With Womens Work: crys cole - Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt.1)
Wednesday, February 3rd at 8pm EST, ISSUE is pleased to stream sound artist crys cole’s Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt.1), a lockdown interpretation of composer Beth Anderson’s Valid For Life. The piece is part of the With Womens Work series, commissioning artists to interpret and respond to scores included in Womens Work, a magazine first edited and self-published in 1975 by Alison Knowles and Annea Lockwood.
Notes from crys cole on Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt.1)
Trio for two large similar paper things and one 5-pin bowling ball.
"Gazing over Beth Anderson’s wonderful graphic score of the letter R in various typefaces and sizes had me hearing the sound of rolling r’s in my head. In Anderson’s original score she asks the players to perform rolls (with a velvet beater) on classic instruments – piano/harp and membranophones. I took a different approach, in part out of necessity due to the limitations of my current situation – an extended lock-down in Berlin, with no studio and inhabiting a small 1-room flat that I share with my partner, but more particularly by looking at it from a conceptual angle and applying my usual methods of working with non-typical instruments. I adhered to the score’s call for the piece to be a trio. From there the work was born out of the evocative nature of her playful page of R’s – tongue twirling rrrrrr’s, rolling vibrations, rumbles and quiet purrrrs…
My 2014 piece titled ‘keeping the ball rolling’ is meant to be metaphorically rolling in perpetuity and recently it has felt stiflingly paused with the events of this very challenging past year. While pondering Anderson’s score, an auspicious feeling struck me that set this piece back in motion. The feeling (and sounds) of movement and momentum conjured by this meeting feels somehow reassuring at this moment in time."
crys cole (b.1976) is a Canadian sound artist currently based in Berlin, who works in composition, performance and sound installation. Taking a conceptual approach she generates subtle and imperfect sound-pieces through haptic gestures and seemingly mundane materials, creating texturally nuanced works that continuously retune the ear. cole has performed in Canada, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, the USA, UK and throughout Europe. She has ongoing collaborations with Oren Ambarchi (AU) and with James Rushford (AU) (under the name Ora Clementi). Key collaborators also include Francis Plagne (AU), Leif Elggren (SW), Tetuzi Akiyama (JP), Seiji Morimoto (DE), Jessika Kenney (US), David Rosenboom (US), Annea Lockwood (US/NZ), Keith Rowe (UK), Lance Austin Olsen (CA), Jamie Drouin (CA), Mathieu Ruhlmann (CA), David Behrman (US), Tim Olive (JP/CA) and many more. cole’s work has been published on labels Black Truffle (AU), Penultimate Press (UK), Students of Decay (US), Ultra Eczema (BE), Planam (IT), caduc (CA), Bocian (PL), Another Timbre (UK) and Infrequency editions (CA/DE). She has been a guest performer on albums released by Touch (UK) and MeGO (AT). Her work has been exhibited in Canada, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Thailand. She has been an invited lecturer, panellist and workshop instructor for events in Singapore, Moscow, Israel, Germany, USA, Sweden and Canada. cole has worked extensively as an independent curator, radio and event producer since 1999. She was the Artistic Director / Executive Director of the annual send + receive: International Festival of Sound in Winnipeg Canada from 2008 – 2019. https://cryscole.com/
