ASSEMBLY: CHRISTIAN MARCLAY
8 - 10 November 2019, 19.30 (Fri & Sat), 18.30 (Sun)
Tickets £12, or £30 for all 3 nights
For the second edition of ASSEMBLY, resident artist Christian Marclay curates a series of intimate musical performances in the Lancaster Rooms responding to the sounds and acoustics of the street outside the Neoclassical building.
Acknowledging and working with the unpredictable activity and noise to define a compositional framework, Marclay invites a series of guests to collaborate in bringing the outdoor inside for an evolving series of electro-acoustic performances. Presented over three nights, six new performances corresponding to Marclay’s sonic vision will be created live in the space, each responding to the concept in a different way.
On Friday 8 November resident artist and musician Beatrice Dillon presents infraordinary, a new work examining and reframing the rhythmic patterns of the street outside, alongside new audio-visual work by Haroon Mirza utilising projected visuals and panning to re-spatialise the traffic soundscape.
Saturday 9 November sees Lawrence Lek team up with Seth Scott & Robin Simpson to replicate the atmosphere of the Extinction Rebellion protests that took place on Waterloo Bridge which the Lancaster Rooms overlook. Mira Benjamin, John Lely & Heather Roche join collaboratively on Room Song, a performance which is founded on the interplay of instrumental intonation and environmental acoustics to create an interior 'resonancing' of the outside world.
On Sunday 10 November, experimental techno producer Karen Gwyer will approach the street noises as drums building over the course of the performance, while John Butcher and Lasse Marhaug join forces to modulate the street sounds through saxophone and electronics, creating a complex multi-ingredient feedback system to be manipulated in real time.
Assembly is supported by the Adonyeva Foundation and PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund.
AGM
4 October 2019, 19.00 - 00.00
Tickets £12
Rowdy SS, Erica Scourti, Jacob Samuel, Juliet Jacques, Hannah Perry, rkss, Paul Purgas, Anna Mikkola, Ifeoluwa, Jaeho Hwang and Claudio Giambusso join the AGM line-up.
Somerset House Studios turns three, and AGM once again opens the building up for one night only for a performance-led programme exploring states of temporality and continuous change, with must-see performances from Mykki Blanco, Chicks on Speed, and a new collaboration between Sam Williams and Roly Porter.
Internationally renowned musician, performing artist, and LGBTQ+ activist Mykki Blanco presents a special performance following a short residency at Somerset House Studios.
Chicks on Speed’s Melissa E. Logan and Alex Murray-Leslie in collaboration with Anat Ben-David and Tina Frank, perform a real-time assemblage of collected documentation from our environments to generate sounding visual art.
Erica Scourti is joined by members of experimental vocal ensemble Musarc to present a new poly-vocal performance drawing on (mis)interpretations of fragmented video diaries to explore impersonal intimacy and dynamics of sharing, over-hearing and withholding in practices of self-citation.
Developed in residence at Somerset House Studios, visual artist Sam Williams and musician Roly Porter collaborate for Salvage Rhythms, a performance drawing on systems of archaeology, mycelial networks, composting and non-human relationships to explore different possibilities of survival and connection.
In the River Rooms, a sculptural audio-installation by Jacob Samuel uses indisposable yet throwaway consumer materials to play scores of emotive audio, farmed from open source platforms, different rhythms, melodies and speech which phase over time, amplified by their physical counterparts.
Philomene Pirecki presents a new multi-channel audio visual installation drawn from research into the phenomena of frisson or ‘skin orgasms’, their stimuli and physiological effects.
Vivienne Griffin’s site-specific drone installation Codependent Frequencies modulates in tone as the staircase of the building is ascended and descended, and Zuzanna Czebatul’s work T-Kollaps fills the interior of the River Rooms with inflated toy-columns as if with elements of ancient ruins suffering decay.
