Installations & Performances

EartH Hackney, London | Sunday 19th May

The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish with Plants: A Festival on Plant Intelligence
EartH Hackney
11-17 Stoke Newington Road London N16 8BH
Sunday 19th May 1-11pm

Chris Watson, Salmo salar – The Three Realms, on location Croquet Head, commissioned by Serpentine Galleries and L-Acoustics on the occasion of The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish, 2019.

“Most people who bother to think about plants at all tend to regard them as the mute, immobile furniture of our world—useful enough, and generally attractive, but obviously second-class citizens in the republic of life on Earth.” (Stefano Mancuso)

The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish with Plants is a multidisciplinary festival that brings together artists, scientists, writers, anthropologists and musicians for talks, performances, screenings and listening sessions that raise and address some of the most urgent questions facing all of us.

www.serpentinegalleries.org/files/press-releases/gen_eco_-_press_release_final.pdf

“Sanctuary” Carlos Casas, Chris Watson, and Tony Myatt, EMPAC, Troy, USA | 22nd March 2019

After a devastating earthquake, Nga, an old elephant and probably the last of his kind, and Sanra, his mahout, embark on a journey to find the mythical elephant’s graveyard. A story of discovery and mourning in which the spectator becomes the protagonist, the film follows the duo as they are stalked closely by a group of poachers, who begin to die one after another under mysterious circumstances.

Carlos Casas’s Sanctuary offers a mesmerizing sonic and visual cinematic environment that immerses the audience in the sounds, textures, and hues of the jungle. Projected on the mega-screen in EMPAC’s Concert Hall, and featuring live Ambisonics, Wavefield Synthesis, and infrasound to induce a deep sense of physical closeness with the elephant, Sanctuary presents a unique sensorial experience that collapses the boundaries between art, nature documentary, and adventure film.

Chris Watson collaborated with the bioacoustician and elephant communication expert Joyce Poole to record the acoustic sphere of elephants. Tony Myatt developed the infrasound speaker and implemented the spatial audio. Both will perform live on the speaker systems installed throughout the hall. This is the US premiere of the project, which was previously presented at the Fondation Cartier, Paris; the Tate Modern, London; and the Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels.

empac.rpi.edu/events/2019/sanctuary

“Okeanos” Chris Watson and Tony Myatt – EMPAC, Troy, USA | 20th March 2019

Okeanos takes the audience on an auditory underwater journey around the globe. Years of recordings from pole to pole will be performed with three audio systems in the Concert Hall: a dome of 64 loudspeakers used to project sounds around the audience in an Ambisonic environment, a Wave Field Synthesis array, consisting of hundreds of small speakers placed above the audience, and a custom-built infrasound speaker used to create the lowest frequencies, which can be more felt than heard. The composition will include songs, signals, and vibrations from the smallest crustaceans to the loudest and largest animals ever to have existed.

Chris Watson and Tony Myatt will perform a version of the work specifically developed for EMPAC’s Concert Hall and its audio systems. This new version will also integrate sound materials recorded on the Northeastern coast of the US and humpback whale recordings from the Silver Banks (Dominican Republic).

empac.rpi.edu/events/2019/okeanos

BOILER SHOP PRESENTS: 100 YEARS, Newcastle | 10th – 11th November 2018

A Weekend of music and performance to mark the 100-year anniversary of the 1918 Armistice which ended the 1st World War

SATURDAY 10 & SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2018 BOILER SHOP, NEWCASTLE

Sat 10th November – British Sea Power + Bas Jan

AM – Sun 11th November – Chris Watson + breakfast + Luke Turner (The Quietus) in conversation with Chris Watson + Richard Dawson.

PM – Sun 11th November – Shirley Collins

To mark the centenary of Armistice Day, Boiler Shop presents ‘100 Years’, a weekend of unique events curated by the venue’s Richard Clouston andDaveid Phillips with author and editor of The Quietus, Luke Turner.

