Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur - An Installation
An installation based on 'Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur' - a new version of John Cage's 1979 composition 'Circus On'. See a separate listing for the live performance in the evening.
Critical Studies
Date: Tuesday 18 June 2024
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: University Chapel
Category: Concerts and music
We are pleased to present Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur - the first Icelandic version of John Cage’s 1979 composition, Circus On. Following Cage's instructions a book is transformed into a performance by re-writing it in its entirety as mesostic poetry (a form he invented that is similar to acrostic poetry), recording all of the music, sounds, and places mentioned in the book and adding relevant music. The final combination of all of this is then decided using chance. The first iteration of this work transformed James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake into a musical performance called Roaratorio, An Irish Circus On Finnegans Wake.
In this Icelandic version, Skerpla, Experimental Sound Lab from the Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavik, led by Professor Berglind Tómasdóttir, working with Glasgow University PhD candidate and Cage specialist, Victoria Miguel, have transformed Dagur Hjartarson’s novel, Ljósagangur, a science fiction love story about a mysterious sound that can be heard in the city of Reykjavík.
From 5pm-7pm on 18 June 2024 there will be an installation of sound pieces by Skerpla, Experimental Sound Lab inspired by their work on this composition. While working on Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur, we gathered a lot of recordings that were not included in the final version because Cage’s composition uses chance operations to determine what will make the final cut. This installation has allowed us to make use of this leftover material, which is also inspired by the concept of “the thrum of the dead,” from Hjartarson’s Ljósagangur. (Niður can be translated as thrum.) This material includes recordings of the sounds and places mentioned in the novel, the sounds of Reykjavík, along with a layer of live music. The installation comprises these recordings as well as live performances that are longer than those included in the composition, which strictly limits the ratio of music to ‘silence.’
Visitors to the chapel are welcome to observe this installation, moving in and around performers, whilst it is running. This part of the event is not ticketed, but numbers will be monitored for the purposes of safety.