The Imperfection of Memory
- Submitting institution
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2844842
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2017
- URL
-
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- 'The Imperfection of Memory' was an interdisciplinary collaboration with visual artist Heather Lander and the Maxwell String Quartet. It draws on insights from a previous multimedia composition 'Pictures of an Electronic Life' (2015), a large-scale work for ensemble with film that was part of my PhD (2016), and represents a continuation of my interrogating the context and framing of performance, through multimedia new work.
'Imperfection...' was, in part, a creative examination of the inherent plasticity of memory. The ideas of repetition, of textural depth both in the visual and the sonic medium, were key areas of exploration throughout the work. It was also an investigation of the meeting point between installation and live performance – specifically, how I might frame a live performance within a visual environment created by my collaborator.
In pursuing these questions, the collaborative process with Heather was central. The first stage included exploring what the piece should be, talking about our working process and discussing previous work. Thereafter, it wasn't a beat-for-beat collaboration, an approach that arose from piece itself, which has at its heart notions of the ethereal, the inexact and the ambiguous. In contrast to some of her previous work, which had been pre-rendered and fixed as in a video, Heather worked live, triggering and manipulating events in real time. This allowed her some creative flexibility and meant I could work differently (for example, no click tracks were needed for the quartet).
'Imperfection...' was premiered in Glasgow in November 2017 by the Maxwell Quartet as part of 10th anniversary celebration of Enterprise Music Scotland (now Chamber Music Scotland) Artist Residency projects. In 2018 it was shortlisted for a New Music Scotland award in the category of collaboration. Images from the premiere are included for context, to give a flavour of the collaboration with Heather.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