In the basement, the Paint Room features a takeover by Décalé (meaning displaced in place and time), a club night and platform run by Chooc Ly and Anne Duffau (A---Z) for nocturnal creatures, loud existential insurgents and disobedient children where audiences can encounter experimental, collapsing and flawless sounds and visuals. Line-up features Alpha, Chooc Ly, Ifeoluwa and Jaeho Hwang with VJ Claudio Giambusso.
In the vaults, a new performance from Juliet Jacques interrogates the meaning of 'self-care' in a highly individualistic society and asks how it might feed into a project of rebuilding solidarity.
Throughout the night, Rowdy SS’s ongoing solo movement work Balance asks us how are we using space, and how is space using us?
AGM features DJ sets from Studios residents Hannah Perry, Anna Mikkola, Paul Purgas and rkss, and will also offer for late night access to Gallery 31, Somerset House Studios’ new permanent exhibition space.
AGM is a multi-room event with artists performing across different spaces throughout the night.
Access to any given space will be on a first come first served basis.
AGM is supported by the Adonyeva Foundation.
Linn De Quebrada | Batekoo | Resis’dance
10 October 2019, 19.00
Tickets £10 available here
Somerset House Studios partner with Boiler Room to present Linn Da Quebrada as part of the city-wide Boiler Room Festival. For one of festival’s satellite events, Boiler Room and Somerset House Studios
invite transgender female rapper, musician and performance artist Linn Da Quebrada from Sao Paulo. Linn performs alongside fellow Sao Paulo collective Batekoo and the London collective and Somerset House Studios Associate Artists Resis’dance. As part of the evening's programme there will also be a film screening of Bixa Travesty in which Linn espouses her convictions about feminism and her transsexuality.
Focused on communities and the environments they thrive in, Boiler Room Festival showcases different underground scenes in a multi-event programme featuring emerging artists from contemporary jazz, rap, bass and club.
The Body Series: New Suns
19 October 2019, 17.30
Ticket £8
The Body Series is a new programme of four events focused on the exploration of feminism, sexuality and expression through text, movement and sound. The first event in the series will be in collaboration with New Suns, a feminist curatorial and storytelling project founded by Sarah Shin.
New Suns and Somerset House Studios presents a celebration of all gender identities and expressions, with a performative reading from The Left Hand of Darkness, music, astrology readings, poetry and protection spells and rituals from Roz Kaveney, Francesca Lisette, So Mayer, Nisha Ramayya, Linda Stupart, Ayesha Tan-Jones plus more to be announced.
Anna Meredith: FIBS
24 October 2019, 19.30
Tickets £12
Studios resident and genre-defying composer, producer and performer Anna Meredith launches her new album FIBS with an intimate gig at Somerset House Studios on the eve of its release. Arriving over three years on from the release of award-winning debut album Varmints, FIBS is 45 minutes of technicolour maximalism and almost perpetual rhythmic reinvention.
The album is heralded by the release of Paramour, its first single and accompanying single-take video shot in the River Rooms at Somerset House. Paramour is a song that forbids you from turning away - its sweeps, jerks and wrong turns pinning your ears to the speakers whilst heading for warp speed at a blistering 176 BPM before rounding the journey out with an (utterly unexpected) tuba-led half-time rock-out.
FIBS was recorded and produced at Somerset House Studios and is released on 25 October 2019 via Moshi Moshi.
Full press pack for Anna Meredith here
Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy
13 January - 09 February 2020
Programme TBA
Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy is a programme of six specially commissioned artworks that will explore the concept and practice of wellness.
The consumer economy has co-opted health and happiness itself. The wellness industry has imposed on us all the imperative to be healthy, happy and above all, productive. Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy provides audiences with possibilities for the practice of wellness beyond capitalism.
The 2020 edition of takes place during January and February to coincide with the final weeks of Somerset House’s landmark exhibition 24/7 and asks how we can together advance our bodily and mental well-being in our non-stop world.
Contributing artists and programme to be announcement in November.
