Norway, Germany, Spain, then Nepal, and onwards to Australia and New Zealand – in ten months in 2018 when taking a break from work and study as she approached 30.

“Pollution is a hot topic at the minute and a pressing global issue. Air pollution causes serious health risks and costs to the NHS could reach £5.3 billion,” she says.

“Recently I was in the company of air pollution activist campaigner Rosamund Kissi Debrah, who lost her daughter to asthma, the first registered UK resident to have air pollution as her cause of death.” 

One of Clare Nattress’s rides on a bus route in York. Picture: Matt Waudby

Airborne particulate species less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, known as PM2.5, are considered to be the most deadly form of air pollution, contributing to millions of premature deaths per year globally.

“However, due to the small size of these damaging airborne particulate species, drawing public attention to the issue is challenging,” says Daniel, from the University of York’s Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, who has worked alongside Professor Jacqui Hamilton. “Our study aims to increase public awareness of PM2.5 through our art-science collaboration.”

Clare has used her bicycle as a performative tool to pedal on low and high infrastructure routes around the City of York – where the roads around the circumference of the University of York and York St John University are highly polluted areas often blighted by heavy congestion – to investigate if there are striking differences in air pollution levels and chemical composition, depending on the routes.

Clare’s bicycle was equipped with a miniature aerosol sampler and air quality sensor to gather street-level data over the course of three months as she cycled up to five hours per ride in urban and rural locations within York and the surrounding areas with a focus on six commuter/bus routes to and from the universities.

The filters collected were extracted and analysed by Daniel through an established method used for PM2.5 filter samples, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify known compounds within the samples.

The process of collection and extraction were documented, and the filters also photographed and investigated under a microscope by Daniel.

Clare Nattress on her bike on one of her five-hour rides around York. Picture: Matt Waudby

The data and information gathered have been incorporated onto a digital map of York to reveal collection locations and routes, as well as pollution concentrations and compounds present within filter samples.

“Combining this data with photographs and video snapshots of each performance ride will improve the public’s ability to see for themselves pollution within their city,” says Clare, whose work forms part of her own Digital Smog project, hence the involvement of her partner, Matt Waudby, as photographer and videographer.

His photography, by the way, featured in an exhibition at Cycle Heaven, where he works, during the 2021 York Design Week.

“As an artist, I’m interested in the embodied experience of bicycling using theories of performativity and materiality,” says Clare. “The body becomes a site for academic enquiry. How does the body attune to air pollution? Can we smell it and can we taste it? How does it interact with our bodies while cycling? This other than human collaborator is interconnected with our bodies; we are intertwined.”

Clare and Daniel’s interdisciplinary, frontier-pushing partnership has increased their understanding of environmental hazards that face cyclists and the benefits of a healthier environment through improved infrastructure.

“This study has been beneficial to help monitor and creatively disseminate exactly what cyclists and the public are exposed to and will help to inform effective solutions,” says Clare.

Clare Nattress: Ride 4. Picture: Matt Waudby

“Despite ongoing evidence that suggests art enhances our understanding of science and data, there’s still much to analyse regarding impact and personal realisation for action.

“This research project and resulting exhibition provide initial evidence that the public engages with creative and visual outcomes that aim to make the invisible, visible.”

Clare and Daniel’s research project comes against the backdrop of between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths every year in the UK being attributed to human-made air pollution.

“But it’s very difficult to pinpoint because everyone is subjected to it,” says Daniel. “It’s like how you could smoke all your life and not die from cancer, or you could smoke only one cigarette but die from cancer.

“The whole point of the project is to highlight pollution visually, especially to make you think if you’re travelling in a car.”

Clare points out: “Pollution is worse if you’re sitting in a car in traffic, whereas a cyclist or pedestrian is not exposed in the same way because they’re on the move. In a car, you’re in a hot box for pollution.”

Clare Nattress: Ride 10. Picture: Matt Waudby

Daniel rejoins: “Pollution levels vary, depending on the weather, the temperature, the time of year, the day of the week, the density of traffic. What we do know is that idling in traffic is a big issue in a small city like York where you have to stop a lot, deal with the one-way systems, and everyone trundles along Gillygate, for example.”

Clare adds: “In terms of smelling it, Rougier Street is the worst, the most pungent. That’s because it’s ‘bus central’.

“Look at what’s happening in York. In Gillygate, where Wackers [fish and chips restaurant] is being turned into flats, they’ve been told to keep windows shut…because of the air pollution.”

Clare’s cycling is powering her PhD studies in the School of Art at Leeds Beckett University. Here is the snappy thesis title: “How can cycling be a performative methodology to investigate, reveal and disseminate the problem of air pollution?” As Freddie Mercury once exclaimed, the answer is: “Get on your bikes and ride”.

In practical terms, Clare has learned: “There are cheap, affordable sensors that you can buy to attach to your cycle or backpack to record your exposure, and I now choose my cycling routes more carefully, going on longer routes to avoid pollution,” she says.

York likes to portray itself as the city of cycling. “York is lucky that it has the two rivers [the Ouse and the Foss], with all those cycle paths, but if you took the rivers out of York, it wouldn’t really be a cycling city, with all that heavy traffic,” says Clare bluntly.

Pollution, as captured on a Clare Nattress bicycle ride

Looking at the art and science interface from the artistic perspective, she welcomes the chance to make her Blossom Street Gallery debut with conceptual work that “sits differently to the art it’s positioned alongside, so hopefully it brings a new audience there”.

To prove the point, invitations to the opening private view were extended to the cycling community, scientists and lecturers interested in air pollution, as well as York’s creative network and artists.

