Icumen

2019 - 2021

Oliver Sutherland is a Bristol based artist. Within his sound practice, he works across live improvisation and static composition, often using audio harvested from youtube and field recordings as the source material.

Icumen is a series of compositions created in 2019 using audio from found video recordings of the Obby Oss, a Cornish May Day celebration. Through the manipulation sounds glimpsed by shakily held camcorders, the project explores childhood memories of being caught within a shared celebration of seasonal change. The project has evolved to include a series of live improvised performances working with the original compositions and sound sources.

With support by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Icumen has been developed further over the past year to include additional contributors to the live performances. Working with artist and developer Gabriel Stones during this R&D period, an AI performer has been created that explores the physical and performative aspects of the Obby Oss persona. Using technology associated with digital games, the experimental AI performer will make decisions on how to move during the performance, based on original movements by dancer Katherine Hall.

Icumen will be performed at Rame Projects on the 4th of September 2021. Please book through eventbrite and further details about attendance will be sent to you nearer the time.

This project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

www.oliversutherland.co.uk