...on location... from the human nature series by composer/sound artist Karen Power (Online Premiere)

Karen Power's… on location… from the human nature series.

…on location… is a video compilation of six compositions from Power's human nature series, each performed by a different musician—John Godfrey, Simone Keller, Lore Lixenberg, Jane Rigler, and Samuel Stoll—in a site that is collaboratively determined by the composer/sound artist and each one of the musicians.

SIRIUS in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland is premiering …on location… online on Wednesday, 29 June at 17.00 through a Zoom event, featuring a pre-recorded performance of each of these compositions and a conversation between the composer/sound artist and the musicians/performers moderated by Miguel Amado, the director of SIRIUS.

Tickets

The session is free to attend, but advance booking via Eventbrite is required (the Zoom link is shared by email on 29 June in the morning).

Further Information

human nature

Since 2012 Power has been incorporating field recordings into her practice, acting as a listener to her surroundings, whether they be landscapes, animals, people, or built environments. Power captures audio “materials” with microphones, and it is their selection and placement that determines the field recording. Power considers field recordings “the first stage of a composition.” Power has made field recordings across the globe, including in some of Earth’s most isolated and challenging locations: the Arctic, the Antarctica, the Amazon rainforest, the Namib Desert, and the Australian Outback.
In spring 2020, during the first COVID-19-related lockdown in Ireland, Power selected eighteen extracts from her archive of field recordings and invited eighteen musicians from diverse musical backgrounds, based in various countries, to “perform” them from home, in private, using whatever technology they had available. The eighteen new compositions/performances were tied together through the singular concept of pairing the human with nature, generating a dialogue between a musician (and their instrument) and a field recording. In the autumn of 2020, Power self-released these pieces as the album human nature. 

…on location…

…on location… features five compositions from the human nature series, newly recorded as videos. The musicians performed them in settings selected so as to expand upon the field recording that they “play.” …on location… also features sea stories, a new composition/performance specifically produced for this occasion. It follows the same process as the other pieces, bringing a field recording and a musician (and their instrument) together, but differs in that the setting in which Power made the field recording is the same one where the musician performs.