Din Søte Forening å Smake (Your Sweet Union to Taste)

Commissioned by BLOKK at Torvsalen, Gamle Bergen, 2016.

“The message that comes must be delivered by the voice, feeling its way around the room, reaching out to touch the listener.”

A performance incorporating live and pre-recorded voice and music.
The sound of a voice, half sighing, half singing, can be heard. Then the beating of a drum coming. The curtains open to reveal a figure who sings a crescendoing phrase. Then the beating of wings is heard from above and the curtains close. A voice can be heard singing Din Søte Forening å Smake.

Partly Now, Partly Remembered

A collaboration with Dillan Marsh, shown at Parabol Bergen, 2016.

Multi media installation with audio played through a parabolic speaker at the threshold of Stiftelsen 3,14 Gallery. (Melody sung to Sailing By, Ronald Binge, 1963 with field recording from Alex Lopez’s stone carving workshop, words Clare/Marsh 2016). More inforamation about the collaboration here.

The Travels of the Toucher

A collaboration with Dillan Marsh, shown at Assembly House Leeds as part of About Time Festival, Nov. 2015 and at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop at the end of our Micro Residency, Oct. 2015. Kindly supported by The Norwegian Arts Council, Bergen Kommune and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Further information about the collaboration here.

Nykkjen Belar te Heiemo: The Bale of Charm

Heiemo, kva det sång i li, med minne; Det høyrde Nykkjen på havet skri: «Tvo rosir sove derinne».

A traditional folksong is sung into a microphone, which sends a delay signal to four loudspeakers. The singer’s voice is heard at first only acoustically, but gradually the delay begins to be heard through the speakers. The sound seems to be natural at first; a pure echo (or reflection) of the voice, but as the effects continue, it becomes clear that the sound has been affected and distorted by a pitch shift. As the layers of delay increase, the singer stops singing, and the sound crescendos before gradually fading away. The sound moves from the live, accoustic performance of the singer, to each of the speakers, which reflect the digital delay back into the room.

Performance below filmed by Denis Romanovski at PALS Festival, Fylkingen, Sweden.

Nykkjen Belar te Heiemo: The Bale of Charm, performance excerpts from Eleanor Clare on Vimeo.

I Am Still Within You

The suggestion of a journey, magical and mystical, at times painful; the need to connect to something constant.  Between darkness & twilight is where this work belongs: a sight just half seen.  

Produced with Kam Wan (film projections) & Marcus Davidson (music soundtrack & vocal harmonies). I am grateful to Ellen Southern for her invitation to produce work based on her remix score of The Brilliant & The Dark, and to BEK and The Drawing Room for their support. Video excerpt from performance at BAS Old Grain Silo. Performed by Eleanor Clare, Johanne Birkeland, Natalie Sandtorv and Karoline Wallace.

My Horn is a Chalice

The Unicorns follow The Chalice to their destination; a procession throughout this building soon to lose its current purpose.  The spectacle could be experienced almost as though it were an apparition.

The piece was realised as a live performance, and also as a sound installation situated on all 9 floors of the main stairway/liftwell at Central Saint Martins, Charing Cross Road. First performed at Central Saint Martins School of Art, Charing Cross Road, 2011. Concept, costumes and music by Eleanor Clare. Unicorns: Hannah Byrne & Hollie Stewart.  Choreographed by Dagmara Bilon. Sound engineered by Andrew Dickens.  Final track in collaboration with Ben Trinkle. Video excerpt filmed and edited by Mariana Rocha. Photograph by Michael Williams. Listen to audio here.