Daniel has welcomed the opportunity for collaboration between different disciplines at York’s universities. “Before this work, I would never have thought of doing a project like this. If I just did it for a journal, no-one in the wider public would see it, but the Blossom Street Gallery exhibition makes that possible,” he says.

“We’re now looking for further funding to expand the interface. If we get it, we would look to purchase sensors to make them available for commuters and hobby cyclists to get a breadth of pollution research material and then upload the data.”

Clare adds: “We would also look to run workshops, getting people together from different industries to really look at where pollution is worst in York and what can we do about it.”

The Art Science Interface: Making York’s Air Pollution Visible runs at Blossom Street Gallery, York, until June 30.

Lab work for the Art Science Interface

The science bit:

Particulate Matter 1, 2.5 & 10. (PM1, PM2.5 & PM10) 
PMs are small solid particles that can penetrate into the lungs with the finest ones even binding to blood vessels. PM10 refers to particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter or a tenth of the width of a human hair. PM2.5 are those smaller than 2.5 microns.

PMs can come from road traffic, energy consumption and natural phenomenons such as volcanic eruptions. PMs can change according to wind speed, weather and temperature, often settling in locations with a lack of wind. 

Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) 
NO2 is a suffocating gaseous air pollutant formed when fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gas or diesel are burned at high temperatures. 50 per cent of NO2 emissions are due to traffic. 

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) 
VOCs are a combination of gases and odours emitted from many different toxins and chemicals found in everyday products. These can include household paint, new furniture, candles, cooking, cleaning and craft products as well as beauty products and cosmetics. They can also be emitted by traffic and industries. Some VOCs are classified as carcinogenic.  (Plume Labs, 2022). 

The funding bit:

THE Art Science Interface: Making York’s Air Pollution Visible is one of three projects to share a £76,000 grant from the NERC Discipline Hopping for Environmental Solutions grant awards.

Did you know?

YORK has the highest rate of bicycle thefts in England.

Clare Nattress and Dr Daniel Bryant looking at a book compiled from their research project. Picture: Matt Waudby
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Dragons’ Den crafting queen Sara Davies to give Christmas hacks at York Barbican

Sara Davies: Crafting tips

SARA Davies, the Queen of Crafting from Dragons’ Den, will bring her interactive, creative debut tour to York Barbican on December 3.

On her 13-date travels, University of York-educated Sara will pass on every possible tip and solution to create the perfectly styled Christmas in Craft Your Christmas With Sara Davies. Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow at Sara-Davies.com and yorkbarbican.co.uk.

An estimated two in three women take part in a craft hobby, making it a fast-growing trend. From gifts to garlands, cards to crackers, wrapping paper to mantlepiece decorations, Sara will show her tour audiences how to craft Christmas with a range of practical demonstrations, tips and a healthy slice of her down-to-earth know-how. 

“It goes without saying how much I love crafting but crafting for Christmas is simply the best time for crafting,” says County Durham-born Sara, 38. “I’m going to share all the little hacks and shortcuts to achieve that perfect look for the perfect crafty Christmas.

“Sharing this with your friends will make a great night out and hopefully you’ll leave having had a ton of fun, feeling excited about having a home-made personalised Christmas.” 

Sara Davies: Crafting businesswoman

Sara Davies’s back story

BUSINESS has always run in her blood, Sara having taken inspiration from her parents’ decorating shop to build her own empire.

It began with The Enveloper, a bespoke envelope maker she designed at the age of 21 at university that became an instant hit with the crafting crowd.

This soon evolved into Sara’s Crafting Companion business, which sells all types of creative materials and boasts an average turnover of £34million.

Sara’s company has more than 200 employees across her British and California headquarters, gaining her an MBE for services to the economy in 2016.

She became Dragons’ Den’s youngest ever female investor in 2019, since when she has made more than £1.1million of investments on the BBC show, giving new businesses a shot in the arm.

She was partnered by Aljaž Škorjanec in the 2021 series of BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Martin Roscoe, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, March 18

Martin Roscoe: “Let’s his fingers do the talking. They are certainly eloquent“

PIANISTS do not come much more deceptive than Martin Roscoe, who closed the British Music Society of York’s season with this recital of Schubert, Brahms and Liszt.

He goes against convention by using a score – no harm in that, especially if you consult it as little as he did. Having walked unassumingly to the keyboard, he plays without fuss or histrionics. In other words, he lets his fingers do the talking. They are certainly eloquent.

Although Schubert’s second set of impromptus, D.935, was not published until 11 years after his death, he had presented them as a foursome to his publisher (who, incredibly, rejected them). There is no suggestion that they are the movements of a sonata, but there is undeniably a feeling that they are related – for one thing, the first and fourth are in the same key, F minor. Certainly, I have never felt them to be so closely linked as they sounded here.

There was an understated elegance in Roscoe’s approach. He unfolded the opening Allegro moderato gently, melting smoothly from the minor to the major key and back again. There was a touch more emphasis in the second, marked Allegretto.

The ‘Rosamunde’ variations were beautifully contrasted: the three different voices in the second variation, for example, emerged with lovely clarity. The sense of impromptu, essentially improvisation, was kindled most keenly in the final dance, especially in the link to the return of the main theme.

The three Brahms intermezzi, Op 117, which are late, autumnal pieces, emerged as if they were the composer’s innermost thoughts, at once intimate and revealing. A lovely cantabile flow permeated the first, while it was the inner voices of the more sombre second that gleamed to the surface in turn. The syncopations of the third, which might have felt more restless, were not allowed to disrupt its serenity.

