To hear on Sunday 5 and 12 January 2014, 2pm - 9pm:
HearAfter
(2013, German Premiere)
by Nichola Scrutton
Nichola Scrutton on 'HearAfter':?
HearAfter is a contemplative and immersive pre-composed vocal sound installation inspired by the life cycle, memory, and the process of decay.
HearAfter is a pun on ‘hereafter’, which means ‘in the time to follow’ and is often associated with questions about experiences after death. With this in mind, the piece HearAfter, through the present moment of a listening experience, at one level might be heard to tap into memory – a sense of something past, gone, altered or retold, but at the same time could suggest a kind of anticipation of a future that is both factually certain yet remains unknown.
While the human voice is often considered primarily as a communicator of words, I am artistically interested in its potential as sonorous, expressive and sculptural material. The sounds of breathing and an array of vocal gestures weave together with other abstract sounds into a collage of overlapping cycles and collisions.
HearAfter was originally conceived through an invite by Final Fling to create a work for a proposed Day of the Dead festival in Glasgow. Final Fling is an online portal for end-of-life planning, and promotes a pragmatic, open, and creative approach to talking about, and taking control of, our life and death decisions. Subsequently, The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, supported the work and HearAfter was installed in the round room on balcony 2 in October 2013, with the initial one-week run being extended to six weeks following the preview.
Nichola Scrutton
I am a freelance creative practitioner based in Glasgow, Scotland currently working primarily in sound and music. While I have a particular interest in working with the extended range of the human voice and the listening experience, I have an eclectic background and a diverse creative practice that ranges from fixed medium compositions to live vocal performance, and from interdisciplinary collaborations to education/outreach projects. I received my PhD in electroacoustic composition from University of Glasgow in 2009 and worked as a Teaching Fellow in Music there for two years.