Earth Din – 2022

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photo Will Pegna

Event at the warehouse Brislington Bristol with invited audience. Musicians Dominic Lash and Shirley Pegna. Film designer and editor Rod Maclachlan.

Watch here:

https://vimeo.com/812487212

Six subwoofers and four mid-range speakers were standing in an area of 40 square meters. We were particularly exploring the spatial element and if the piece would work in a large space, and if the audience could be mobile and would be willing to find different spaces within the sound. We aimed to create a film to give the impression of a possible future scale and breadth of the work.

photo Rod Maclachlan

Thanks to Alan Burgess and Matthew Olden for transport technical support plus Nick Spollin of Gathering Voices for the space and the audience for their feedback.

Photo Will Pegna

The Arnolfini event was commissioned by Bristol New Music and Arnolfini.

 Joining Dominic Lash and myself for the Arnolfini event was musician Angharad Davies and Louie Pegna. A mum and son collaboration, where Louie produced a large print for the installation.

Listen to exert here:https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/earth-din-impro

photos Caudia Pilsl

For this smaller space the audience remained static, and the three performers moved around the space responding to the surround sound arrangement.

Review from B247

“…The uncluttered field recordings created an unpredictable stimulus for Shirley’s cello with Dominic Lash on ‘bass violin’ and Angharad Davies’ violin. All seasoned improvisers, the trio’s sound vocabularies were as varied as the outbursts of static and unearthly wrenchings. With the players also continuously repositioning around the Arnolfini’s dimly lit Dark Studio…”

By Tony Benjamin  Tuesday May 10, 2022

https://www.bristol247.com/culture/music/review-bristol-new-music-festival-various-venues-2/

Here is some background to the recorded sound:

Ice Wind and Rock – Ytre Norskøya, Swalbard, 79°51,1′ N 011°37,9′ E

Space Weather – Hamnodden, Swalbard, 77°45,8′ N 014°30,6′ E

Glaciers Calving – Blomstrandbreen, Swalbard, 79°00,49′ N 012°10,29′ E

Inside Ice – Blomstrandbreen East, Swalbard, 79°00,13′ N 012°13,69′ E

Earthquake 7.4 – Sulawesi Island – Indonesia, 02°S 121°E

Earthquake 7.9 – Ocean floor near Viti Levu Island – Fiji, 18.46°S 179.26°E

Following my studies at Oxford Brookes University I have been working with data recordings collected during the Unsettled Planet project Bristol University Brigstow Institute and Earth Sciences Department. Sound waves audible and in audible, are a rich source of explorations and have instigated several works.

The recordings were picked up via seismometers placed in the Wills Tower from sources travelling through the ground ground from Greece (2,170 miles), Indonesia (7,306 miles), and Fiji, (9,827 miles), as well as sound from the 9 ton bronze alloy bell in the Wills Tower chiming for Armistice Day. Recordings played through a wooden sub woofer – 22” cone and coil. Sounds recorded via Nanometrics Trillium 120 P 3-component broadband seismometer along with a Taurus datalogger. [Thanks to Bristol University Department of Geophysics].

Additional recordings were made on The Arctic Circle – Artist & Scientist Residency Program, 2018. Pegna took a number of differently sensing microphones [thanks to SARU at Brookes University] including geophones and hydropnones that could listen into ice and rock as well as under the three-masted boat they were sailing. Electrical currents can be heard from naturally occurring sferics, picked up via a WR -3 ELF-VLF Handheld Radio receiver far above the top mast, and plucked from the Ionosphere 30 miles above the boat travelling up the north coast of Svalbard, Norway. https://shirleypegna.com/arctic-residency-aboard-the-antigua-winter-2018/

Working with these elemental sounds has inspired other collaborations and sister pieces: All Terrain Training which reflects the combined workings of mum and son artists Shirley Pegna and Will Pegna; where Will Pegna creates a Dojo like situation in the gallery space for physical contact and endurance to occur. 7 Dancers take it in turns to exert force against each other. Using physical and vocal signals the dancers maintain tension throughout the duration of the performance. The sound is mixed live at each performance.  The seismic recordings also inspired the concept for Rock Record, where an attempt to etch data recorded from a seismometer of earth activity into rock, which will have its own geological lifetime beyond our human span.

Photo Dominic Lash

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Sunset – 2022

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Photo Will Pegna

Watch here:https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYwGvn5J2ls/?utm_medium=copy_link

Will Pegna Director writes:

“When walking out I often notice how contact between couples shift between sunset hours- they would almost intertwine, unknowingly resulting in time- specific duets as they walked.”

Watch Sunset a new film series by dance artist Will Pegna wich explores and codifies these interactions by combining movement with subtle text.