Petrarch’s Sonnet 104 finds the poet in a confused state over a burning love affair. Liszt’s reaction to it was first to set it as a song and then, more famously, to transcribe that into a piano piece, which appears in the Italian volume of his Years of Pilgrimage. Roscoe treated its harmonies tenderly, as if aware that the topic was sensitive, and it unfolded logically to its bitter-sweet close.

In both the remaining Liszt pieces, there must have been plenty of temptation to treat the piano as an orchestra; Liszt piles on the pressure relentlessly. Roscoe resisted. Isolde’s Love-Death, his transcription of the closing scene from Wagner’s Tristan Und Isolde, reached a passionate but controlled climax, with the lovers finally achieving satisfaction together after death.

Even more orchestral was St Francis’s triumphant walk on the waves, its rushing, stormy figurations not disrupting the relentless flow. Here we had the only out-and-out fortissimo of the evening. After that, a quiet Beethoven Bagatelle seemed the perfect antidote as encore. An evening of impeccable taste and considerable virtuosity.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Paul Lewis, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, January 14

Paul Lewis: ” A strain of melancholy threaded through the evening but the result was riveting”

PAUL Lewis is among Britain’s finest pianists. So to have him visit York at the invitation of the British Music Society – which is enjoying a bumper season – was a special privilege.

He presented two of Beethoven’s better-known sonatas, the ‘Pathétique’ and the ‘Appassionata’ (not names assigned by the composer), which framed a Debussy suite and Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy.

A strain of melancholy threaded through the evening but the result was riveting. The opening Grave of the ‘Pathétique’ was exceptionally spacious, with chord-resolutions delayed to the absolute maximum, so that the succeeding Allegro, taken at lightning pace, felt even quicker by contrast.

The accompanimental figures in the slow movement were rich and dark, which lent the main melody, beautifully sustained, an autumnal fireside warmth. In contrast, the rondo theme in the finale was surprisingly light and frisky at first, becoming progressively more urgent until its resolute last appearance, which recaptured the intensity of the very opening of the work.

Debussy’s Children Corner suite is not kiddies’ music, either for players or listeners. Lewis offered the pretence that it was, touching in the details of these character-pieces with a delicate brush while keeping their droll humour to the fore.

Jimbo’s clumsy lullaby, the doll’s clockwork serenade and a snowy white-out were but preludes to the loneliness of the little shepherd and the Golliwogg’s self- satisfied strut (with a moment of self-doubt thrown in). It was hard not to smile throughout.

Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy Op 61 in A flat. which dates from 1846, three years before he died, is one of the most forward-looking pieces he ever penned. It belonged next to Debussy in this programme exactly because it is so impressionistic.

Its dance element – the polonaise section of the title – only really becomes clear towards the end, after a considerable stretch of varying, improvisatory ramblings. Lewis excelled in differentiating its many changes of colour, where lesser pianists can get lost in its brambles. In his hands it became a ballade, often tinged with melancholy, with the third of its three main sections building persuasively into dramatic closure.

By now, Lewis’s adrenaline must really have been flowing: volatility was the name of his game in Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’, Op 57 in F minor. Where there was some cloudiness in the first movement’s bass line, its very detail endowed the central variations with a marvellous nobility, stoically underpinning the increasingly taxing decorations.

He preferred to gloss over the ‘ma non troppo’ (not too much) of the third movement’s Allegro – which added to its fearsome frenzy but left little acceleration in reserve for the closing Presto. No matter: it still became a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, daringly delivered.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Sacconi Quartet & Tim Lowe, BMS York, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York, October 1

Sacconi Quartet’s Ben Hancox (violin), Robin Ashwell (cello), Hannah Dawson (violin) and Cara Berridge (cello): Performed Schubert’s incomparable String Quartet in C and York composer Nicola LeFanu’s newly commissioned Quartet, both a celebration and a reflection. Picture: Emilie Bailey

FORTUNE favours the brave. Back in May when the Covid outlook was far from clear, the British Music Society of York (BMS) took the courageous decision to go ahead with their 100th season in October. It had already been delayed a year.

This quintet – a string quartet with added cello – was the happy result, in a members-only evening last Friday.

Schubert’s incomparable String Quintet in C was preceded by the world premiere of an engaging new BMS commission for the same forces from Nicola LeFanu, one of the society’s two vice-presidents.

Titled simply Quintet and lasting some 20 minutes, it lives up to the composer’s typically lucid programme-note as a combination of celebration and reflection, which are mirrored in two contrasting themes. The faster of these provides a rondo motif while the slower inspires its diversions.

The device works excellently. The two cellos generally operate as a pensive pair, while the higher strings interrupt, sometimes intensely, always excitedly, often preferring a catchy iambic rhythm when not adding twinkling filigrees. But all of the instruments have something individual to say.

At the centre of the work is a solemn chorale, after which the second cello has a broad, yearning passage – which Tim Lowe attacked with relish. This is the signal for mounting urgency that is capped by a return to the opening cello duet at the close. Did I detect here the semitone with which Schubert so determinedly ends his quintet?

Second cellist Tim Lowe: “The engine” in Schubert’s String Quartet in C

The Sacconi and Lowe brought fervent application to their task, clearly enjoying its challenge. The music makes real sense on a first hearing, but would also repay deeper listening. It certainly commends itself as a partner to the Schubert.

Any players faced with one of the towering monuments of Western music will feel humbled. This manifests itself in different ways. Here there was a studied intensity to the first two movements of the Schubert, before an earthier Scherzo and a finale infused with the spirit of dance.

The mood of anticipation in the introduction was satisfied when the Allegro got going, but the repeat of the exposition was much tauter (and rhythms wittier too) than its first statement.

