Plymouth – Mark Leahy

review of Sonic Faction now online

My review of Sonic Faction: Audio Essay as Medium and Method is now live at Leonardo Reviews. The review will be included in print in Leonardo 58.2 (due for publication in February 2025).

Sonic Faction was a pair of events, one held at Iklectik in London (July 2022) and one at KARST in Plymouth (February 2023), where three works were presented for collective listening, along with a public discussion and an installation of related material. The three pieces were: Mark Fisher and Justin Barton’s On Vanishing Land (2006), Steve Goodman’s Astro-Darien (2021) and Robin Mackay’s By the North Sea (2022). This book takes on several tasks, operating as a catalogue for or record of the events, offering an expanded commentary on the works presented and giving significant detail on the conception, making and presentation of these. The book also functions as a primer or a means toward defining or describing a genre – the audio essay – situating it in historic, artistic, critical, theoretical contexts. In pursuit of this, the book brings together a selection of essays that describe or demonstrate the audio essay as a medium and as an approach to making art. Bringing together writing by artists, theorists, publishers, broadcasters the mix of perspectives and modes of involvement with the audio essay results in an array of textual riches, supplemented by a comprehensive playlist on YouTube.

‘twiceness’ at SOAK Live Art

Shelley Hodgson and I performed ‘twiceness’ as part of a very full programme for SOAK Live Art at Leadworks, Plymouth on Thursday 25th July. There was a large and enthusiastic audience, and the other performers included Sam Richards, Cristina Varga, Charlie Cornforth and others. Shelley and I will now put ‘twiceness’ to one side as we consider what we want to do next; though one plan is to make a radio version of the piece.

Thanks to Kerry Priest and Sarah Blissett for organising the event. Photos by Natalie Raven.

‘twiceness’ with Shelley Hodgson

On Wednesday 22nd May as part of the student organised Mayfest at Plymouth University, Shelley Hodgson and I will present ‘twiceness’. This is a new performance work we have been working on over the past while. It isn’t ‘finished’ at this point, but it is at a stage that we are happy to share it.

Two performers are present, in the space, as themselves, and as participants in an act of communication. Blocks of information, of narrative, of action, combining the found, the given, and the made, are built into a sequence of telling and showing. The performance questions interaction, engaging with gesture, with doubling, with repetition, with exchange. Underlying the performers’ relationship is awareness of loss and gaps, what is missed or missing, what doesn’t carry across.

The work asks questions that the performers unpick, rework, worry at. How do we tell each other things? How do we know we mean the same? How do we move between registers and codes, adapting and adjusting to fit, to ease, to stick? What happens if we try to do it again? Moving between choreographed passages and improvisation, the piece engages the audience with consideration of what it takes to get along with each other.

‘twiceness’ is a new performance by Shelley Hodgson (writer/sound artist) and Mark Leahy (performer/writer). The two have been aware of each other’s practice for some years but had not found a way to work together. This piece arises from collaborative working, the joint development of ideas, and finding a form for live presentation.

Performance details: 1930hrs on May 22nd 2024 at The House Studio, University of Plymouth. Free tickets available via Eventbrite.

artist talk at University of Plymouth

I will give an artist talk for The Fine Art Department at University of Plymouth today, 6th March 2024. Titled, ‘Performance Process and Materials: Making Work Happen’ the presentation is aimed mainly at undergraduate Fine Art students.

“Using examples from my practice over recent years, I will look at how you might consider relationships between studio practice and making live art or performance, and how you might present live work. Projects develop differently, they originate from different beginnings or get nudged by circumstances. Work gets shared in different forms, to different audiences or contexts. Starting with process and materials, ideas we are familiar with from painting or drawing or moving image, I will discuss my engagement with text, actions, voice and body. Alongside this, I will talk about various platforms or ways of sharing and showing performance-related work.”

reading at The Language Club on March 22nd

I will be reading as one of the line up for The Language Club at Rockets and Rascals in Plymouth’s Barbican on Friday March 22nd.

I’m very happy to be part of the latest event of this long-running reading series organised by Steve Spence.

He will be reading, along with me, Sarah Cave, Matt Carbery and Sam Machell. Event starts at 7pm, with donations on the door.