As part of CTM 2021 Mark Fell and I joined forces with the infamous guitarist and composer Jim O'Rourke, algorithmic, punk electronics and vocal performer Petronn Sphene, and maverick sound improviser and instrument builder Limpe Fuchs to present Symmetry for Five.
The work uses a number of different approaches to remote collaboration, including an open and flexible performance infrastructure developed by Mark and Rian. This enables real-time sharing of pattern generating data rather than audio itself, offering unusual alternatives to the technical, aesthetic and ideological limitations of streaming media and other traditional web-based formats. In this durational multichannel performance, performers Fell (Sheffield) and O'Rourke (Japan) provide a textural ostinato, building up with improvised electronics and voice from Treanor (Sheffield) and Sphene (Leeds), to a climactic chaos from Fuch's home-made metallophones on-site in Berlin.
The work is shown as part of CTM's trans/local performance series, which features commissioned works that will be live streamed from the silent green Betonhalle venue. Each performance unites a Berlin-based artist with creators in other parts of the world, who explore ways of remote collaborative work and performance.