Speaking Towards One Another

Speaking Towards One Another is a live staged performance and video installation for voice, live electronics, wearable performance technology, and British Sign Language, created and performed by Stephanie Lamprea (creative director and performer), Yuki Neoh (performer), Megan McArthur (performance interpreter, integrated), Jen McGregor (stage dramaturg), Oana Stanciu (video artist), and Anne Kjær (video dramaturg and performer).

Opening Performance: Thursday 22 May 2025

17:45 – Doors open

18:00 – Live Performance

19:30 – Reception in Preview (includes opening of video installation)

20:30 – End of event

Exhibition of Video Installation: 23-28 May 2025

Time: 10am – 5pm | Free / Drop-In

Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

All events are free of charge to the public. The opening performance requires a seat reservation via this Eventbrite page. This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first come, first served basis.

Artists:

Stephanie Lamprea – creative director and performer

Yuki Neoh – performer

Oana Stanciu – video artist

Megan McArthur – performance interpreter (integrated)

Jen McGregor – dramaturg (live performance)

Anne Kjær – performer and dramaturg (installation)

Alistair MacDonald – live electronics

Tim Cooper – sound design

Composers: Amble Skuse, Laura Bowler, Lisa Robertson, Stuart MacRae, Tom W. Green, Wende Bartley (installation only)

ABOUT THE OPENING PERFORMANCE

This unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The performance will feature two newly commissioned musical works by composers Laura Bowler and Amble Skuse, and recent works by composers Lisa Robertson, Stuart Macrae, and Tom W. Green, setting texts by writers and artists Alwynne Pritchard, Carol Ann Duffy, Gertrude Stein, Adah Isaacs Menken, and Hannah Siddiqui. These works create a theatrical narrative addressing topics of women’s testimony, language and the body, gender representation, and resilience within disability.

ACCESSIBILITY

This performance will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance. For more information about accessibility, please visit the Access webpage for more venue information: https://inspace.ed.ac.uk/venue-access/

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

A video installation, created by Oana Stanciu in collaboration with Anne Kjær, Stephanie Lamprea, and Yuki Neoh, will play on multiple video screens. There will also be recorded music, composed by Wende Bartley and performed by Stephanie Lamprea, that will play during the installation. The installation features ‘moving portraits’ inspired by the work of artists Yma Sumac (Peruvian opera singer), Adah Isaacs Menken (American writer and performer), Teresa de Cartagena (deaf Spanish nun and writer), Isadora Duncan (American dancer), and Miriam Răducanu (Romanian dancer). Representing ideas of gender performativity, female presence and expression, and testimony, the images in this installation seek to subvert the male gaze and rather become the figures power who gaze upon the public.

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Speaking Towards One Another is made possible with funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Hope Scott Trust, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Make It Happen Fund, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities with support from Inspace Gallery and the Institute for Design Informatics.

Inspace is part of the Institute for Design Informatics and is a collaborative hub, commissioning and producing creative activity. Our public programme connects data, research and creative talent. We host events and exhibitions where people can explore, learn, debate and create. Our programme unlocks digital technologies, tools and data and explores their role in society through a creative lens. We are home to Inspace City Screens, a unique seven-screen street front projection space visible from Potterrow in Edinburgh.