Curated alongside London-based artist and filmmaker Aura Satz, Tate Film presents a three-day programme of screenings, performances, and round table discussions exploring sonic practices and how they relate to sirens and emergency signals. Does an alarm have to be alarming? How can we address alarm fatigue, both as lived reality and as a metaphor for our current state?
Preemptive Listening will bring together Aura Satz’s new documentary feature film, a series of musician and artist-led performances and talks, and a symposium. Preemptive Listening is not just an exploration; it's an experiment in listening forwards, with the future in mind.
Percussionist and composer Evelyn Glennie will join artist Aura Satz at the Starr cinema, in a conversation around their distinct sonic practices and collaboration in the Preemptive Listening project. The talk is followed by a sonic performance in the South Tank by vocalist, movement artist and composer Elaine Mitchener and musician, author and curator David Toop, who are also featured in the film.
The programme is organised by Tate Film in collaboration with the Preemptive Listening team at the Royal College of Art (Aura Satz with Francesca Laura Cavallo and Irene Revell), part-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Access the Disclaimer issue featuring conversations, essays and performances extending from the film by Aura Satz.
Evelyn Glennie, image Philip Rathmer, courtesy the artist
David Toop, image Keith de Mendonca, courtesy the artist
19.00–19.05 Introduction
19.05–20.00 Starr Cinema in conversation between Evelyn Glennie and Aura Satz, ‘Listening Sensations'
20.15–21.15 South Tank Performance by Elaine Mitchener and David Toop
Dame Evelyn Glennie (OBE, CH)
Dame Evelyn Glennie (OBE, CH) is the world’s premier solo percussionist. Her solo recordings exceed 40 CDs. Curator of The Evelyn Glennie Collection, Evelyn composes for film, theatre and television, launching The Evelyn Glennie Podcast in 2020. Her film Touch the Sound, TED Talk and charity The Evelyn Glennie Foundation embody her life-long mission to Teach the World to Listen. “My career and my life have been about listening in the deepest possible sense. Losing my hearing meant learning how to listen differently, to discover features of sound I hadn’t realized existed. Losing my hearing made me a better listener.”
Elaine Mitchener
Elaine Mitchener is a vocalist, movement artist and composer working between contemporary, experimental new music, free improvisation and the visual arts. She is currently a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist; was a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow (2022) and was an exhibiting artist in the British Art Show 9 (2021-22). Elaine is founder of the collective electroacoustic unit The Rolling Calf (with Jason Yarde and Neil Charles). While developing her own projects, Elaine continues to work as a collaborative and interpretive singer.
David Toop
David Toop has been developing a practice that crosses boundaries of sound, listening, music and materials since 1970. This encompasses improvised music performance, writing, electronic sound, field recording, exhibition curating, sound art installations and opera. Briefly a member of David Cunningham’s pop project The Flying Lizards in 1979, he has released fourteen solo albums and published eight acclaimed books. His 1978 Amazonas recordings of Yanomami shamanism and ritual were released on Sub Rosa as Lost Shadows (2016). Curator of sound art exhibitions including Sonic Boom at the Hayward Gallery (2000), his opera – Star-shaped Biscuit – was performed in 2012.
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