Saturday, Jan 18, 201, 12:00a.m., city center Ljubljane and radioCona
Kathy Kennedy: Hmmm, in collaboration with the Slovenian Choir of Architects
(In-situ performance in Ljubljana and on radioCona)
Hmmm is a large-scale sound installation/performance event that was developed based on acoustic ecology of the so called “soundwalks”,in which performers/participants are synchronised by way of radio transmission. It is a long line filled with a humming sound, actually an instance of an interaction between two individuals with a radio receiver, which results in an extremely powerful and realistic sound experience.
Kathy Kennedy’s multilayered performance project, HMMM, has been presented internationally since 2005. In each incarnation of HMMM, a group of participants hum extended tones for thirty minutes. MOst are carrying portable radios, tuned to a broadcast o fan earlier humming session. The sound of these many voices humming is like a sonic wash of soothing, organic tones across the urban soundscape. In some cases, merchants play the broadcast in their stores and restaurants. The sound is enveloping and omnipresent, and yet never loud in any place. People stroll through, experiencing constantly changing sonic mixes of vocal sound. The radio is generally used as an extension of the body in Kennedy’s work–a bridge from one body to another. HMMM encapsulates her relationship with low-watt radio’s fragility and physicality. Like a voice, it is ultimately individualistic and subject to so many kinds of suppression. Many ideas and exercises are drawn from the Deep Listening practice of Pauline Oliveros. In HMMM, citizens begin to interact with each other on the basis of sonic, nonverbal cues as opposed to the normal state of stasis from information overload. The habitual sidewalk becomes transformed and things become quieter as people begin to listen critically.
Kathy Kennedy is a sound artist with formal trainsing in both visual and classical singing. Kennedy works as a singer, performance artist, choral director, composer, and voice teacher. Her artistic practice involves the voice and its interface with technology. Her Sonic Choreographies series has been performed internationally, including at the inauguration at the Vancouver Public Library and at the Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors series in New York City. Kennedy is also involved in community-produced art, and is a founder of Studio XX in Montreal, the digital media center for women, as well as the innovative choral groups for women, Choeur Maha and Esther. Together with artists Magali Babin, Nathalie Derome, and Daniel Mace, she created a 28-day licensed temporary community radio station Radio Jean-Talon in 2009. Kennedy also frequently gives lectures and workshops on listening skills, acoustic ecology, and vocal improvisation.