Second cellist Lowe was the engine, as in several places later, for the development section. He also ignited more fire in the middle of the slow movement – although the pregnant rests that followed were a tutti effort, before the heart of the Adagio hovered beautifully again.

In the Scherzo, the ensemble really began to relax, so much so that its Trio almost ground to a halt, it was so leisurely. In the circumstances, the return of the Scherzo came almost as a relief. 

The finale, so often a let-down in this work, was anything but: there was even an element of mystery before the main theme returned. Doubt lingered as to whether all five players shared the same overall vision for this piece. But the BMS is back in business. Hurrah!

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Yoshika Colwell’s Invisible Mending show unravels at Theatre At The Mill tonight

Yoshika Colwell: Two shows for At The Mill’s residency week at Stillington Mill

AS part of At The Mill’s residency week at Stillington Mill, near York, Yoshika Colwell gives a work-in-progress performance of Invisible Mending tonight (16/9/2021).

At 8pm, the former University of York student explores creativity, knitting, the strange journey of grief and the transcendent act of swimming in the sea.

“In the summer of 2020, as a global pandemic raged, Yoshi was processing the unexpected dying and death of her beloved grandmother, Ann,” explains At The Mill programmer Alexander Wright. 

“A woman of few words, Ann’s one great creative outlet was knitting. And not just any knitting. Her projects were glorious, intricate, virtuosic works of art, which still adorn the wardrobes of her nearest and dearest.

“As she reached the end of her life, Ann started a new project. Too wide for a scarf, too narrow for a jumper, this project had no end goal. She was simply using up the last of her wool.”

Yoshi now takes up this piece where Ann left off. “Like the fates who weave our destiny, like Penelope who works her wool all day and unpicks at night, and like the Lady of Shalott, who must keep weaving to remain alive, Yoshi explores what it means to pull loose threads together,” says Alexander.

“She weaves together live music, knitting, interviews, and diary entries into a tapestry that asks us what creativity is, and how it can help us as we navigate the inevitable journeys we must all take.”

Yoshi will complete her residency with Yoshika & Friends, Sunday’s 8pm concert of new music, showcasing her soul-searching debut solo EP, her first since Luuna’s 2016 EP, Moonflower. Fellow residency participants Max Barton and Jethro Cooke’s experimental outfit, Slowstepper, will perform too.

For tickets, go to: tickettailor.com/events/atthemill.

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Debut online York New Music Weekend launches at University of York on Friday

Christian Mason: Composer and University of York alumnus at the heart of the first York New Music Weekend

THE inaugural York New Music Weekend will be launched on Friday at the University of York.

Running for three days but staying online for longer, this new annual festival celebrates contemporary music in York.

Under the theme of Time-Space-Sound-Light, the weekend centres on the work of Christian Mason, an award-winning composer and alumnus of the University of York’s department of music.

The online event includes premieres of new pieces and music by the composers who have influenced him, performed by members of The Octandre Ensemble, The Assembled, pianist Rolf Hind and The Chimera Ensemble.

Interviews and recordings contribute to a rounded profile of this leading British young composers.

In Friday’s opening 1pm concert, recorded at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, The Chimera Ensemble, Britain’s largest student-run contemporary music ensemble, present new works by student composers Emily Linane (Flute Miniature), Lucy Havelock (that silk, unrestricted), Joe Bates (Cataracts), Fred Viner (Bells Wrung) and Becky Davidson-Lund (Shade And Light).

Anna Meredith: Composer studied at the University of York. Picture: Owen Richards

After Axeman by University of York alumna and BBC 6 Music favourite Anne Meredith, the concert concludes with a piece as reflective as its title, Pauline Oliveros’s Mirrorrorrim.

Based on the theme of expressing the visual, the Chimera programme weaves its way from mirrors to luminosity and the nature of bells, exploring colour and texture while featuring an unconventional use of fabric, amplification and distortion.

At 7pm on Friday, Rolf Hind’s online piano concert, Nature, Lockdown And Dreams Of Travel, includes Hind’s Bhutani and Hind et al’s Lockdown Sequence (pieces written for Hind in lockdown from a call on Facebook), Matthew King’s When Birds Do Sing, Christian Mason’s Three Waves From Afar, Elaine Michener’s Tree Scream and Messiaen’s Le Loriot from Catalogue d’Oiseaux.

Online on Saturday at 7pm, pianist Hind and Mason (rin bells, harmonica, electronics) join fellow members of The Octandre Ensemble, Audrey Milhères (piccolo, flute) and Corentin Chassard (cello, scordatura cello) to perform Mason’s Just As The Sun Is Always.

In Sunday’s 1pm online concert, pianist Kate Ledger and The Assembled present the world premiere of Androgynette, a multimedia work by Ledger, James Redelinghuys and artist Angie Guyton. Watch Three Refractions Of A Body Etude on Ledger’s YouTube channel for a flavour of what to expect.

At the festival’s second concert by The Chimera Ensemble, the university’s new music ensemble, on Sunday at 7pm, the focus turns to new works by composers, largely from Yorkshire and the North East, alongside student works.

Rolf Hind, Christian Mason and Kate Ledger: Prominent roles in the inaugural York New Music Weekend

Again recorded at the Lyons, the programme comprises: Ed Cooper’s …incantations fixate…; Linda Catlin-Smith’s Knotted Silk; Nicholas Peters, Placebo; Michele Abondano, The Shimmer Beneath: A Scattering Attempt; James McLeish, Crimson; Rossa Juritz, the sound of wooden dusk; Rebecca Peake, Purple Smoke, and Yue Ming’s The Eternal Circle, plus reprises of Anna Meredith’s Axeman and Pauline Oliveros’s Mirrorrorrim.

