‘The Upper Hand’ by Jane Hackett and Alice Presencer, 2019, James Joyce Street, Dublin.
Kirkos Ensemble
Kirkos Ensemble is an experimental/contemporary music group which is host to a new music venue, Unit 44 in Dublin.
I have been a core member and lead violinist of Kirkos Ensemble since 2013. Kirkos create immersive contemporary performances, premiering new works by Ireland’s leading composers, exploring conceptual performance works, experimental movements and creating unusual sight specific performances. Kirkos is an ever evolving ensemble who are open to encouraging artists from every form to engage with it’s new venue, Unit 44 in Dublin.
This group has expanded my perceptions of what music, sound and composition mean to me. Working with this group has given me a chance to explore and develop my artistic journey to date and below are some examples of this.
Kirkos Portfolio.
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New Music Dublin 2021: For Private Use
An experimental anthology to help you hear, see and taste your environment in new ways, and redefine what you mean by the word performance. My two pieces (Blink Piece and Vienna Soundwalk were featured amongst other collaborative works).
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Biosphere
Free, outdoor-based experimental encounters. Radical works exploring the relationship with Dublin’s natural and built environment as we confront the climate crisis.
Decay is Inherent in All Things written by Robert Coleman was part of this series.
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Dublin Fringe Festival: Music for Cranes
Dublin is being torn down and transformed.Every route through town forces you past the shell of a place you used to love: a venue, a café, a community space. It’s impossible to imagine Dublin without cranes, the symbol nobody asked for. But what if they were used to build something that would benefit us all? In an outdoor performance reading Dublin’s cranes as musical notation, we’ll play music to them – and to you – remembering Dublin’s past.
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Listening Bodies: Smock Alley
A 4 hour exhibition of live and installation music given by ten performers across all spaces in Smock Alley.The culmination of a long-term collaboration between Kirkos and Tonnta, this immersive experience builds from mentorship from internationally acclaimed artists, including German composer David Helbich and Irish performance artist Amanda Coogan.
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Wildnerness Notes: Experimental Film Society
a work of experimental film and contemporary music created in collaboration by some of Ireland’s most original film makers and composers.
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Kirkoskammer: Powerscourt Theatre
a collection of duo violin works by Robert Coleman, Susan Geaney, Jonah Haven and more.
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Culture Night: Unit 44
A launch of Kirkos’s new venue, Unit 44 in conjunction with the Contemporary Music Centre, presenting new works by composers and constucting a salad for the audience to enjoy.
From Kirkos to beyond…below are some projects I have co directed and created.
The Internal Series
An audio visual collaboration exploring sound, movement and design. The Internal Series is a three part audiovisual work produced by Alice Presencer and I during the Pandemic and is based on the many inner stages of the self and the unknown. We have adapted this series into a further four part multi disciplinary work which takes the audience on a journey through movement, sound, installations and film.
Thinking differently about how sound is produced when other elements are added such as movement, light and texture has led me to experiment with the traditional format of violin performance.
Danish dancer, Alice Presencer and I have played with the combination of sound and movement as one entity.
Upcoming performances: ‘The Internal Series’, Dublin. Denmark. Vienna.
Above: Collaboration with Dancer: Alice Presencer, Photos: Farheen Fatima. Costuming: Zuri Zarina.
Below: I- Monotony. II- Overload. III- (in progress)
Monotony- the first part of this audiovisual series depicting the repetitive, almost comforting nature of mundane tasks. Shot in an apartment in Copenhagen when Alice and I were socially distancing in 2020.
Overload- the second part of ‘The Internal Series’ audiovisual work reflects the bombardment of information from daily news updates, media outlets and our own internal conversations.
Decay is Inherent In All Things composed by Robert Coleman for violin, 3 field recorders and 3 portable speakers. Paul Scully and Ilona Adams field recorders. Hellfire Club, Dublin 2019.
Decay is Inherent in All Things
Composed by Robert Coleman for violin, 3 field recorders and 3 portable speakers.
This is an outdoor work for solo violin and a live recording and playback system. A chain of 3 microphones and 3 speakers line up across the site. Sounds are recorded and played back and passed down the chain, each time getting more decayed but also picking up new sounds in the process. A kind of structural and temporal counterpoint emerges between the violin and it's decaying self which moves further and further into the distance. This work deals with one of Robert’s main fascinations: creating multiple viewpoints on musical material, and here with the added interest of allowing the environmental sounds to seep in to become part of the fabric of the work.
This setup was inspired by the action of erosion; the gradual movement and decay of material from one location to another.
The set up for this work was quite confusing to begin with but once I broke it down and worked with Robert to understand how the violin interacts with itself through the various speakers and playback systems, everything fell into place.
Left: ‘Decay is Inherent in All Things’ set up notes.
The title of this piece is said to be some of the last words spoken by Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha.
Upcoming performances: Dublin, July 2023.
Spectrum
Composed by Robert Coleman and visual design by Mihai Cucu. This work was premiered in Powerscourt Theatre, Dublin in 2016. Robert and I have studied and worked together for a number of years, beginning our time together in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, working in the contemporary ensemble, Kirkos and collaborating on commissions. Spectrum was the first commissioned work composed by Robert Coleman for me which was definitely a deep dive into working with electronics, timers and visuals.
Below: Spectrum II: An unadorned Alloy. Spectrum III: Untitled
