Events

Summer School with Kathryn Elkin: THE MATERIAL DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ITSELF

Part of Learning

7 — 8 August 2021
1pm Saturday–4pm Sunday

Hospitalfield
Arbroath
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Kathryn Elkin, Queen, 2019. Courtesy the artist and LUX.

This two-day residential summer school, led by artist Kathryn Elkin, focuses on her latest research into the UK broadcast ban on the representation of groups and individuals involved or implicated in the conflict in the North of Ireland/​Northern Ireland.

From 1988 – 1994, the voices of members of certain groups were banned from broadcast on all UK television and radio channels. Following this ban, television news producers and programme makers began to broadcast interview footage with overdubbed sound, so that interviewees’ voices were replaced by those of actors. Transcripts of the speaking subjects were truncated, as texts were not permitted to be made public using the original, full speech.

Kathryn has habitually worked with the device of transcribed interviews and re-performed speech throughout her practice and is currently developing a new moving image work that addresses voice, the legibility of accents, transcribed speech and the relationship between voice and cultural identity.

This ongoing research for a new body of work has been a means to appraise a foundational experience in my youth of witnessing the adapted broadcasts during the broadcast ban and hearing a proxy voice whose accent approached my own. The essential hostility of the structure of the interview, where there is a concerted effort to lead the interviewee into a state of spontaneous and revealing communication, is redoubled in the violence of replacing the voice and truncating what was said.

In this particular example of broadcast ban interviews, there remained a visual representation of the interview footage which betrayed the volume of words omitted, as the mouth of the speaking subject moved silently before and beyond its proxy voice. Perhaps I also imagined where the actor might have stressed the wrong element or underemphasised another.

Faulty actions, para-praxes, slips, misreadings and the notion of psychic determinism – that there is nothing arbitrary or haphazard in the utterances of the subject under observation, nor in the utterances of the observing and performing proxy voice, are qualities we will interrogate in a series of exercises that will generate transcriptions and overdubbed speech.”

Kathryn Elkin

The summer school will address ideas within this new body of work. Kathryn will lead the group of eight participants through a series of experimental exercises, group discussions and some watching moving image works together. The group will also be joined by Cicely Farrer (Hospitalfield) and Eve Smith (LUX Scotland).Vegetarian/vegan group meals will be provided by the Hospitalfield kitchen.

The Summer School will follow all of Hospitalfield’s guidelines on staying on residence there during the Covid – 19 pandemic. If you have any questions about these guidelines then please email email hidden; JavaScript is required

Schedule: Activities will take place from 1pm on Saturday 7 August and finish by 4pm on Sunday 8 August 2021. Breaks will be scheduled every two hours, with the option of taking a break if needed in-between group break times. Refreshments will be available in between meal times. As much activity as possible is planned to take place outdoors, in which case seating will be provided. If it is raining, then social distanced activity will take place in one of the upstairs rooms in the main house as an alternative where seating will also be available.

Booking deadline: Friday 30 July, 6pm

Eligibility: Scotland based artists, curators, writers and arts professionals.

Places: 8

Cost: £80. This covers the cost of food and accommodation at Hospitalfield.

Access: Hospitalfield is located in Arbroath. Information about how to get there can be found here. Hospitalfield House is a Victorian house over several floors with wide staircases and banisters in most cases. Some areas of the house, including the Music Room on the ground floor, are accessible by wheelchair. Hospitalfield Gardens and Café is wheelchair accessible via a ramp into the Gardens and there are wide pathways throughout the Walled Gardens​.It is possible to access the ground floor level of the restored Fernery. There is disabled parking available on site by the entrance to the Garden. Captions or transcripts of any moving image works presented will be available.

Please email email hidden; JavaScript is required if you have any questions or if you would like to let us know about any of your access needs.

SUPERLUX Bursary places

Application deadline: 10am, 16 July 2021

LUX Scotland is pleased to offer two bursary places for SUPERLUX members to take part in the Summer School. This will cover the cost of the Summer School including accommodation and meals, as well as travel to and from Hospitalfield.

To apply, please email email hidden; JavaScript is required with a short statement (no longer than 200 words) about why this residency would be useful for your practice. Applications must be received by 10am on 16 July. The bursary holders will be notified by 5pm on 20 July 2021. The bursary holders will be asked to provide a short written reflection on the summer school, which will be shared on the SUPERLUX website following the event.

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