This programme considers time, colour, texture and fabric, typified by Catlin-Smith’s irregularly spaced Knotted Silk and Peters’ rhythmically forceful Placebo as The Chimera Ensemble inhabit an exhilarating array of sound worlds.

Among other events this weekend is an interactive video collaboration of dance, music and cinematography between the Scottish Ensemble, Scottish Dance Theatre and composer Martin Suckling, entitled these bones, this flesh, this skin. 

This Watch Anytime feature is a digital work for solo violin and solo dancer by composer Martin Suckling, choreographer Joan Clevillé and cinematographer Genevieve Reeves. Through a bespoke online platform, audience members are invited to combine different audio and visual layers to decide how they want to experience the work in multiple iterations.

Born out of this unique period in our lives, the piece “explores how heightened attention can reveal different experiences of time in our bodies and the environment around us”. This layering of simplicity and complexity also manifests in the way the viewer/listener is asked to make decisions.

In a nutshell, “with every new iteration, we discover new perspectives, new nuances waiting for us in the spaces in between music, cinematography and dance, between the traces of our own memories and the aliveness of our attention.”

Composer Martin Suckling: Interactive video collaboration with the Scottish Ensemble and Scottish Dance Theatre, combining dance, music and cinematography

Another Watch Anytime feature, Distanced Modularity, is presented by Jethro Bagust, Lynette Quek and Ben Eyes, who contend that “the pandemic has been a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Making art and music during such a time, while others are suffering and enduring great hardship, seems futile.

“However, music and art are a great comfort to many, perhaps not more so than the musicians themselves and the social interaction that plays an indelible role in music.”

Using the Ninjam server set-up at York to synchronise two geographically distant modular synth set-ups; Bagust and Eyes explore how streams of found audio, real-time modular synthesis, stochastic compositional processes and video (courtesy of Lynette Quek) can be merged online to create a real-time audio-visual miasma. The piece was recorded live in one take after several distanced rehearsals.

Jethro says: “The instrument I play is populated with numerous chance elements that are linked to musical parameters. These elements of uncertainty blur the distinction between the roles of performer, composer, and audience because we are all hearing the music for the first time.

“Improvising with indeterminate instruments such as this, that defer the note by note production to algorithms, might be akin to steering an animal that you can point in a particular direction but not precisely know their behaviour.

“There is a tension between the human and the machine; the player must listen and react, responding to the system at an indirect meta-level.

A still from Jethro Bagust, Ben Eyes and Lynette Quek’s Distanced Modularity

The pre-recorded audio sources are from John Cage and Morton Feldman, In Conversation, Radio Happening I of V, recorded at WBAI, New York City, 1966-1967.

“Ben’s own set-up is based around a custom Max/Msp patch, linked to a modular synth, that allows real-time interaction with musical sequences and rhythms. Influenced by dub and techno, sound sources in the system are filtered, delayed and reverberated live in the mix to create musical form and progression,” says Jethro.

The festival’s five concerts, all recorded live, will be complemented by a round-table discussion on Sunday at 2pm when the speakers will be British composers and musicologists Martin Suckling, Minyung Im, Carmen Troncoso Caceres, Richard Kearns and Catherine Laws, in response to the pandemic-enforced closure of venues generating an explosion of online music-making.

Join the creative teams behind the festival’s Watch Anytime features, these bones, this flesh, this skin, Ceci n’est pas un piano and Between Air, Clay And Woods Of Certain Flutes, as they discuss ways to approach online performance beyond the “filmed concert” paradigm.

“Explore their online features and bring your questions to this interactive session,” comes the invitation to an event hosted on Zoom. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link the day before the event.

All events are free but booking is required at yorkconcerts.ticketsolve.com/shows. Ticketholders can watch all the performances on demand until Sunday, July 11 at 23.59pm.

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Bite-sized Q & A with…Ashleigh J Mills on their Love Bites piece at York Theatre Royal

Ashleigh J Mills: Exploring and digesting lived experience of life on the margins

THE Love Season will soon set hearts pulsing at York Theatre Royal, where the Step 3 reopening will make its mark with Love Bites: a love letter to live performance and a toast to the city’s creative talent.

More than 200 artists from a variety of art forms applied for £1,000 love-letter commissions to be staged on May 17 – the first day that theatres can reopen after restrictions are lifted – and May 18.

The 22 short pieces selected will be performed each night at 8pm under the overall direction of Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster. Each “bite” will take hold for five minutes.

In the fifth in a series of CharlesHutchPress Q&As, Ashleigh J Mills [they/them] has five minutes to discuss their  Love Bite, In Progress.

ASHLEIGH [they/them] is a Black, non-binary and unapologetically autistic creator, calling themselves Angry Black Changeling on their Twitter account. Politically and poetically minded, their work seeks to explore and digest their lived experience of life on the margins. They believe that within resistance lies creation. They are a work in progress.

How did you hear about Love Bites, Ashleigh?

“Henry Raby, York’s resident punk poet, tagged me in the call out on Twitter. As someone who dips in and out of York’s poetry scene, he probably recognised that it’d be definitely something I’d be interested in! And I was!”

What is your connection with York?

“I moved to York almost eight years ago now. Initially for university, I’ve attended both York St John and the Uni of York in the past. But really, I’ve made my home there. I’ve got partners and a cat and everything!”

What will feature in your Love Bite, In Progress, and why? 

“In Progress is a poem I’ve created as a love letter to words and to the complex and tricksy process of learning who you are and who you’re going to be. I’ve kept a Good Words List for over four years now: a list of words I don’t know, learn and don’t want to forget. Using those words, I’ve created a piece about lockdown-inflicted self-reflections.”

