Scene - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2018

This article, derived from a larger ethnographic research created around the production of the award-winning independent film Notes on Blindness (2016) and conducted by a researcher active as a film professional, explores the deeper consequences of choosing to pursue a production ‘in-house’. Through participant observation, Actor-Network Theory and negotiation between film practice and research, the researcher finds independent filmmakers caught between the opposing trends of high-end industry and the digital economies. The organization forms observed in this article stand opposite to the prevalent globalized creative labour trends motivated by the internet and new technologies, and can best be described as a revival of Richard Sennett’s craft workshop in the digital era. These are ultra-dense creative spaces where craftspersons nurture their creative impulses and shield them from the negative aspects of the technological and economic upheaval. In the hope that the findings will inform future filmmakers in the role of this specific type of organization in delivering the intended output, this article offers insights beyond the industry self-avowal and sales pitch.

This article reflects on the significance and impact of Assembly, a site-specific research project made and exhibited in Birmingham Central Mosque, Brick Lane Mosque and Old Kent Road Mosque from 2016 to 2020. Assembly provided an opportunity for Muslims and non-Muslims to experience Jumu’ah prayer first-hand via the site performances, which temporarily dissolved the religious/social boundaries of each mosque. Each performance highlighted the differences and relations between each site, furthering ideas of performativity in Muslim prayer spaces. This article summarizes the impact reported by each mosque community as well as reflecting upon the relationships built within the wider community.

The early failure of the 'dram-balet' form as a vehicle for Soviet ballet is often observed as a failure of its stories to deliver the message of the new society being born around it. This article discusses how this may not be a sufficient explanation of both the survival of ballet in Soviet times and its eventual emergence as a cultural symbol of the USSR. The misdirected efforts into didactic storytelling worked precisely against its utility to Soviet cultural bureaucrats who were looking for work that could support the aims of the Revolution in its practical manifestations. Once the ballet masters of the Bolshoi gave up their pretensions to narrative (the infamous 'dram-balet' of the 1920s), a different accommodation with the regime was found through equating the physical and technical work of ballet with that of a society focussed on taking itself out of centuries of backwardness. Ballet dancers could thus become the exemplars of Soviet citizens, hard working, technical specialists in culture, consistent with the ambitions of a meritocracy.

Why do we work to create multichannel concerts? Given that we do, might we further consider the holistic experience of coming to a concert and how that impacts upon the audience’s engagement with the music? Why do electroacoustic music concerts take place in the locations that they do? Do we consider the relationship between content and form appropriately when planning and organizing concert events? This article considers the philosophical approaches to multichannel concerts, questioning the underlying motives behind them and how these inform both the technological systems used and the context within which works are presented. Contrasting idealist and realist approaches, this article seeks to identify the aesthetic goals which have driven current multichannel sound projection systems and questions if looking beyond the technologies of reproduction to consider the holistic experience of an electroacoustic concert might help to inform future practice.

At the 2013 symposium for Acoustic Ecology in Kent, concerts were held inside the covered Number 3 slip at Chatham Historic Dockyard. This enormous wooden ‘hanger-like’ structure was built in Georgian times to allow naval vessels to be built under shelter. This expansive space provided a dramatic setting for our concert. Barry Truax presented a new composition ‘Earth and Steel’ built from the metallic clangs of ship construction, recorded in the Vancouver shipyards of the 1970s. The remainder of the programme contained a diversity of works, both abstract and more mimetic in nature. But in this particular space where giant ships were built and repaired, can it be said that Truax’s piece was even more resonant? Would the work have had the same effect in a sanitised concert hall? Was it somehow more significant in that slipway? How might performance of this same work, during inSonic2015 at the ZKM, compare?

Review of: Pure Dance, Natalia Osipova

Sadlers Wells Theatre, 25 October 2019