Director @pgna

@olivehardy @izaacbrandt

DOP @maisass

Styling @stanlet_everest

Sound @shirley.pegna

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Dealing With It – 2021

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Photos Camila Greenwell

Sound for dance piece by choreographer Olive Hardy with dancers Bun Kobayashi and John Sawney. Performed at Lilian Baylis, Sadler Wells. Soundtrack is a mix of recordings from radio waves from pulsars.

Listen here:https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/dealing-with-it

Photos Camila Greenwell

Thanks to Dr Tim O’Brien and Stuart Lowe at Jodrell Bank Observatory for their recordings and information on the broadcast series Sounds of Space.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-62276833

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Skumring  (Twilight)– 2021

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watch here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqk2iVKI-hF/

Katy Connor wrote:  ‘Skumring’ (Twilight) 2021 – a short film made with sound artist Shirley Pegna[43” excerpt] 16mm film frotage and exposure to ice, snow, rock, fjord, glacier. Field recordings of underwater sea ice and hailstorms. Katy Connor and Shirley Pegna both spent three weeks on a remote residency, in the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard during the month of October: a twilight time where the hours of daylight rapidly give way to the polar night.

We visited three years apart in 2015 and 2018 respectively. During this time global temperatures have soared while international leaders have ripped up prior agreements on climate change. Now world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP 26 we cant help but remember our experiences. Exposure to the effects of climate change, at such close proximity, leave lasting effects in the viscera, under the skin. When we look to nature and ourselves, remembering we are part of the eco system, we start to perceive processes that predate our existence.

A first draft of ‘Skumring’ was installed in Centre of Gravity Bristol (2020) and recently screened at  at    #SoundAround Kalingrad, Russia (2021) with #Beef Experimental and Expanded film.”https://www.katyconnor.net/

Photo Katy Connor

Installing the screen for the installation at Centre of Gravity Exhibition, Bristol.https://www.bestofbristol.co/listing/centre-of-gravity-exhibition/

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All Terrain – a sonic diary in lockdown -2020

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Recordings of the body through lockdown 2020 for the Sonic Arts Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University. The pandemic knew no borders and people across the globe were united by our bodies susceptibility to catching the virus. Global coordinates and text is seen here:

https://sound-diaries.bandcamp.com/album/all-terrain

Confinement brought me the near at hand under the microscope. A focusing in on ‘skin’ instigated conversations with collaborators, animator Vicky Smith and sound artists Matt Davies, about recording under the skin.

The world of sound I recorded with in me was similar to the world of sound within all the people across the world dealing with the same unknown virus and threat. In All Terrain, texts describes their words and coordinates describe their whereabouts.

Thanks to Paul Whitty and Patrick Farmer at SARU at Oxford Brookes University for encouraging contact between artists and in this case sonic diary keeping.

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SPLASH –   Extraordinary Bodies Circus – 2019

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Splash!  was an immersive outdoor narrative show. In this performance the story follows Flo and her grandfather on a ‘shero’s journey’…… The work was created with a mixed ability company through circus, physical theatre, comedy and puppetry. The story unfolds in an interactive, sonic water world.

“ Lost in a magical watery world full of strange sea creatures, Flo learns to take risks, gain independence and become confident, until she finds her way back home.”

https://www.extraordinarybodies.org.uk/our-work/splash/

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/flo-at-the-waterside

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/seaside-hawaiian-style

The show was an outdoor daytime show, that couldn’t rely on lighting, or a theatre space protected from outside sounds. Instead, we created a rich and immersive world that combined spatial sound design that surrounded the audience. The interactive sets with puppets and circus equipment brought creative ways to tell the story of our main character, Flo.

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/storm-monster2

Creating the composed music and sound design with Michael Fergie, we devised a system where the speakers were incorporated in the set. Added to the sound on the speakers by the stage, the undersea rocks had speakers in them. Fergie constructed them so the audience could sit on the rocks and feel the vibration as well as hear the sound. As a mixed ability audience was especially invited, we aimed to give an experience to those with a different perception of the event.

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/flos-underwater-acro-dance

It was fun and an absolute pleasure to work with all the differently abled performers where access and support was a priority in the making process. A big thanks to musicians Ali Houiellebecq, recorders and saxophone, Fiona Barrow violin, Pete Brandt ukuleles and bass, Mike Vince percussion and Michael Fergie sound design tech and great collaborator. 

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NOT(A)PART – Animation by Vicky Smith 2018/24

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photo Vicky Smith

NOT(A) PART is an Animation on 16mm film, highlighting the decline of the bee population in and around Bristol (2018) by Vicky Smith. https://vickysmith.blog/aboutbio/

Sound accompanied the film live and is also recorded here.  Sound makers Melanie Clifford, Matt Davies and Shirley Pegna.