You believe that “within resistance lies creation”.  Discuss further…

“We live in a world of oppressive power structures. I’m a person who is Black, queer, trans, autistic, and disabled. As such, my existence will always function as a form of resistance – whether or not I opt into that.
“I think there are a myriad of ways to navigate straddling so many intersections, but for me, poetry and art is my primary outlet and communication tool. It helps me filter and process my own experiences and find similar community, which is an endlesssly important thing when any one of those facets of my identity can implicitly result in isolation. I believe, as Audre Lorde once wrote, “poetry is not a luxury”.

In lockdown, what have you missed most about theatre?

“I’ve been quite privileged in terms of lockdown and theatre. I’m studying a professional acting MA at ALRA North [Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, in Wigan, Manchester]. While lockdown has undoubtedly impacted us, it’s also been sprinkled with times I’ve been able to get into a (Covid-safe) room and create with my small cohort. It’s been a relief, an adventure and a very stressful time all in one!

“I’ve missed being able to explore new places and theatres and see new experimental and exciting ways of working! However, I’m pleased that accessibility within theatre has come into the mainstream awareness and contention.

“I hope the trend for more accessible theatre continues as more venues begin to reopen their doors. Like poetry, theatre and art should not be a luxury! I hope the future holds a new way of doing things that doesn’t negate the widened access lockdown has inspired!”

What’s coming next for you?

“I’m heading into my final seven months of my actor training. So hopefully I’ll finish that and get a certificate to prove it!

“More seriously, I hope to unearth a way of making art that I can access holistically. I often receive feedback that I’m too intellectual or academic. But really, I feel that this is a symptom of existing as I do. When your existence is politicised, people often assume that when you speak from experience, you’re trying to root a social theory or make it accessible. I’m not. I’m just expressing myself as best I know how.

“In summary, I want to work with new people and find new ways of accessing creativity. I want to act. I want to write. I want to continue exploring this new-found joy of play. There’s much I want to do! So we shall see what the future holds when we get to it.”

What would be the best way to spend five minutes if you had a choice?

“My dream five minutes would be being inside on a rainy Sunday afternoon, with my cat, Franklin, on my lap. I’d have a coffee from the local fancy coffee shop, soft music would play in the background, and I’d be able to just sit, and be, and read a book from my books-to-read shelf without thinking about work, or deadlines, or ‘being productive’.”

Tickets cost Pay What You Feel at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on 01904 623568.

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Young Thugs Studio and Liina Turtonen team up for music production placement project for women and non-binary people

Liina Turtonen: Leading the Level music production placement scheme run by Young Thugs Studio in York

YOUNG Thugs Studio, in York, are to run a six-month placement in music production and studio engineering for women and non-binary people aged 18 to 25 under the title of Level.

Working in partnership with the Youth Music Incubator fund, Young Thugs are offering this opportunity to three people in York and surrounding areas to explore studio production and the chance to build skills as a studio engineer and producer.

Participants in this paid placement, funded through players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, will work with industry mentors, led by Liina Turtonen, to acquire knowledge, skills and a CV and gain direct access to industry professionals. 

No qualifications or previous studio experience is needed, although basic music software skills are required, and childcare and travel support can be provided.

“These are very exciting times at Young Thugs despite all the Covid shenanigans,” says Dave Greenbrown, co-director of the studios upstairs at the South Bank Social Club, in Ovington Terrace, York.

“Following on from York band Bull’s EMI deal [in tandem with Young Thugs], not only have we now secured our permanent home with a long lease at South Bank Social Club – saving the building at the same time – but we’re also now in receipt of this Youth Music grant to develop a Women In Music programme in York.”

Outlining the programme, co-director Jonny Hooker says: “Over a six-month period, you will receive ongoing one-to-one studio mentorship, personal development, and be given a chance to work on real-time projects with established artists and industry professionals. 

“We’re looking for three women or non-binary people who have a passionate interest in wanting to work in a studio environment. It’s OK if you have no qualifications or studio experience, but this opportunity does require you to have some basic music recording and production experience.”

Jonny continues: “Young Thugs will offer a bespoke support package for you that will cover your time, as well as help with things like childcare and travel if required. 

“This programme will give you a toolbox, live project experience and could open up opportunities for you to consider further or higher education and employment.

“This opportunity is open to all women and non-binary people who are 18 to 25 and we really want to hear from you.” 

To apply, you need to send your answers to the questions below in written, video or audio format to level@youngthugs.com by the closing date of March 31 2021.

* Your name, age and location?

* Why do you want to take this opportunity now?

* How would this opportunity help you moving forward?

* What previous music experience do you have?

* What other information do you feel we should know about you?

* Do you have any access requirements?

If you need this information in another format, send an email to level@youngthugs.com or call 07812 605833 for more details.

Summing up the Level project, Dave says: “Promoting Women in Music Tech over a six- month period, we will teach, train and mentor three women in music technology and production.

“With a chosen industry mentor and in a safe environment, they will work within a busy professional recording studio, working with female artists or bands to create a series of singles, EPs or an album of their choice from conception to release.”

Finnishing touches: Music producer and musician Liina Turtonen in her studio

RUNNING the programme for Young Thugs will be Nordic-born Liina Turtonen, and aptly for an international woman now living and working in York, CharlesHutchPress caught up with her on International Women’s Day.

“I’ve been in York for about four years and in the UK for eight years,” says Liina, from Finland, who lives in South Bank, where she has a home studio. “I first studied in Scotland, in Ayr, when I’d been travelling around the world from 18 to 21.

