Stringing the Matrix, Tate St Ives Commission: Performance, 2022

Stringing the Matrix is a sound-based performance and sculpture commissioned by Tate St Ives. The sculpture was in a solo exhibition with film Coil of Days, 3rd February – May 2nd 2022 at Tate St Ives. [This video comprises short clips from audience footage, the sound is what was heard through each wireless headphone, as if the audience’s ears are on the sculpture].

Materials: Metal, textiles, microphones, headphones, wood, seeds and various percussion instruments. Dimensions: H217cm x W106cm x W106cm

Performers and the audience wear wireless headphones to hear the 30-40 minute piece being constructed. The sounds of the space, audience and other visitors are channelled through the object along with the intimate sounds of handling the materials and the subtle gestures produced in the collective task. The sculpture contains many different potential outcomes, and is amplified in a way that creates a live, complex, layered soundscape. Some of the sounds are metallic needles threading through the wavering musical-saw-like architectural structure, and other sounds are mellow fibres passing through, the knots causing ringing that we identified as a cue to change in section of the performance. These wide ranging subtle sounds are blended to create a soundscape that brings together the whole space and the touch of the materials with the ebb and flow of the audience.

Stringing the Matrix was performed next to of Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #1136 Curved and Straight Color Bands, 2004. For this particular work, LeWitt provided a set of detailed instructions that dictate the placement and color of each line but left the execution of the piece to a team of assistants. This piece explores the relationship between the artist’s intent and the viewer’s perception of the finished artwork.

Curated by Imogen Frost and Melanie Stidolph, Tate St Ives. Performed with musicians Stuart Blackmore, Liam Jolly and Alice Mahoney (Disco Rococo). This was followed by a talk with Dr Marianne Mulvey, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader Curating MA/MFA UWE Bristol.