water for dreams (2024)

Max/MSP/Jitter, Ableton Live. 16 minutes.

Programme Note

My installation is about dreams. Dreams are an experience with a special sense of space and time. They are fragmented images and sounds from within us. We think with symbols. When I made this piece, I worked with echoes, reflections and images from the darkness. I was looking for a way to connect the inside with the outside. The water tanks are still full of water and we are lying on the ground reinventing ourselves.

water for dreams was the outcome of a residency and composition commission at KITEV in Oberhausen, Germany, which took place in late 2023 and early 2024. The work was presented over five performances and then became an audio installation.

A central aspect of the residency was exploring the disused water towers which are at the top of Oberhausen train station, and which were historically important for servicing steam engines used in nearby industrial sites such as the steel industry.

During the residency I explored the acoustic in this very special location, and the final work uses many musical sounds and field recordings that were chosen both for their fundamental qualities and also because they resonate with and activate the space.

Accompanying the sound are poems by Katia Maciel, and one or two ancient Chinese poems.

Here is a link to the project at the KITEV website.

A link to the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung with a preview article about the event.

The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung article and review of the piece and event.