“I was in Glasgow, and I’d fallen in love with electronic music. I was supposed to be on my way to Australia but never got there.

“Instead, I studied commercial music at the Ayr campus of the University of West Scotland. Commercial music means ‘popular music’, and the course was a combination of many things, but I just fell in love with studios and technology. You’d find me in the basement, on the soundboards.”

Liina decided her next step should be an MA in music production and duly headed south to the University of York.

How did that go? “I would say it was among best things I’ve ever done,” she says. “York Uni was one of the most supportive environments I could have had, and that’s why I’ve been able to make advances in my career so quickly.”

Liina’s own trajectory tells only part of the story, however. “Only 2.6 per cent of the industry are women producers or engineers, and I would say that’s 2.6 per cent of the whole industry across the world,” she says.

“That tells us why something like this Level placement project is necessary and that’s why it’s great that Young Thugs are doing this for young musical talent in York. I think there’s a lot needed to make sure the levels are better for the future.”

Studying music production, “I always felt very alone as a woman”, reveals Liina. “I didn’t have any female lecturers. I’ve never been taught music production by a woman.

“There were two women in the tech department, but for my course, it was two women studying among 15 guys.”

What characteristics are needed in such an environment for a woman to thrive? “I would say one word: confidence…because confidence opens up all the conversations. Everything comes back to confidence,” says Liina. “What you’re up against is the social structure, the patriarchal society.

“The difference between male and female confidence is that, for men, lack of confidence doesn’t stop you doing what you’re supposed to be doing, but not having confidence can stop women from doing what they’re inspired to do. It’s so powerful that it literally stops us.

“It needs so much constant effort, so much courage, to be the minority in this industry. So much so, a woman may not want to go into a studio as the only woman there, feeling you’re not going to know what you’re doing, so you fear being called out. It’s about imposter syndrome, and there’s benevolent sexism too.”

Liina’s own experience affirms why the Level programme is so important to give more women and non-binary people the chance to break into music production to change the prevailing landscape.

“It’s such a strong feeling that even if you know how to do it, like going to university to study – that’s a very encouraging environment, but then you go into a space where you’re the only one that looks like you and people talk to you in a slightly different way, so you start thinking you can’t do it,” she says.

“I would say I’ve encountered that every single day of my career, every day I go into a studio. I go into the studio for the fifth time and I still have to prove that I’m worth it, both to myself and others, which is exhausting. It’s part of my everyday life to prove that I deserve to be where I am, but I have the courage to keep doing it.”

The Level project, with its emphasis on a safe environment to nurture women producers, working with women musicians, is but one avenue for Liina. The musician, songwriter, music producer and educator also hosts LNA Does Audio Stuff, her own music production-focused YouTube channel, featuring tutorials, reviews, vlogs and fun audio challenges.  

“I’ve been doing it for two years and it’s one of my key jobs,” she says. “I’ve just published a song made by 90 women and non-binary people, made long-distance with six women producers pulling it together.

“My channel is mostly an educational forum, but it’s also my point of view from my life.”

In addition, Liina is co-founder of Equalize Music Production with Emily Johnson, aka Emily J Electric, a performer, musician and DJ. Proud members of the Musicians’ Union and associates of the Yorkshire Sound Women’s Network, they deliver courses and workshops in music production, song-writing and performance…and creative confidence (that word again).

“Because of that we got to know Young Thugs, and that’s why I’m doing this project with them,” says Liina. “What they’re doing as a male-led organisation is exactly what every studio should do, asking what we need, which is not something I’ve seen before.”

Looking forward to working with three placement participants, Liina says: “I can’t wait to see them, bringing them to spaces where they don’t need to prove themselves every day.

“The great thing is that they don’t really need to know anything in advance; they just need to be passionate. This programme says: ‘Everybody is good enough. Just get yourself in there!”

Creating a safe space is vital. “Even as a professional music producer, I know studios are very male dominated, so many women I know prefer to work from home, but for Level we will make it a very approachable space,” says Liina.

“I feel very comfortable in a studio, and when we feel comfortable, men do too, making such spaces less toxic.

“We’re still far away from it not being like a locker-room male environment, but these projects fight against that environment for everybody. We want great music, great musicians, great producers, great engineers.”

Do apply, stresses Liina: “If there’s someone who really wants to apply, or someone has a daughter who wants to apply, but maybe needs some encouragement, then go on, apply, even if they’re not confident, because it’s an amazing opportunity.

“I wish I’d had this chance when I was starting because my journey would have been easier and more pleasant if it had been easier, and maybe that’s why I always work so hard to achieve things.”

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Emergence Festival celebrates emerging artists in lockdown at University of York

Emergence Festival: A celebration of emerging talent, presented on Zoom from the University of York

EMERGENCE Festival, a free virtual arts festival showcasing emerging artists creating work in York in the pandemic, will run online from tomorrow (23/2/2021) until Saturday.

Co-ordinated by co-producers Olivia Maltby, Millie Feary and Blyth McPherson at the University of York, the festival on Zoom will feature six plays directed, designed and performed by students: NSFW by Lucy Kirkwood; Mike Bartlett’s Wild by Mike Bartlett; Ross & Rachel by James Fritz; Gary Owen’s killology; Wild Swimming by Marek Horn and Jez Butterworth’s The River.

Solo music by Yorkshire artists James Banks and Rumbi Tauro will book-end the festival, Doncaster pop singer Banks performing new original music and covers on the opening day; Intake R&B/soul artist Tauroplaying a live set at the online closing party.

