As a Research Fellow in Connected Environments at the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL, I explore opportunities for using digital and mobile communications technologies to engage people with questions of spatial and environmental justice. I am available to deliver practice-related workshops for PhD students, visiting lectures and undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Please contact me to find out more.
Walking’s New Movements
I presented a paper with Duncan Hay on Walking in Tree Time as part of the Walking’s New Movements Conference, Plymouth, 2019. Our chapter developed from that talk has been published in Walking Bodies, edited by Helen Billinghurst, Claire Hind and Phil Smith (Triarchy Press, 2020).
Jericho Fellowship
I gave a talk and workshop on The Listening Wood in Venice between 22-25 August, 2019 as part of the Jericho Fellowship. More information here: https://www.jerichofellowship.com/
Listening Wood Launch
The Listening Wood launched on Hampstead Heath in March 2019. The result of a collaboration between artists and computer scientists from the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL, and the City of London Corporation arborists, The Listening Wood invites visitors to generate a poetic record of their walk via sms or thelisteningwood.com.
PhD awarded
I was awarded a PhD from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, in January 2019. My practice-related thesis, ‘Making a Scene in London and Rio de Janeiro: Invisible Theatre and Urban Performance after Augusto Boal (1931-2009)’, investigates performative strategies for spatio-political engagement. This project was possible thanks to funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the UCL Doctoral School.
The Listening Wood, 2019
The Listening Wood is a site-specific installation and digital poetic walk around fourteen of Hampstead Heath’s ancient and veteran trees. Visitors to Golders Hill Park are able to interact with the work via either sms or thelisteningwood.com to generate a poetic record of their encounter with the trees, recalling the Romantic tradition of the Heath.
The Listening Wood is the result of a collaboration with computer scientists from Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL, and the City of London Corporation arborists. It was possible thanks to funding from PETRAS and the EPSRC. Text messages are charged at standard network rates.
Ghost Note, 2018
The cross that marks the border between Esztergom, Hungary and Štúrovo, Slovakia can be read in the classical convention of music notation as a ghost note, that is, a percussive note with no discernible pitch. For this project, musicians in both towns and internationally interpreted the found score, with their responses integrated into an audio loop.
Ghost note was created and exhibited as part of an arts residency as the 43rd Bridge Guard between April-June 2018, supported by the Štúrovo Cultural Association. Giclée print and looped audio, dimensions 119 cm x 84 cm, duration 07’34”.
Domestic Folly (while you were sleeping), 2018
A series conceived and created in snatched moments following the birth of my second child. This recording is the result of a collaboration with sound engineer and musician, Nick Trepka, duration 2’12”.
Rise, 2017
A vocal interpretation of found sea-level data, performed at Roaming Room, London by Sandy Grierson, Leah Lovett and Naomi Siderfin. Duration 4’09”.
Contracorrente / Upstream, 2016
A telenovela (Brazilian soap opera) based on Herbert Read’s political sci-fi, ‘The Green Child’ (1935), played out between actors in London and Rio de Janeiro against the backdrop of London’s Olympic landscape using blue-screen technology. All three episodes were performed before studio audiences on board the Floating Cinema (London) and at CASA 24 (Rio de Janeiro), and live streamed via UP Projects’ website on 30th July, 2016. Contracorrente / Upstream was conceived by Leah Lovett and created by Leah Lovett and Maria Eugenia Lombardini in partnership with UP Projects and Foundation for Future London with performers Freddie King, Raphael dos Santos, and Farelis Silva (Rio de Janeiro) Rocio Galan, Tessa Parr, and Rafael Pereira (London). Running duration (3 episodes), approx. 60’00”.
Project Platform, 2016
A live set and audio recording of experimental music and sound inspired by Crossrail. Five Newham-based artists and musicians each responded to one leg of the train journey from Liverpool Street – Ilford. In journey order, they were Lindsay West & James Russo, -hyfn, Rob DesRoches & Stew Simpson, Sally Labern and Paddy Conn. The first live set with the Project Platform band (Grace Banks, Alain Man and Prithpal Singh) took place at Coffee7, Forest Gate, on 22 September, 2016. The recording sound engineer was Nick Trepka. Project Platform was conceived and coordinated by Lloyd Jeans and Leah Lovett with support from Newham Council, MTR-Crossrail and the Estate of Mary Eileen Jeans. Performance duration approx. 20 minutes.
Light Transmission, 2015
A light installation featuring songs about light from the British Isles, broadcast on 87.9FM. Light Transmission was commissioned by Wellcome Collection with UCL for Bloomsbury Festival 2015 Radio equipment supplied by RPL Radio. Sound engineering by Nick Trepka. Dimensions variable, programme duration 1’16″05.
