The National Sculpture Factory is commissioning Irish experimental composer Jennifer Walshe to create a piece of music in response to, and using, the sounds of the factory space. The project will involve the composer working with selected sound artists and music students from Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), with a performance taking place in the factory itself. Jennifer Walshe’s work is highly visual and is often performed by herself and without recourse to conventional instruments. She is interested in the use of the mouth as a performing and percussive instrument, clearly referencing Samuel Beckett in her work. Influences in relation to this project include ‘drone music’ and performance art as well as the music of John Cage and US experimental sound artist La Monte Young.

Walshe’s work has taken an unusual direction in its exploration of everyday sounds to create variously startling, eclectic, beautiful and at times deliberately jarring, music compositions. It is this exploration of territory often traversed by visual artists, coupled with a visual performance element, which interests the National Sculpture Factory. Walshe has never been commissioned by a visual arts organization, and the industrial space of the NSF -- which has been both an inspiration and a vehicle for the making of art for fourteen years -- has never had a partnership with a composer. Speaking about the project and the city of Cork, Walshe said: ‘I would like to re-map the centre of the city in sonic terms, find interesting acoustic spaces and move through these, making sounds and transmitting them back to the NSF.’

The commission, which is being run in association with Cork Institute of Technology, will involve a research period of visits by the composer to the factory and collaborative ‘laboratory’ workshops with other artists and CIT music students. During this period the work/performance will be developed, culminating in a premiere performance on Saturday, 6 November 2004 as part of a proposed symposium on interdisciplinary art during CIT’s Artsfest.

Further information: Tara Byrne, Director, National Sculpture Factory. Email: info@nationalsculpturefactory.com.