James Banks: Doncaster musician to play online at Emergence Festival

Doncaster instructor Claire Burns will lead a Hatha yoga class, Sunshine Yoga, and the University of York Comedy Society’s sketch troupe, The Dead Ducks, will perform a sketch first aired at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe.

Panels and talks with industry professionals, such as Sorcha McCaffrey, The Paper Birds, Rocket Box Theatre, JustOut Theatre and Chris Swain, will offer the chance to discuss how to survive as an artist in a pandemic and how to break into the industry. 

These will take place in the form of live Q&As or webinars, where the artists will be to answer any and every questions.

“Celebrating the work of new and upcoming artists in the performing arts industry has never been so important,” says Olivia, introducing a virtual festival where everything will be free to attend from the comfort of home.

The River: Jez Butterworth’s play set on a moonless night in August

“With the effects of the pandemic on the arts sector, anyone in the industry has faced disruption and is challenged with fears of the future. Our festival provides a positively exciting space for emerging artists to showcase their talent far and wide and to remind us of how important art and culture is.”

Originally, Emergence Festival was intended to take place at University of York’s theatre department, but in response to Lockdown 3, the students had to adapt to what was possible, embracing the opportunity to present their work on Zoom.

After overcoming the initial fear of poor wi-fi and glitching, the artists have thrived in their new environment in their rehearsals, culminating in this week’s live performances online.

Sam Armstrong: Director of Ross & Rachel

The full schedule is: 

Tuesday, February 23

5.15pm to 5.30pm:  Welcome speech.

5.30pm to 6.20pm: Wild Swimming by Marek Horn.

A kaleidoscopic exploration of cultural progress, Marek Horn’s play Wild Swimming is an interrogation of gender and privilege and a wilfully ignorant history of English Literature.

Wild Swimming: Marek Horn’s kaleidoscopic exploration of cultural progress

6.20pm to 6.55pm: James Banks.

Doncaster singer James Banks’s songs are a fusion of pop anthems and the vocal stylings of Sam Smith, Will Heard and Conan Grey. His set will combine originals and covers.

7pm to 8.20pm:  NSFW by Lucy Kirkwood.

This sharp comedy addresses power games and privacy in the media and beyond.

Wednesday, February 24.

4pm to 5pm: Q&A with Sorcha McCaffrey.

In this interactive Q&A session, writer and actor Sorcha McCaffrey will take questions from the audience about her career in the theatre industry, writing a solo show and performing as a touring artist.

Sorcha McCaffrey: Live Q&A at Emergence Festival on Wednesday

5pm to 6.20pm: killology by Gary Owen.

In a play where a controversial new gaming experience is inspiring a generation, players are rewarded for torturing victims, scoring points for “creativity”.

7pm to 8.40pm: Wild by Mike Bartlett.

This darkly comic play explores the unexpected, bewildering and life-changing consequences of challenging the status quo at a global level.

Thursday, February 25

4pm to 5pm: In Conversation with The Paper Birds.

The Paper Birds, a devising theatre company with a social and political agenda, specialise in verbatim theatre, inspiring change through the theatre they create. In this session, they will discuss their experience of breaking into the theatre industry, devising theatre inspired by the community around them and their projects in lockdown. 

Ross & Rachel: James Fritz’s dark and uncompromising play about romance, expectation and mortality

5pm to 6.15pm: Ross & Rachel by James Fritz.

A dark and uncompromising play about romance, expectation and mortality, Ross & Rachel tells the story of what happens when two friends who were always meant to be together, get together and stay together.

7pm to 8.15pm: The River by Jez Butterworth.

On a moonless night in August when the sea trout are ready to run, a man brings his new girlfriend to the remote family cabin where he has come for the fly-fishing since he was a boy. She is not the only woman he has brought there, however, nor indeed the last.

Friday, February 26

4pm to 5pm: In Conversation with Chris Swain.

Chris Swain, lighting designer for devising physical theatre company Gecko, will answer questions on life as a technical freelancer working in theatre and dance: how to start; how theatre design jobs are structured; the difference between devised and text-led work; how to be an effective collaborator; the tech and software that are used, and the future of the industry.

Zooming in: Maria Cook and Bradley Hodgson in rehearsal for The River

5pm to 6.40pm: Wild by Mike Bartlett.

6.40pm to 7pm: Comedy Sketch by The Dead Ducks.

The University of York Comedy Society sketch troupe The Dead Ducks will stream a humorous performance during the interval. 

7pm to 8.20pm: NSFW by Lucy Kirkwood.

Saturday, February 27

10am to 11am: Sunshine Yoga with Claire Burns.

Claire Burns hosts a live yoga session of sun salutations with gentle, energising, breath-led flows, guided meditation and deep relaxation.

In concert: Rumbi Tauro to perform closing online show at Emergence Festival

11am to 12 noon: Rocket Box X JustOut Theatre.

Theatre companies Rocket Box and JustOut Theatre invite questions about their insight into life post-graduation and taking first steps into the theatre industry. Mistakes were made, lessons were learnt, so, sit down, open notebooks and let the demystifying revelations begin.

12 noon to 1.15pm, The River by Jez Butterworth.

2.40pm to 4pm: killology by Gary Owen.

4.05pm to 4.55pm: Wild Swimming by Marek Horn.

5.30pm to 6.50pm: Ross & Rachel by James Fritz.

7pm onwards: Closing party with Rumbi Tauro.

Zimbabwean-born soul and R&B singer-songwriter Rumbi Tauro, from Intake, Doncaster, will close the festival with a set of originals and covers to celebrate the work of Emergence’s emerging artists. 

Emergence Festival free tickets can be booked at: https://tftv.ticketsolve.com/shows. For more information, go to https://igpproducers.wixsite.com/website.