Much loved UK institution British Sea Power will play on Saturday 10th November with support from London based experimental post punk trio Bas Jan, built around the remarkable and distinctive voice and songs of multi-instrumentalist Serafina Steer.

In the very early hours of Sunday 11th November, world-renowned sound recordist Chris Watson will present ‘A Nightingale on The Western Front’, a multichannel sound composition recorded in the battle sites of Flanders. This event will run from 5:00am to 7:30am on the Mezzanine for a limited audience of 80 people, followed by breakfast and a Q and A session with Chris andLuke Turner. Then a very special live show from Newcastle’s own Richard Dawson.

The weekend will conclude with a live show from the legendary English folk singer
Shirley Collins, who released her first album in 30 years, 2016’s brilliant ‘Lodestar’.

We hope 100 Years will be a poignant reflection on sacrifice and a dignified celebration of peace.

Tickets are available here

Enceindre: Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival | 22nd September 2018

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival presents the premiere of Enceindre, a new commission and first collaboration between artist filmmaker Luke Fowler and acclaimed sound recordist Chris Watson. Enceindre is a study in film and sound of two 16th century fortified cities: Berwick in the North-East of England and Pamplona in the Navarre region of the North of Spain.

If fortifications are considered ‘the body of the place’, what does it means to live in a body that is outside of time and without purpose? Could these fortress towns be considered hetrotopias? Or are they, as the writer WG Sebald vividly describes, alien structures denuded from human history? Enceindre adopts an infra-sensitive approach to place, drawing on unheard acoustic perspectives and lucid camerawork to propose a new framework in which to consider these anachronistic landscapes.

The film’s world premiere at BFMAF 2018 will be immediately followed by a ‘dark cinema’ version of the film with an alternative soundtrack diffused live by Chris Watson.

Commission supported by LUMA Foundation, Outset Scotland and Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council

www.bfmaf.org/programme/specialevents/enceindre

Unsound, Krakow | 7th – 14th October 2018

Ephemera now presents Foris, an immersive installation created by acclaimed field recordist Chris Watson, Schoen and visual artist MFO – also involved in Ephemera from the start. Centered around the idea of preserving endangered ecosystems in the era of the anthropocene, a multichannel installation of field recordings of selected habitats from across the planet interconnects with the olfactory concept of a forest created by Geza Schoen. Like the initial phase of this unique project, Foris will connect to the next series of Ephemera perfume, to be launched in 2019.

www.unsound.pl/articles/news/unsound-krakow-announces-second-wave-of-artists-including-special-projects-and-premieres-tickets-on-sale-mid-august

WOMAD, Malmesbury | 26th – 29th July 2018

17 carefully selected artists have been invited to perform on the new d&b Soundscape stage.

All Festival Tickets

100 Years, Newcastle | 11th November 2018

Shirley Collins, Richard Dawson, British Sea Power, Bas Jan and Chris Watson will all be appearing at an event in Newcastle this November to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. 100 Years takes place at the historic Boiler Shop venue on Armistice weekend.The centrepiece of the events will be a special work by Chris Watson called A Nightingale On The Western Front, a sound composition based on recordings made on the the WWI battlefields in Flanders. The piece will be presented from 5am to 7:30am on Armistice Day, and will be followed by a Q&A with Watson by The Quietus’ Luke Turner, co-curator of the event. This will be followed by a special early morning set from Richard Dawson. Shirley Collins will play on the evening of the 11th – her recent memoir All In The Downs deals poignantly with the impact that the war had on her immediate family, and the people of her rural Sussex childhood. The Armistice Day events follow a gig on the Saturday night by Bas Jan and British Sea Power. There are more events to be announced, but for now you can find tickets here. Newcastle’s Boiler Shop is a listed building where the Stephenson family built the first steam locomotives, and during WWI was used in the production of military aircraft.

Whispering in the Reeds, Snape Maltings | 16th June 2018

The Pumphouse, 7pm

In mid June, world-renowned sound recordist Chris Watson will be at work in the reed beds of RSPB North Warren…. the result? A completely new multi-channel sound piece which reflects the songs and rhythms of the wildlife within this landscape over a 24-hour period.

