#torstenlauschmann

Upon entering the Barn, I was welcomed by the sound of the musicians tuning their instruments. In the centre was the group of instruments which included a contrabass recorder, melodica, cello and saxophone. The unexpected set up included the audience surrounding the group which automatically produced a feeling of involvement with the performance and also created a very social atmosphere. What seemed to catch most people’s attention was the very dated looking vacuum cleaner beside the instruments. First up was Lauschmann and Hammond’s ten minutes film ‘Matter in the Wrong Place’, “It is based around the idea of chaos and chance as productive strategies” revealed artist Charlie Hammond. He later went on to explain that the creation of it came about through “quick decisions” and “two people playing with materials”. The production included effective use of lighting on the silver foil backdrop which had very hypnotising qualities.

Nine musicians from the Red Note Ensemble then entered to begin the performance of ‘Inconsistent Whisper’, taking their positions, each facing a different direction. Robert Irvine (Cello) said this was to simply “add to the randomization”. The performance was led by Lauschmann who was controlling which coloured spotlight shone on which musician at the given time. Irvine explained the lighting commands to the musicians “The blue spotlight meant you are to play an excerpt from a Mozart piece... The red means to copy the dominant sound... And the green is to sustain a sound”. The musician’s talents were greatly highlighted through their improvisation skill and ability to produce music on the spot. The lighting structures stretch the ability of each instrument by urging the musicians to use different playing techniques and at some points even turn each instrument percussive. What worked so well with the structure and group of instruments was that although the texture was mostly polyphonic, each instrument could easily be singled out and heard clearly. The end of the performance was tied up by a reversal of roles: the musicians played in the darkness then abruptly stopped when the spotlights turned on. It was a truly mesmerising performance which was both a visual and aural experience. 

You will be familiar with the expression “weird and wonderful” possibly without giving much thought to what it actually means. This is the best description I can come up with for what I have just experienced at Woodend Barn tonight. The event was in two parts, both of them definitely weird – yes - but wonderful too!

The first part, the fruit of a week’s collaboration between visual artists Torsten Lauschmann and Charlie Hammond both Glasgow based visual artists was entitled Matter in the wrong place an exploration of dirt “as material and system”. That is what the programme note said – but what did we actually experience? It was a film and yet not just a film, there was something of son et lumière about it too. I know that art form usually takes place out of doors at a famous location and tells the history of the place. This was inside and gave a completely new slant on the creation often with a spicing of humour, but visually it did have that son et lumière grand scale fantasy about it. The film content was projected onto a huge screen made of crinkled aluminium foil and included silhouettes, dramatic patches of colour and much more too. A vacuum cleaner with a light attachment played a teasing role in the visual sense and added to the soundtrack as well. It was imaginative, disconcerting and great fun too.

The second part of the experience brought together Torsten Lauschmann with musicians from the Red Note Ensemble along with local performers. Inconsistent Whisper used nine performers playing an unlikely combination of instruments and at one point a bit of singing as well. There were two guitars, a harmonium, two recorders, one of these a contrabass, a cello, a saxophone, percussion and to my delight a melodica which somehow brought back a flavour of Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera music. Percussionist Tom Hunter set things moving and patches of different coloured lights, blue, green, red and amber triggered the playing of the other instruments, whether singly or in different groups. Improvisations were set off by one player and then taken up sometimes literally or else as a nicely fitting accompaniment by others. Obviously there were powerful elements of chance at work here. What lights would trigger which players and how would they respond to what the others were doing? What was truly amazing was how well the whole musical experience hung together. Perhaps if our world and indeed we ourselves are a product of chance, this performance displayed how things can come amazingly well together to produce something that does not seem to be the result of chance at all. That anyway is what the performance conveyed to me.

There were no seats in the auditorium for the audience although those who wanted one could easily get it. I just sat on the floor and I enjoyed the experience of that too – it reminded me of student days in the now very remote past. On my way home I thought that this is exactly the kind of experience SOUND should be offering to us – something unlike anything I have experienced before.