These are just some of the questions emerging from The EVP Sessions – a series of electrifying live events hitting Liverpool and east London from September.
Fusing experimental literature, new music, performance and video art, The EVP Sessions is inspired by parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive’s infamous observations of ‘Electronic Voice Phenomena’ – ghostly murmurs and vocal glitches heard in radio and tape players.
Artists drawn from across the UK and Europe will respond to Raudive’s provocation in three pairs of live shows at The Bluecoat in Liverpool and Shoreditch Town Hall in London. These atmospheric, historic venues will be rewired with haunting performances and new commissions. And in August, audiences north of the border will be given a sneak preview as The EVP Sessions comes to Edinburgh International Book Festival for one night only.
Highlights include: Booker-nominated novelist Tom McCarthy (pictured above) – dubbed ‘Kafka of the Google age’ – collaborating with live coders Shelly Knotts and Alo Allik to reimagine Satin Island; a performance by ‘weird and uncompromising’ (Guardian) electronic music producer Aisha Devi (pictured above); and new video work by multimedia artist Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom.
For co-producer Tom Chivers, the Sessions are a chance for audiences to
discover a new generation of artists, musicians and writers grappling with what it is to be human in the digital age
whilst Nathan Jones of Mercy comments
the programme captures a distinct moment for vocal prosthetics and pseudo-linguistic intelligence, and shows how vital they are to the future of performance
The programme also includes experimental vocalists Sue Tompkins and Hannah Silva; spoken word artists Inua Ellams (pictured below), Harry Giles and Antosh Wojcik; sound artist Ain Bailey; doom-folk songstress Perera Elsewhere (pictured below); theatre-maker and game-designer Hannah Nicklin; and digital artist Erica Scourti; performance aritsts Alexis Milne and Jennet Thomas; textual sculptor Katrina Palmer. Each event features new ambient audio-visual work by Kepla with DeForrest Brown Junior, and is hosted by mercurial poet-raconteur Ross Sutherland.
The EVP Sessions is produced by two of the UK’s most pioneering alternative literature companies: Mercy (Liverpool) and Penned in the Margins (London). Their previous collaboration, Electronic Voice Phenomena, toured the country in 2013 and was dubbed “mind-boggling” and “perplexingly good” by audience members. The project is co-commissioned by The Bluecoat and Shoreditch Town Hall, and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
For more information, high resolution imagery or to arrange an interview please contact James Trevelyan at james@pennedinthemargins.co.uk or 07969 996 463.
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Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom, Antosh Wojcik, Harry Giles & Ross Sutherland (host) with special guest Hannah Silva
Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom, Antosh Wojcik, Perera Elsewhere, Sue Tompkins, Erica Scourti & Ross Sutherland (host)
Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom, Antosh Wojcik, Perera Elsewhere, Sue Tompkins, Erica Scourti & Ross Sutherland (host)
Tom McCarthy, Shelly Knotts & Alo Allik, Jennet Thomas, Alexis Milne, Harry Giles & Ross Sutherland (host)
Tom McCarthy, Shelly Knotts & Alo Allik, Jennet Thomas, Alexis Milne, Harry Giles & Ross Sutherland (host)
Aisha Devi, Inua Ellams & Ain Bailey, Katrina Palmer, Hannah Nicklin & Ross Sutherland (host)
Aisha Devi, Inua Ellams & Ain Bailey, Katrina Palmer, Hannah Nicklin & Ross Sutherland (host)