Part of The Pumphouse

Tickets

No Man’s Land; Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts | Brighton Tuesday 27th March – Friday 13th April

No Man’s Land is an audio installation celebrating the sounds, rhythms and music of the world’s seas and oceans.

No Man’s Land is at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts until Fri 13 Apr.

Interview for BN1 magazine can be read here

Sound Mind: Graham Duff interviews Chris Watson, about his groundbreaking work with the experimental music groups Cabaret Voltaire and The Hafler Trio, his career as one of the world’s most celebrated wildlife recordists, his albums of field recordings released on the Touch label and his new site specific sound installation ‘No Man’s Land’. Contains extensive examples of both Watson’s music and field recordings. Headphone listening recommended throughout.

Yoiking with the Winged Ones | SDG, Norway

Sound installation by Ánde Somby. Technical Manager is Christopher Watson and Elin Már Øyen Vister.

You can visit the exhibition from 24th February until 8th April 2018 and you watch on NRK here

Surrey Moog Symposium | 3rd February 2018

The Surrey Moog Symposium 2018 will take place on 3rd Feb 2018 in PATS Studio 1 at the University of Surrey, Guildford. Surrey’s Department of Music and Media, in collaboration with the Moog Soundlab UK and Moog Music Inc. (USA) will present a day of performances and discussions celebrating the life and legacy of Dr Robert ‘Bob’ Moog and the lasting impact of his sound synthesisers.

The Symposium will feature live performances by Chris Watson, using modular sound processing systems and recordings of New York environments, Chris Carter will give his second live performance using his own new modular system, and one of the world’s leading authorities on electronic music, Thom Holmes will present the symposium’s keynote lecture “The Sound of Moog”.

www.chriscarter.co.uk www.thomholmes.com/Noise_and_Notations/About_Thom_Holmes.html

Chris Watson’s performance will be supported by Finlay Shakespeare.

The symposium also marks the launch of the new Moog Recording Library record label, who release a series of new recordings on vinyl of work created with the Moog Soundlab UK over the past three years.

The Symposium will also feature a roundtable discussion Bob Moog and the “living machines”, and live demonstrations of the Moog Soundlab UK and new modular-synthesis developments by Finlay Shakespeare.

Only 200 tickets are available.

Details of all events and online tickets sales:

www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/music/20180203-moog-symposium

Surrey Moog Symposium 2018 PressRelease

Interview Ina/GRM | Paris, France

Dubplate in The Highlands

Photo: Chris Watson at Allt an t-Sionnaich

www.alecfinlay.com

TRENT FALLS TO SPURN POINT | June – July 2017

The world premiere of an original, multi-channel sound installation from internationally acclaimed and BAFTA award-winning sound artist Chris Watson. Chris has deep ties to the North of England and has travelled the world collecting sounds. One of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, Chris’ work puts “a microphone where you can’t put your ears”.

A collaboration between Hull 2017 and the University of Hull, this three dimensional sound sculpture follows the ebbing tide, from the confluence of the rivers Trent and Ouse. An enthralling journey along the Humber estuary and out into rich melodies of the North Sea, experienced at the Gulbenkian Centre using sound, space and light as evocation.

This is a durational installation piece. This installation is approx. 30 mins in length but runs as a continuous loop. Audiences can experience a single cycle or stay longer if they wish.

www.hull2017.co.uk/whatson/events/trent-falls-to-spurn-point/

The Long Now presented by Berlin Atonal | 26th March 2017

Chris Watson
William Basinski & James Elaine
Alvin Lucier
Keith Fullerton Whitman
Tim Hecker
Aleksi Perala
Catherine Christer Hennix
Kara-Lis Coverdale

www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?939757

BMW Tate Live Exhibitions: TEN DAYS SIX NIGHTS NIGHT FIVE | 31st March 2017

Experience immersive live cinema in the Tanks

On the fifth night of the BMW Tate Live Exhibition Carlos Casas presents Sanctuary 2017, a site-specific infrasound environment open to the public during the day which will transition to an immersive live cinema experience. Inspired by the myth of an elephant graveyard in Sri Lanka, Sanctuary grows out of Casas’ wider research for Cemetery, an expansive film project initiated in 2007 which brings together footage he has been shooting in locations across the globe with field recordings by renowned sound artist and musician Chris Watson.

