Join us for the presentation and artist talk to introduce Etudes, a collection of scores and propositions by Sharon Gal.

The event includes a conversation between the artist and Fiona Allison (Sound and Music), with demonstrations and audio-visual contributions from guests musicians and artists, including Steve Beresford, Angharad Davies, Tim Parkinson, Chas de Swiet, Guy Harries and Blanca Regina. It will be followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Tickets are free with limited capacity of 100. Register here. You will be contacted with a zoom link before the event.

Etudes by Sharon Gal is a collection of scores and propositions, presented as a deck of 78 cards, with text on one side and colour on the other.

A music, performance and art resource, the work acts as a catalyst to inspire and trigger the imagination. It’s an open score with interchangeable possibilities, to be played alone or with others. Etudes is an invitation to play, engage, contemplate and explore; to enhance and expand one’s experience, thinking, practice and performance.

It can be used as a set of instructions to be combined, or by drawing a single card from the pack. You can choose intuitively from any of the colours, or shuffle the cards to let chance influence the outcome.

Etudes pertains to the oracular and traditions of divination and mysticism: the path of learning, personal growth, awareness and self-knowledge. Its creation was informed by a series of collaborative compositions directed by Sharon Gal over the past 12 years, exploring composition as a shared resource.

The work is situated within art and music practices, using text and graphic scores, improvisation, art and language. It connects to the Tarot, Fluxus performance workbook, Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies, Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit and the Scratch Book by the Scratch Orchestra, with whom Sharon was directly involved.

The deck could be used in many creative situations and disciplines appealing to vocalists, musicians, actors and dancers; professionals, students and novices. It will attract people who are not typical arts and music audience with an interest in card games, experimental play and self development.

The limited edition of 200 was created as part of Sound and Music’s ‘New Voices 2019’ artist development programme and was co-produced with ‘Unpredictable Series’.

Visit - https://www.sharon-gal.com/etudes

Shop - https://sharongal.bigcartel.com/product/etudes

Steve Beresford has been a central figure in the British and international spontaneous music scenes for over forty years, freely improvising on the piano, electronics and other instruments. https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/article/conversation-steve-beresford

Angharad Davies is a Welsh violinist working with free-improvisation, compositions and performance. http://angharaddavies.com/index.html

Tim Parkinson is a British experimental composer, pianist and curator. https://www.untitledwebsite.com/life

Chas de Swiet is a creative producer, musician and artist. He has a specialism in disability arts and diversity. https://www.deswiet.co.uk/

Guy Harries is a composer/performer working with voice, electronics and wind instruments. He is involved in projects ranging from garage rock to chamber opera, from sound art to electro art pop and multimedia musicals. http://www.guyharries.com/

Blanca Regina is an artist, teacher and curator based in London. Her research and practice is heterogeneous and encompass expanded cinema, free improvisation, graphic and moving image, photography and performance art. Blanca is a co-director of Unpredictable Series CIC. https://whiteemotion.com/

Sharon Gal is an interdisciplinary artist, experimental vocalist, performer and composer. Her work explores presence, listening, embodiment, and the relationships between people, sound and space.

She performs solo and in collaborations with David Toop, Steve Beresford, Phil Minton, Charles Hayward, Yoni Silver, Andie Brown, Anat Ben David, Blanca Regina and Lina Lapelyte.

Since 2007 she has been directing a series of site specific, experimental, large group participatory compositions, inviting musicians and non-musicians to collaborate. These open scores utilise simple instructions, creative exchange and play, as a means to learning and bringing together.

Sharon is a visiting fellow with the music department at Goldsmiths University.

She was selected to participate in Sound and Music’s ‘New Voices’ artist development programme (Sept 2019 - March 2021).

Her work was supported by The Jerwood Charitable Foundation, The Austrian Cultural Forum, Resonance 104.4FM, The Philadelphia Association, Francis Chagrin Award and Goldsmiths Annual Fund.

Sharon’s music was released by many labels, including five solo albums and various collaborations. Past performances include: The V&A, Science Museum, ICA, The Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern & Tate Britain, MACBA, and Colour Out Of Space, Borealis, Supernormal, Supersonic and TUSK festivals. https://www.sharon-gal.com/