An Installation on Sex: 33, 2015 (with Julie Carr)
“Everything appears for others eyes” emblazoned in neon across the far wall. An animal is eating out of vision’s range. The walls look wet when the light hits them.
The light is coming from you.
Contra Band, 2014
A performance that brought together musicians and audiences in Brazil and the UK for an experimental live performance of songs censored in both countries between 1964-1985. These dates mark the duration of the military dictatorship in Brazil. The music performed included songs by the Beatles, Chico Buarque, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Gilberto Gil, the Sex Pistols, Caetano Veloso and more. Contra Band was commissioned by UP Projects, Somewhere and Live Art Development Agency for the Floating Cinema 2014 Extra-International programme, London, and Casa 24, Rio de Janeiro. Duration 60’00”.
Sock Puppet State, 2014
A performance workshop exploring political representation and modes of speech through near ventriloquism. Created for Flaming Skirt Festival, Derbyshire, duration 50’00”.
Support, 2014
A chorus of male voices reenacts the sounds of women in the late stages of labour as recalled by their birthing partners, performance duration 8’00” approx (excerpts 4’00”).
Feedback, 2013
Video loop for iPad using found footage, created for A Small Hiccup at Newbridge Project Space, duration 2’19”.
Murmuration, 2013
Performance and limited edition print for performers, commissioned for A Small Hiccup at Grand Union, Birmingham and touring.
A group makes a loop from a gallery space, through the city, a shopping centre, the Bullring, an industrial park, and back again. We move at arms’-length from one another, and from others who move through the group. We clap. When one rhythm connects we listen, still clapping, for a different rhythm to take hold.
I am surprised by how many join in. A driver hoots his horn. A swagger of twenty-something men up for a Friday night jeer, “YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF WANKERS”, then clap. They laugh. We laugh. A couple at the traffic lights joins the group for as long as our routes coincide. Others don’t appear to notice us at all. A man smiles and, bringing hands together, sets us off on a different beat. A police car tacks alongside. Then, for a moment, looking up, birds flock directly overhead.
This drawing (will change everything), 2012
Daily drawing on OHP responding to the World at One, the exhibition space and the artist’s imagination. Performed for Making Space, Woburn Research Centre, duration 45 minutes daily (Monday – Friday).
Operation Goose Down, 2012
Performance and combative game. Three camouflaged agents draw salt boundaries on a gallery floor, gradually claiming as much space as possible, then sweep up and redraw their territory whenever a member of the audience crosses the boundary-line. Created by TRIPOD for Platform 1 at Camden Art Centre, duration variable.
Ghost in the Machine, 2011
Performance created by TRIPOD (an ongoing collaboration with Katy Beinart and Helen Rawling) for Surplus to Requirements?, duration variable.
Sounding, 2011
The result of a collaboration with Teign Diving Centre, this project comprises audio from a hydrophonic (underwater microphone) recording of the 1918 shipwrecked Bretagne; wall-text echoing stories from contemporary divers drawn to the site; and series of ink, pencil and beeswax drawings inspired by the Greco-Roman myth of the Sirens. Commissioned for A Cirlcle, Plymouth, 2011.
Anthony Rowe, Untitled, 2010
A video made with footage and images found on a mobile phone which was stolen and subsequently recovered by the police, projected dimensions variable, duration 02’58”.
Conversation Piece, 2010
Two unidentified performers initiated scripted conversations with unsuspecting audience members for the opening of the Intervention Gallery, Kensal Green Cemetery.
Day of Celebration, Site of Protest, 2010
A series of 13 prints documenting the 12-hour occupation of a politically symbolic space in Seoul on a national holiday.
Pinned Landscape, 2010
Performance to camera in which the artist gifts iron rods to new corporate and commercial buildings in Mullae, Seoul. Single channel HD video, dimensions variable, duration 04’19”.
There Were Conflicting Versions, 2009
Performance of found protest images with James Canvin, Deborah Klayman, Tina Meegan, Patsy Prince and Herbert Wright, duration 20’00” approx. Created for Testing Grounds at South Hill Park.
Filter, 2009
Performance in which an actor relays news feeds streamed from Reuters’ UK website whilst drinking from a selection of Three Barrels brandy, Gordons gin, Smirnoff vodka and Famous Grouse whiskey, duration variable.
Found Performance, 2008-9
Single channel video, duration 06’30”.
Mouthpiece, 2009
Single channel video, duration 00’51”.
Open Eye, 2008-9
Single channel video, duration 19’17”.
