Sound and Performance at Art in Romney Marsh

Since 2010 Art in Romney Marsh has celebrated sound art and performance, from the work of Lee Berwick to the De La Warr Pavilion’s Dear Serge take over in 2015

2015

Graham Dunning

“My set is loosely based on the structure of an Indian raga, beginning with a drone from Caleb’s field recordings of the Marsh’s wind turbines. I’ll use the Mechanical Techno setup with three synths in surround and drum synth.”

A Brackish Hymn

A Brackish Hymn explores the local landscape, placing the sound of the nearby Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm directly into the context of the 14th century church. The two seemingly incongruous landmarks, the church and the wind-farm coexist in Romney Marsh. By audibly experiencing the modern mechanical rhythm of the giant turbines within the church’s ancient enclaves, the audience is invited to engage with and question the proximity of the two landmarks and perhaps also the wider resonances this may have within the changing global landscape.

2014

Sarah Sparkes brought us “Blue Seven” in response to the 2014 AiRM theme “Blue” in celebration of Derek Jarman. Sparkes made seven blue cloaks (to represent the seven churches in AiRM2014) and a robing area framed by blue curtains. “Visitors were invited to wear a cloak and to wonder around the church in it. The blue cloaks allow people to immerse themselves in this saturated colour. People move differently in their blue disguises, within the dramatic backdrop of the building, they adopt poses that, like scenes from Jarman's films, can look rather like a renaissance painting with a contemporary twist.
In the Old testament, blue fabric hangings are described as being used to delineate a sacred area. In the christian church, blue is the colour associated with the female principle within spirituality.
Wear a blue cloak and cross a blue threshold...”

Image and text curtesy of Sarah Sparkes

2013

Two performances took place, the first at St George’s Church, Ivychurch and then second at St Clements Church, Old Romney. Artists Ellen Southern and Clare Whistler performed amongst an installed work by Adam Chodzko. “In Ivychurch the found objects we integrated into our work was the chair seat backs, which became our ‘boats’ to rock in unison on. In Old Romney we found 6 brooms in a cupboard and arranged them in a ‘broom scale’ according to volume, and to some degree pitch, each created”

Video and Text curtesy of Creeping Buttercup