Connecting to Ground: A Séance in the Wick Woodlands
June Kuhn, Imperial College London Byuka Makodru, Independent Artist & Researcher Courtney N. Reed, Loughborough University London Adam Schmidt, Imperial College London
- Happening
- Paper PDF link
- Video link
- Presence: in person
- Session: Séance in the Wick Woodlands
- Contact Email: here
Abstract:
Connecting with nature, spirits, histories, and the emergent and experiential dimensions of sound, we resist performative egotism and challenge technosolutionism in music technology through séance. Spirit mediums - human vessels that interact with, channel, or anthropomorphise spirits - are cultural links between humans, animals, and the surrounding environment. In Western contexts, the medium conducts a specialist practice of discovering and performing techniques to call upon spirits; however, it is our position that anyone has the potential to become a spirit medium, just as anyone has creative voice. Using a collection of musical instruments, both acoustic and electronically augmented, we propose an opportunity to spiritually connect with the land and its spirits near the Loughborough University London (LUL) campus. The séance overlaps ritual practices of experimental music-making, healing of the connection between humans and land, and spiritual grounding through meditative exercises. In light of technologically-enforced severances between humans and spirits, we activate our potential as mediums, and use instruments as conduits for rebuilding connection with the same earth that this conference stands on.
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