On Thursday 2 December 2021, Caroline Bergvall will be in conversation with Sukhdev Sandhu and Áine O’Brien to reflect on Nattsong as well as the other works in the Sonic Atlas series.
To celebrate Caroline’s latest performance Nattsong and mark the culmination of her long-standing series of works, Sonic Atlas, Caroline will be joined by Sukhdev Sandhu and Áine O’Brien to reflect on the issues of the night, cultural transformation, language migrations, and the necesstity of collaboration and critical conversation in our times.
Specific to Nattsong, they will explore the dark as a sign of gestation, insights, intimacy and also deep fears that enable the re-emergence of collective archetypes. Diving into the unknown of the night at this time of collective upheavals provides a timely reminder of the need for marking a pause, as well as for opening up both to new imaginaries and perhaps other ways of doing things. How does one transform oneself and one another pro-actively in the face of deep changes?
They will also touch on themes and ideas that have emerged from Caroline’s Sonic Atlas over the course of this six-year cycle, including collaboration, interdisciplinary, writing in context, multiple languages, differential identities, the profound value of conversation.
The performance of Nattsong at Turner Contemporary marks the culmination of the Sonic Atlas cycle of live works and their research into languages, landscapes, timezones, conversations, and writing in context. Sonic Atlas began with the sunrise work Ragadawn (2016) and closes at the end of 2021 with the dark and nocturnal work Nattsong.
Ghostly and spacious, Nattsong takes an immersive journey into language, refuge and the night and seeks out the elemental connections of languages, the inherently lived interdependence of things and the wisdom voices at the heart of time. Collaborators include: Jamie Hamilton, Gavin Bryars, Peyee Chen, and Andrew Delaney.
Supported by Arts Council England.
Áine O’Brien is Curator of Learning and Research and Co-Founder (Co-Director 2012-2020) of Counterpoints Arts, London. Her productions span documentary film, print, exhibition and curation, exploring global storylines linking migration with human rights and social change. A forthcoming co-edited book is Art, Migration and the Production of Radical Democratic Citizenship (2021).
Sukhdev Sandhu is the Director of the Center for Experimental Humanities and Associate Professor of English and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and author of books including London Calling: How Black and Asian Writers Imagined a City, I’ll Get My Coat and Night Haunts: A Journey through the London Night.
Award-winning poet, writer, sound artist and performer Caroline Bergvall has been practising as a writer, performer and facilitator for over 20 years. Her practice is interdisciplinary and stretches across various artforms, media and language. Her works include books, performances, installations, soundworks and print.