Glasgow based arts producing house Feral, run by Jill Smith and Kathryn Boyle, is behind a new project called My Own Private Audio. Eight artists from the worlds of theatre, performance, spoken word and sound art from such as Katy Dye, Leyla Josephine, Alicia Matthews, Mac McGregor, Peter McMaster, David A Pollock, Gudrun Soley Sigurdardottir and Paula Varjack, are involved in this series of new sonic works.
Covering a range of moods, the eight immersive pieces each have their own identity and suggested listening environment across the day and night. Each artwork is between five to ten minutes long and designed to be listened to alone and at home.
Feral’s Jill Smith and Kathryn Boyle commented “We wanted to consider how we might bring the tangibility of an installation and the intimacy of performance into people’s homes. Creating an audio artwork that could be experienced away from screens creating a place for moments of pause and deceleration. At a time where so many of us feel displaced and overwhelmed ‘My Own Private Audio’ aims to unplug us from the 24 hour news cycle and asks us to seek solace in domestic life as a place of refuge, contemplation and re-discovery.”
The eight artists comprise a mix of those who have previously been involved with Feral such as Peter McMaster who brings The Quieter You Are, The More You Can Hear, that is a re-imagining of a lullaby he used to sing to his son Skye, and Gudrun Soley Sigurdardottir’s Now That The Light is Fading where the listener is asked to imagine a space in their own home as yet unknown. In Relocate, Alicia Matthews uses field recording and electronic sound to create a concept of home while David A Pollock creates a dreamscape with Craigie Linn.
Newer relationships with Feral, such as Katy Dye who brings us RATS when the home is seen through the rodent’s eye and Leyla Josephine with Elizabeth and Her House; where Elizabeth cleans whilst working through her mindfulness app. Both Katy and Leyla are previous recipients of the Autopsy Award run in partnership with Summerhall. Two others new to Feral are Paula Varjack with Memory Link and Mac McGregor with The Sacred Art of Chewing.
Since the company’s inception over five year ago, Jill Smith and Kathryn Boyle (aka Feral), have carved out a unique reputation as one of Scotland’s leading independent producing houses for interdisciplinary performance. This new project has allowed them to flex their creative input as curators and directors to present work from Scotland’s vibrant independent arts scene despite current restrictions on on-stage performance.
Artist Bruno Gallagher has been commissioned to create individual illustrations for each of the audio pieces which will appear alongside the artwork on Soundcloud. Each work has been mastered expertly by Bafta nominated sound-designer and composer Robbie Gunn.
My Own Private Audio can be downloaded on Soundcloud from 3 December and will also be broadcast on RenTV alongside a physical CD Album being circulated through Renfrewshire’s local libraries and community groups.
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 