this will literally be the best thing ever...

Bang the Bore IX: Resonance and Psychogeography
Featuring: John Butcher and a performance of Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting In A Room
8pm-10pm, Monday 28th February 2011
The Castle Vault, Western Esplanade, Southampton
(Nearest postcoded premises: The Quays Swimming Pool, SO15 1BA)
Free entry/donations gratefully accepted

Can sound haunt an environment? Can a performance space be ‘played’ as though it were part of a musical instrument? Can music engage with the historical and architectural essence of a location?

Bang the Bore – in partnership with Southampton City Council and Southampton University – are proud to present an evening of psychoacoustic exploration in Southampton’s medieval vaults: a chance to experience the sonic architecture of one of the South Coast of England’s key archaeological treasures through two site-specific performances. While the vaults have played host to concerts before, none have been dedicated to exploring their unique acoustic properties. Resonance and Psychogeography will transform a key part of Southampton’s history into music… an unmissable opportunity to experience the city like never before.

John Butcher
A generous and flexible improviser; a team player in ensembles and a composer for his own group; an experimenter with multi-track recording; a solo performer who specialises in site-specific performances that utilise the unique acoustics of an environment… British saxophonist John Butcher’s contribution to contemporary music is almost incomparable in its diversity and scope. In June 2006, Butcher toured remote areas of Scotland as part of the Resonant Spaces project, deploying saxophone and feedback loop improvisation as a means of exploring the acoustics of Lyness Oil Tank, Smoo Cave, Tugnet Ice House and Hamilton Mausoleum. His performance in the Castle Vault is a unique opportunity to hear a master musician breathing life into a location that counts as one of Southampton’s archaeological treasures.

Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting In A Room
This seminal composition is a true 20th Century milestone. The concept is elegant: a performer’s voice is recorded and played back, which is in turn recorded and played back, which is in turn recorded and played back… with each pass, the sonic characteristics of the room are amplified again, until the original voice has been completely subsumed by the sounds of the space. Alvin Lucier is the pre-eminent experimental composer involved in exploring acoustic phenomena and auditory perception; for Resonance and Psychogeography his work will be performed by the Leeds-based noise musician Stuart Bannister.

About the Venue
The Castle Vault is 55 feet long, 20 feet wide and 25 feet high and constructed from stone brought to the town by trade ships from such diverse locations as Caen in Normandy and Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. It may well have been built to store the proceeds of the King’s Prise, a tithe tax on barrels of wine imported into Southampton from France. The vaults originate between the 12th and 14th centuries and were intended for use by merchants or as part of the city’s fortified defences. In more recent times they provided shelter during WWII air raids. The medieval vaults are a lasting monument to Southampton’s longstanding importance as a port and trade centre.

The evening will be accompanied by a short talk on the historical and archaeological significance of the Castle Vault by local amateur historian Andrew Lyall and will feature the work of Southampton sculpture and installation artist Chantal Powell, who recontextualises found objects as a means of exploring alternate histories.

www.bangthebore.org

donate yr fucking arses off, please!
:-)