Just the Space, Just the Light 2008-2009
3-channel HD video installation filmed at night until the security guard responded or the 60 minute tape ran out, projected dimensions variable, duration 60’00”.
Catherine Day, 2008
Performance of a woman, played by 36 women, waiting on a platform. The character is based on the woman depicted by Paul Day in his monumental sculpture, The Meeting Place, commissioned for the reopening of St. Pancras above. Duration 12 hours, performed in 20 minute intervals.
Conducting, 2008
Carousel of 35mm slides changed at approximately 3 second intervals by the gallery attendant, projected dimensions variable, duration 02’30” approx.
Audition Piece (Dead Cowboy), 2008
Sculpture, costume, performance in which a number of actors play dead whilst rocking the barrel from side to side, dimensions 1300x1000x1200mm approx., duration variable.
Covert Collaborations (Signer), 2008
Photocopied letter, photocopied drawing, inkjet print, individual dimensions 210x297mm.
Their Actions However Intended, 2008
Script, performance for two actors who follow all of the unspoken text from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Lluisa Cunille’s The Meeting, each one directing and directed by the other, duration variable.
Kilty Toga, 2007
Single channel video, duration 00’37”.
Pallas’ Socks, 2008
Wool, inkjet print, dimensions variable.
Jumpers, 2007
Knitted costume for three performers, dimensions variable.
Pillar to Post, 2009
Costume, four columns, performance, dimensions variable, duration variable.
Street Theatre, 2006
6-channel sound installation, duration 8’07”.
Quadrille, 2006
Support
Support, a male voice choir of labour sounds, was performed as part of Oxytocin: Birthing the World, 3rd June, 2017, Royal College of Art, London. Click here for more information.
Rise
Rise, a vocal interpretation of sea-level data, was performed on 22nd February, 2017 for the opening of The Intercontinental, an exhibition of works by Slade PhD students responding to the Post-Truth Society at Roaming Room, London.
50 STATES – panel discussion
Participated in a digital panel discussion on technology/communication/art chaired by Jake Margolin and Nick Vaughan on 21st February, 2017 as part of their 50 STATES project. More information here.
Engaged Urbanism
Contributor to Ben Campkin and Ger Duijzings (eds.) anthology, Engaged Urbanism: Cities and Methodologies (2016), which can be purchased from I.B. Tauris and all major bookshops.
Contracorrente ∞ Upstream
Collaborated with Maria Euginia Lombardini (Argentina/Brazil) on Contracorrente ∞ Upstream, a Rio de Janeiro / London telenovela based on Herbert Read’s 1934 political sci-fi, ‘The Green Child’. See UP Projects for more information.
Library of Light
Participated in Library of Light, an action-research day at the V&A organised by London Fieldworks.
Light Transmission
Light Transmission aired on 87.9 FM in and around the Wellcome Collection between 22nd-25th October, 2015 as part of the Bloosmbury Festival 2015 event, Playing with Light. Commissioned by the Wellcome Collection with UCL, Light Transmission is a light installation that charts a changing relationship to visible light, featuring music from the middle ages to the present day by artists from around the British Isles. More information here.
Beam
Beam is a new interactive sound and light installation created in collaboration with musician and physicist Geoff Cottrell. It was displayed on 9th November, 2015 as part of Perpetuo’s chamber music concert, Heavenly Sights, an evening of music inspired by space, flight and motion. More information and booking here.
Arts in Society
Participated in the tenth international conference on the Arts in Society, Imperial College, London, 22-24 July, 2015. More information here.
Two Degrees Festival
Participated in the Two Degrees Festival at Arts Admin, and joined the Family Activist Network (FAN), a Europe-wide network of artist families planning actions for Cop21. More information about the Two Degrees Festival here and about FAN here.
Counterpath Press, Denver
I travelled to Denver and Montreal in June 2014 to present performance work at Counterpath Press, Denver and the Hemi Encuentro, Montreal, with support from the Arts Council England AIDF and a Jean Spencer and Malcolm Hugues Award from the Slade.
Ideas from Elsewhere
Participated in Ideas from Elsewhere, a project with the Drawing Shed and Jordan McKenzie at Winns Gallery, Walthamstow. More information here.
Research trip – Rio…
Returned from a research trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, between October-November, 2013. Read about what I got up to on the research blog, Invisible Encounters, here.
Performativity in the Gallery
Contributor to Outi Remes, Marika Leino, Laura MacCulloch (eds.), ‘Performativity in the Gallery: Staging Interactive Encounters’, (Oxford: Peter Lang Ltd., 2014).
Claire Bishop – Artificial Hells
My review of Claire Bishop’s ‘Artificial Hells’ is now published through darkmatter. Read it here.