The work was screened at Braziers Park Film Festival, Bristol Cube Cinema, The Bristol Brunswick Club and Broadcast on Mopamosa TV 2023. https://mopomoso.com/about/

Watch here :https://vimeo.com/812808934

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Arctic Residency aboard the Antigua – Winter 2018

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Photo – Tamara Enz

Artist Residency researching vibration through natural phenomena, around the coast of Svalbard.

Picture above – receiving and recording ionospheric sound.Ionospheric sound picked up with a radio receiver – WR-3 VLF ‘whistler receiver’ Recording at away from the boat and its electrical circuits Bjonahamna,78°23,6′ N 016°52,8′ E

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/sferics

My geophone standing in ice on the rock

Research taken during this residency went on to inform and instigate projects Earth Din, All Terrain Training and Skumring. The experience of the trip has resonated in different ways, so much that I didn’t feel able to distil it down to one post. Here are just some elements of the exploration north.

Route of voyage from Longyearbyen took us south to Recherchebreen
77°29,5′ N 014°24,57′ E

North to Ytre Norskøya 79°51,1′ N 011°37,9′ E

Returning to Longyearbyen via the scientific community at Ny Alesund 79°57,6′ N 012°02,5′ E

Getting back through the ice in the zodiac to the Antigua
https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/arctic-sea-ice

Getting to land from the boat involved getting in the zodiacs (inflatables with an outboard motor) with the equipment taking equipment for our various projects. I had a hydrophone with me on this occasion.

On the trip I took this kit and at first it was hard to decide what to take to the landings.
Sound Devices digital recorder 744T
Aqua Audio H2a Hydrophone
Pair of Lavelier mics
AKG C568B condenser shot gun mic
Audio Technica BP 4025
Rode Blimp 2 Windshield & Shockmount
Dead wombat (windshield) for Blimp
Contact mics C series
Geophone Sensor: RTC-4.5hz, 375ohm
Sound devices MM-1 microphone preamplifier
WR -3 ELF-VLF Handheld Radio receiver and antenna

 Anchor down Fridtjovhamna, 77°40,5′ N 014°35,02′ E

Taking soundings of the glacier where I can reach it. I tried out geophone, contact mic and hydrophone on the gritty thick edge ice.

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/inside-ice

Setting out in the zodiac

Snow overnight on deck

Left. Up the rigging with the harness. photo Rachel Abrams

Mid photo the ships compass.

Right. In the sea especially thick wet suit – a bit too big for me. photo Lindsay Halleckson

Glacier meeting the sea inlet

Recording from an inflatable dingy 0.5km from the glacier, picking up the calving where the ice is breaking off the edge of the glacier and crashing into the sea water. It sounds like thunder but isn’t. We are being quiet in the boat, but you can just about hear our movements.https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/glacier-ice-crashing

Hiking up to the lookout at Uitkijck – photo Sarah Gerats

Reaching the farthest northern point of land before sea towards the north pole. In the ships log it says:

Landing Ytre Norskøya – hike towards ‘de Groote Uitkijck’ the big lookout, short hike and landing ‘de Klein Uitkijck’ – the small lookout.

Looking out towards the Pole

Excited to be as far north as possible on land https://vimeo.com/1068222182

Polar bear prints. No bears seen

Rifle for safety

It is law in Svalbard if you are travelling outside the port of Longyearbyen, to have a person with you in the group who has a rifle and is trained in safety in the presence of polar bears. Our 4 guides were experienced at this as well as being mostly artists themselves. I’d not been around guns of any kind let alone women with guns.

Here are the sets of halliards ready to hoist the different sails

The Antigua with her full set of sails

Finally, southwards running with a following wind. Top sails up and main staysail sail, with all hands to hoist. Skipper has been up the rigging to prepare the extra sail. Going 7kn. The sound is the wind and the stays clanking and the waves on the bow…..https://vimeo.com/1068245511

On deck for the aurora – northern lights Skansbukta, 78°31,8′ N 016°01,4′ E

I wondered if my WR -3 ELF-VLF Handheld Radio receiver would pick up any of the northern lights. The boat electrics created too much interference for me to identify the energy from the northern lights.

In the night the start of the northern lights

Crew and artists aboard the Antigua – photo on auto!!

And Nemo the ships dog

Longyearbyen – signs for organising the huskies     

Photo – Dawn Jackson

Many fossils here

Late arctic blooms in ice

Late arctic blooms in the ice

Rock findings

I am posting this on World Glacier Day and I had some conversations with my Antigua artists travellers this morning. Emma Hoette and spoke of climate change – so I will quote her:

“…Yes the climate change thing is huge …. And I think one of the most productive ways to approach it is to realise that there is hypocrisy in all that we do – like flying to a far off land in order to have an experience of a landscape that confronts us with the beauty of the planet… but unless we acknowledge that being a human here on earth has inherent hypocrisy we will never be able to have dialogues we need in order to learn how to navigate this world….

This flag in Chinese say “One World”. Brought here by artist Georgia Rose Murray.

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