Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur
A live evening's performance of 'Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur', based on work by John Cage. See a separate entry for the installation during the day.
Critical Studies
Date: Tuesday 18 June 2024
Time: 19:30 - 21:00
Venue: University of Glasgow 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 invented by Cage similar to acrostic poetry but with stringent rules–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 original version of this piece transformed Joyce’s Finnegans Wake into a musical performance entitled, 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, into an hour-long live musical performance.
This work is being previewed at the Reykjavik Arts Festival on 11 June before the performers bring it to Glasgow for the first UK performance.
At 7:30pm on 18 June there will be a live evening performance of this new composition, produced by following Cage’s instructions: Niður, an Icelandic Circus on Ljósagangur. This performance is free, but please book your place using Eventbrite.
Earlier in the day visitors to the chapel can also see a separate installation of sound pieces by Skerpla, Experimental Sound Lab inspired by this work - see the separate listing for details.