audiograft 2023

Come along and immerse yourself in Oxford’s annual sonic art and experimental music festival…

Rita Evans

with Anna Jane Houghton, Sharon Phelan, Catherine Ross, Beth Shearsby

Work-in-progress open view: Fri 29 September 1–2PM
Performance: Sat 30 September 7.30-8.30PM doors 7 PM

For this audiograft residency and performance at OVADA, Rita Evans will bring her unique body of sculptural objects to work alongside Anna Jane Houghton, Sharon Phelan, Catherine Ross, and Beth Shearsby.

Within the acoustics and history of the OVADA warehouse (which evokes a patchwork of diverse textures and patterns) this new group will explore the idea of using sculptures as tools to understand and interact with space, seeking to blur individual boundaries by bringing themselves into a mode of both active and collective inquiry.

The artists will spend two days in residency before the performance, experimenting with vibrating strings; piercing through wavering surfaces; threading reel to reel tape through resistant forms; creating and arranging playable sculptures to ‘measure’, listen to, and interact with the space; and layering pre-recorded sounds with the objects to create and sustain a dynamic interplay in between acoustic bodies.

Curated by the Sonic Art Research Unit

Raheel Khan - In Harmony

Installation open: 7 Oct 12-4 and 8-10; 8 Oct 12-5
Performances: 7 Oct, 12pm and 8pm

Artist Open House: 8th Oct, 12-5pm*

“In Harmony” is an installation & performance by artist Raheel Khan that brings together composition, geometric design and electro-acoustic sound.

His current research concerns repetitive motions, rhythm, spiritual spaces and vacant buildings & infrastructure. Switching back and forth between these elements is the starting point for the work, Khan often uses abstraction to make sense of personal narratives.

Inspired by traditions of Islamic architecture and musique concrete, a customised sound-system will be installed in the space, central to which is a new sound work that combines recordings from the building’s own sound features with electroacoustic compostion. A performance will take place on the evening of the 7th October, followed by an open house on the 8th, where we invite artists and musicians to respond to the installation.

Curated by Oxford Contemporary Music

*Callout for Musicians and Sound Artists

Raheel Khan is hosting an open house at OVADA on 8th October, and all are invited to come and improvise with voices, instruments or sound-making tools. Let us know you're coming here: https://forms.gle/jQDq2PxJXGn5Gmuo8