FULL EVENT LISTINGS
SEPTEMBER
Gallery 31: BONDS - Featuring Laura Grace Ford, Anna Mikkola, Imran Perretta, Hannah Perry, Nick Ryan and Flora Yin-Wong.
06 Sep 2019 - 05 Jan 2020, FREE
Bonds is the title of first season of the permanent gallery space dedicated to showcasing the Studios community and work developed through its residencies.
Grounding Practice: Mykki Blanco
18 Sept 2019 18.45-20.30, £10
The first event in this series is a talk by multidisciplinary and award-winning artist and LGBQT+ activist Mykki Blanco, following a short residency at Somerset House Studios.
DEFRAG: Architecture
25 Sept 2019, 18.45 -20.30, Pay What You Can
DEFRAG returns for another series investigating the myriad ways that technology continues to change culture and society.
OCTOBER
AGM 2019
4 Oct 2019, 19.00 - 00.00, £12
Somerset House Studios presents must-see performances from Mykki Blanco, Chicks on Speed, and a new collaboration between Sam Williams & Roly Porter.
Linn De Quebrada | Batekoo | Resis’dance
10 October 2019, 19.00, £10
Somerset House Studios partner with Boiler Room to present Linn Da Quebrada as part of the city-wide Boiler Room Festival.
The Body Series
19 October 2019, 17.30, £8
Ticket £8
A new programme of four events focused on the exploration of feminism, sexuality and expression through text, movement and sound.
Anna Meredith: FIBS
24 October 2019, 19.30, £12
Studios resident and genre-defying composer, producer and performer Anna Meredith launches her new album FIBS with an intimate gig at Somerset House Studios on the eve of its release.
24/7
31 Oct 2019 – 23 Feb 2020, £14 / £11 concessions
A major exhibition exploring the non-stop nature of modern lives.
NOVEMBER
ASSEMBLY: Christian Marclay
8-10 Nov 2019, £12 per event or £30 for all three nights
Christian Marclay curates a series of intimate musical performances in the Lancaster Rooms responding to the sounds and acoustics of the street outside the Neoclassical building featuring Beatrice Dillon, Haroon Mirza, Karen Gywer and more.
JANUARY
Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy
13 January - 09 February 2020
A programme of six specially commissioned artworks that will explore the concept and practice of wellness.
FOR PRESS ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT: press@somersethouse.org.uk/0207 845 4624
ADDITIONAL LISTINGS INFORMATION
Address: Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA
Transport: Underground: Temple, Embankment / Rail: Charing Cross, Waterloo, Blackfriars
Website: www.somersethouse.org.uk
Somerset House Facebook: www.facebook.com/SomersetHouse
Somerset House Twitter: @SomersetHouse
Somerset House Instagram: @SomersetHouse
Somerset House Studios Twitter: @sh_studios_
Somerset House Studios Instagram: @somersethousestudios
NOTES TO EDITORS
Full biographies of artists included the programme can viewed here.
ABOUT SOMERSET HOUSE
London’s working arts centre
Somerset House is London’s working arts centre and home to the UK’s largest creative community. Built on historic foundations, we are situated in the very heart of the capital.
Dedicated to backing progress, championing openness, nurturing creativity and empowering ideas, our cultural programme is ambitious in scope. We insist on relevance, but aren’t afraid of irreverence, and are as keen on entertainment as enrichment. We embrace the biggest issues of our times and are committed to oxygenating new work by emerging artists. Where else can you spend an hour ice-skating while listening to a specially commissioned sound piece by a cutting-edge artist?
It is this creative tension—the way we harness our heritage, put the too-often overlooked on our central stage and use our neo-classical backdrop to showcase ground-breaking contemporary culture—that inspires our programme. Old and new, history and disruption, art and entertainment, high-tech and homemade, combined with the fact that we are home to a constantly shape-shifting working creative community: this is our point of difference. It is what we are proud of. And it is what makes the experience of visiting or working in Somerset House inspiring and energizing, urgent and exciting.
