Hydrosapien
Laura Denning
Plymouth Art Weekender, 2018
Photos: Rod GonzalezPlymouth Art Weekender is a three-day city-wide festival that celebrates Plymouth, its people and the visual arts, promoting the city as an exciting contemporary art destination. Under our leadership as Programme Coordinators in 2018, The Weekender hosted 140 projects, events and exhibitions across 63 venues, 22 of which actively engaged local communities in the development or delivery of the projects, and showcased the work of 300+ artists to an audience of over 24,000. For the fourth iteration of the festival, we commissioned three temporary public art works, a writing commission and supported a small number of artists’ projects realised during The Weekender.
Hydrosapien, Laura Denning, 2018
Silent Choir, 2 voice artists, the essay Hydrofeminism by Astrida Neimanis and a short poem adapted from the essay
Plymouth based Laura Denning, who wowed audiences with her independent project Benthic Caress at 2017's Weekender, was selected for our Local Engagement Commission. Laura’s practice combines collaboration, curation and field notes; resulting in filmworks, soundwalks and other forms of ‘experimental geography’, as well as installations that audiences can take part in.
For the commission, Laura worked with a series of professional vocalists and collaborated with Plymouth’s D/deaf community to create a sign language choir. Hydrosapien is a public performance involving a Silent Choir (a group of adults and children performing a poem using British Sign Language), joined by two eclectic voice artists who ‘performed’ the poem using vocalised sounds, not words. Artistically, the piece aimed to question the meaning and boundaries of our understanding of sound, whilst drawing attention to our relationships with and through water. Socially, the piece was intended to highlight the importance of BSL as a language, and the issues and opportunities that the D/deaf community encounters.
The choir performed a short poem adapted from the essay Hydrofeminism by Astrida Neimanis (2012), whilst the voice artists performed the original essay. Through consultation with Fletch, a deaf popstar, Laura created a short poem that could be repeated throughout the performances, with Fletch also contributing a BSL video tutorial for participants to access alongside rehearsals.
The piece developed on from previous sound work Laura had undertaken, which used field recordings to create short symphonies of manipulated natural sound. Laura also undertook BSL training during the commission and whilst she was aware she wouldn’t be fluent by the time of the performances, she was on her way to being bilingual.
Silent Choir, 2 voice artists, the essay Hydrofeminism by Astrida Neimanis and a short poem adapted from the essay
Plymouth based Laura Denning, who wowed audiences with her independent project Benthic Caress at 2017's Weekender, was selected for our Local Engagement Commission. Laura’s practice combines collaboration, curation and field notes; resulting in filmworks, soundwalks and other forms of ‘experimental geography’, as well as installations that audiences can take part in.
For the commission, Laura worked with a series of professional vocalists and collaborated with Plymouth’s D/deaf community to create a sign language choir. Hydrosapien is a public performance involving a Silent Choir (a group of adults and children performing a poem using British Sign Language), joined by two eclectic voice artists who ‘performed’ the poem using vocalised sounds, not words. Artistically, the piece aimed to question the meaning and boundaries of our understanding of sound, whilst drawing attention to our relationships with and through water. Socially, the piece was intended to highlight the importance of BSL as a language, and the issues and opportunities that the D/deaf community encounters.
The choir performed a short poem adapted from the essay Hydrofeminism by Astrida Neimanis (2012), whilst the voice artists performed the original essay. Through consultation with Fletch, a deaf popstar, Laura created a short poem that could be repeated throughout the performances, with Fletch also contributing a BSL video tutorial for participants to access alongside rehearsals.
The piece developed on from previous sound work Laura had undertaken, which used field recordings to create short symphonies of manipulated natural sound. Laura also undertook BSL training during the commission and whilst she was aware she wouldn’t be fluent by the time of the performances, she was on her way to being bilingual.
The participants took part in 4 free rehearsals, bringing different groups from within Plymouth's D/deaf community to sign together. The choir members explored the themes presented within Hydrofeminism to help shape the final presentation. The participants then performed the piece on two different public platforms in the heart of Plymouth, giving the wider community a chance to see, support and celebrate their involvement in the piece. The performance on Friday drew a critical arts audience, through the promotion of both PAW & international commissioning programme The Atlantic Project. Then the Saturday performance took place in a well used public location, where passengers embark for the local ferry service - reaching a wide range of locals and tourists.
Audiences experienced a powerful and uplifting performance by 75 members of the local D/deaf community and two vocalists - increasing their awareness of D/deaf people in the city and highlighting the connections between all of us and the water. An instructional video distributed widely before the performance also allowed audiences the opportunity to learn some BSL, join in, and a documenting video brought the project to wider audiences through the PAW online channels and local media coverage, ensuring the legacy of the project.
Staff and pupils from Eggbuckland Community Schools’ Hearing Support Centre (11-17 year olds plus teachers), and Eggbuckland Vale Primary schools’ Hearing Support Centre (5-11 year olds plus teachers), and the Lunchtime Sign Club (for all pupils regardless of hearing ability) provided the core members of the Choir. They were joined by parents, and by members of Blake Lodge – Plymouth Deaf Association. This was the first opportunity for Plymouths’ D/deaf community to take part in Plymouth Art Weekender, and with public presentations of visual art generally.
After The Weekender a group of participants in the Silent Choir met to take forward an independent Silent Choir. The BSL poem was also performed at Plymouth Methodist Church, and at assemblies at High View School, Eggbuckland Vale Primary School, Eggbuckland Community School (all in Plymouth) and Upton Cross Primary School (Liskeard).
Audiences experienced a powerful and uplifting performance by 75 members of the local D/deaf community and two vocalists - increasing their awareness of D/deaf people in the city and highlighting the connections between all of us and the water. An instructional video distributed widely before the performance also allowed audiences the opportunity to learn some BSL, join in, and a documenting video brought the project to wider audiences through the PAW online channels and local media coverage, ensuring the legacy of the project.
Staff and pupils from Eggbuckland Community Schools’ Hearing Support Centre (11-17 year olds plus teachers), and Eggbuckland Vale Primary schools’ Hearing Support Centre (5-11 year olds plus teachers), and the Lunchtime Sign Club (for all pupils regardless of hearing ability) provided the core members of the Choir. They were joined by parents, and by members of Blake Lodge – Plymouth Deaf Association. This was the first opportunity for Plymouths’ D/deaf community to take part in Plymouth Art Weekender, and with public presentations of visual art generally.
After The Weekender a group of participants in the Silent Choir met to take forward an independent Silent Choir. The BSL poem was also performed at Plymouth Methodist Church, and at assemblies at High View School, Eggbuckland Vale Primary School, Eggbuckland Community School (all in Plymouth) and Upton Cross Primary School (Liskeard).
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
Plymouth Art Weekender was coordinated by Visual Arts Plymouth and funded through the city wide Horizon project, a collaborative programme developed between Visual Arts Plymouth, KARST, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth City Council and University of Plymouth. The two-year programme of visual contemporary arts was funded through Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence fund and supported by Plymouth Culture.
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info@fieldnotes.org.ukThe development of this website was supported by Cultivator Cornwall
