Bodies in Distress

This is slightly old news now but I just realised that I hadn't blogged about this already ... Last month I took part in 'Bodies in Distress' during Critical Animals (This is Not Art festival in Newcastle) at The Lock-Up. The event, organised by Gabriel Watts from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, was a collaboration between researchers Drs Una McIlvenna and Rebecca McNamara and artists Mimi Kelly and me. 

The event commenced with Grace Turner singing 17th century execution ballads (beautifully) in a small cell of The Lock-Up while Una provided insights into the ballads. Throughout the performance was Mimi's ethereal and haunting video installation and haze machine serendipitously puffing smoke every time Grace sang of a death by fire. Two cells up the corridor was my audio piece 'Felonia de se' (felony of the self) installed in the historic padded cell. My soundscape was a response to medieval legal records concerning suicide cases in England, as researched by Rebecca. I aimed to evoke uneasy imagery through text fragments and dark, otherworldly audio loops.

http://www.historyofemotions.org.au/news-media/news-listing/bodies-in-distress-at-critical-animals.aspx

A panel discussion followed concerning sin, death, punishment, corporeality and the intersections of academic research and artistic practice. A fun day out!

http://criticalanimals.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/bodies-in-distress.jpg