Featuring a film and light design by Carlos Casas, live sound by Chris Watson, and infrasound engineering by Tony Myatt, the live cinema performance Sanctuary segues from a projection to a spatial sound experience. Part nature documentary, part experimental fiction, the narrative follows the journey of an elephant, his mahout, and a group of poachers following their trace into the darkness of the night. By enabling visitors to tune their senses to infrasound communication throughout the day, the live completes a unique sensory testing ground for encounters with other species.

www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/performance/ten-days-six-nights/night-five

Ocean Song Soundscape | Museum of Zoology, Cambridge

Inspired by our iconic Finback Whale, the Museum of Zoology ran a series of workshops collecting voices from Cambridge and beyond to create a soundtrack for this amazing skeleton in the newly built Whale Hall of the Museum of Zoology. With the help of choir leader Rowena Whitehead and Jo Shaw and Tizzy Faller from the Department of Music, we reached out to over 1000 people in schools, museums and other spaces. Chris Watson, award-winning wildlife sound recorder and sound artist, has combined these with his recordings of the world’s oceans into a magical, atmospheric journey around the world. Here is the finished piece, which you can hear in the Whale Hall from late 2017.

Watch Ocean Song Soundscape here

Everything You Can Imagine Is Real, National Portrait Gallery | 20th January 2017

Free
Friday 20 January
18.00 – 21.00

Inspired by Picasso’s circle in Montmartre in the first decade of the 20th century, the Gallery becomes an artists’ colony featuring a wild cross-pollination of ideas, music, poetry, performance, art, film and dance. For one evening only, step inside the mind of Picasso where Everything You Can Imagine is Real…

Curated and Produced by Martyn Ware for Illustrious.

Contributing artists:

Zarina Bhimji, Georgina Brett, Peter Coyle, Eclectic Method, Vanessa Fenton, Feral Five, Sarah Hopkins, Aaron Horn, IN-IS, Marcus Lyon, Di Mainstone, Tracey Moberly, Nikky Norton-Shafau, Obsrvtry, Radiophonic Workshop, Ian Reddington, Cherub Sanson, Scanner, John Shuttleworth, The Spinning Yarns, Chris Sullivan, Toby Thompson, Gabriel Ware, Martyn Ware, Chris Watson,Tim Wheater, White Noise, Luke Wright

Download programme here

Supported by Goldman Sachs

Soundscape system and headphones by Bowers & Wilkins

Part of the programme of events complementing Picasso Portraits.

www.npg.org.uk/assets/files/pdf/lateshift/Picasso_programme.pdf

Night of Wind, Cartier Foundation | Paris 8 November 2016

A Night conducted by Cédric Villani

With Chris Watson, Martin Hertau (TARA)…

Following the Bat Night in 2014 and the Night of Honey in 2015, the Nights of Uncertainty program continues its exploration of the natural world together with Cédric Villani.
English musician Chris Watson is one of the leading figure of field recording today. Throughout the evening, he takes the audience on a journey, listening to the winds of the Earth, from the North Polar Zone to Antarctica, through the plains of Tanzania, the coasts of Thailand or the Scottish Highlands. Cédric Villani discusses with Martin Hertau, captain of Tara schooner, thanks to a live connexion from its anchorage near Maupihaa atoll, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in order to speak about sailing with winds.

Through the various contributions, as well as screenings and readings, Cédric Villani, a mathematician with an infinite curiosity, explores one of the first sound phenomena appeared on Earth and brings to it his own scientific and poetic perspective.

https://www.fondationcartier.com