Respondents is a project that includes performance, a split screen film (10 min 34 sec running time) and four sound objects.
I created Respondents’ sculptures after a chance encounter with seaweed washed up on a beach in Pembrokeshire following a storm. It struck me that it is impossible to fully know seaweed; out of the water, it disintegrated and fell through my hands before I had the chance to connect with it. I drew the forms I remembered handling, then cut them out in metal and shaped them on a machine used to make vehicle bodies. I then made audio recordings of the seaweed being handled in its frozen, melted, and dried states, using microphones that capture frequencies higher than our range of hearing. The sounds are played back and pitched down live by the performer as she bends sensors within the metallic shield-like forms and tentacles.
Writing about the project by Rita Evans and Patrick Farmer has been published on the Sonic Art Research website here: https://www.sonicartresearch.co.uk/rita-evans-respondents/
Performed by Marguerite Galizia. Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. Exhibited at Whitechapel Gallery, London in 2025. SOUND/IMAGE Festival, University of Greenwich, 2025. Sonic Art Research Unit, Oxford Brookes, 2024.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
