Lucia Rossi
IHOS Music Theatre & Opera, HyPe AND SALAMANCA ARTS CENTRE PRESENTS
ECHO PART 1 – A NEUROLOGICAL SOUNDSCAPE
A site-specific intimate and immersive experience into an auditory world of an 85-year old living with dementia.
APR 17 – 21, 2013 | A SITE-SPECIFIC EVENT
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CONSTANTINE KOUKIAS, SOUNDSCAPE BY JANE BAKER, PRODUCTION DESIGNERS ELVIO BRIANESE & PETA HEFFERNAN, LIVE SOUND ENGINEER GREG GURR LIGHTING DESIGN JASON JAMES
A new work from the Tasmanian creative team behind The Barbarians (MONA FOMA 2011), IHOS Music Theatre & Opera Artistic Director Constantine Koukias has worked closely with collaborators Jane Baker (Scenarist and Sound Artist) and architects Elvio Brianese and Peta Heffernan (Directors of Liminal Studios) to explore the inner world of the neurologically disjointed and emotionally isolating experience of living with dementia; creating a 20 min experience for only 24 persons at a time.
The scenario concept is based on juxtaposed themes of the daily routine of living in an aged care facility and the inner world of memories and “dreams”. The audient enters a space, an unfamiliar environment, and is then immersed into a predominately auditory world. They are the central character, a person approximately 85 years old, living in this moment – with dementia. It is a suggestive experience.
Echo Part 1 – A Neurological Soundscape requires each audience member to wear a set of headphones. They will be seated in the round along the perimeter of a revolving stage and will experience an environmental manipulation of visual and auditory suggestion, launching them into the space that is neither awake nor asleep. Like many IHOS productions, this will be a unique experience that will premiere in Hobart.
Liminal Spaces’ design approach to performance stems from philosophies where the essence of an idea is captured and presented through minimal forms and the manipulation of space; where the interaction between the performer and space define one another. This has led to collaborations with IHOS for Kimisis (MONA FOMA 2010) and The Barbarians (MONA FOMA 2012).
IHOS is a performing arts company based in Tasmania, Australia, with an international reputation for original music-theatre and opera. Works are multicultural, multilingual and exploit multiple art-forms, blending voice, dance and sound with installation art and digital technology. IHOS has origins in the Greek-Australian tradition. The company was established in Hobart in 1990, by composer and artistic director Constantine Koukias, and production director Werner Ihlenfeld.
After 22 years of productions, Echo will be the last work for IHOS , before Artistic Director Constantine Koukias relocates (temporarily) to Amsterdam to pursue the creation of a new company after IHOS Opera was not funded by Arts Tasmania in 2013.
HyPe is an initiative of Salamanca Arts Centre (SAC), supporting the creation of innovative, contemporary hybrid theatre in Tasmania. HyPe is funded by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and by Hobart City Council and Arts Tasmania.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW (LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE)
http://www.sac.org.au/portfolio/echo-part-l-a-neurological-soundscape/
KEY CREATIVES:
CONSTANTINE KOUKIAS– Artistic Director
Koukias’ avant-garde approach to the presentation of opera has resulted in hybrid opera such as The Barbairans (MONA FOMA 2012) Days and Nights with Christ, To Traverse Water, MIKROVION (Small Life 36 Images in a Phantom Flux of Life), The Divine Kiss and Tesla – Lightning in His Hand. His works range from large scale site – specific to gallery pieces. Compositions written prevalently for orchestra / voice or for various ensemble line-ups, have been remarkable for their peculiar, mesmerising atmosphere created by temporal, spatial and sound effects.
JANE BAKER – Soundscape
Jane is a musician, composer, performance & recording artist and has worked and studied in the fields of music, art and science and their synthesis. She has studied guitar in Tanzania (overseas study grant: Phonographic Performance Company of Australia). She has worked with IHOS as an improvisational percussionist on The Barbarians (MONA FOMA 2012). Over the past 20 years, Jane has acquired extensive experience and a deep understanding of neurologically challenged people. Her experience includes designing and facilitating diversional & music therapy programs for: intellectually and physically disabled adults and children, elderly people, high needs dementia patients, African refugees, gifted children and people with acquired brain injuries.
ELVIO BRIANESE & PETA HEFFERNAN – Liminal Spaces Design- Production Designers
As the founding Director of Liminal Studio and Liminal Architecture, Elvio Brianese is an architect with over twenty-five years’ global experience in object design, the arts and architecture. His experience encompasses a broad range of projects, scales and types across multiple disciplines.
As a Director of Liminal Studio and Principal of Liminal Spaces, Peta Heffernan is an architect with broad design experience having worked in Hobart, Sydney and Melbourne over a span of 17 years. While her architectural work centres on creating space and environments for living, working and learning, her areas of research, investigation and participation are diverse in scale and application. They range from curatorial and participatory
IHOS Music Theatre & Opera, HyPe AND SALAMANCA ARTS CENTRE
