Language Fragments

Etchells, Timothy (2020) Language Fragments. [Performance]

Abstract

Language Fragments is a performance based research project exploring original writing alongside found language materials gathered from diverse sources. The basis of my exploration is performance improvisation and the work proceeds through a set of unique one-off performances usually in the context of art exhibitions and galleries, sometimes in theatrical settings and using recorded media. In its solo form these performances are often (but not exclusively) presented under the title Work Files and consist of open improvisation (short and long duration) in which I draw on my existing (original/collected) materials to compose live performance, investigating the relationship between spoken language as semantic sense and its musical, textural, rhythmical and haptic aspects. As well as these solo performance investigations I have initiated performance exchanges with a series of musicians, including regular presentations and recordings with the Kazakh violinist Aisha Orazbayeva (often presented under the title Seeping Through), as well as research performances and recordings with French percussionist Uriel Barthelmi, singer Melanie Pappenheim, musician Giles Croft and electronic musician and composer John Avery. In Language Fragments processes of writing, gathering and collage feature alongside the animation and remixing of archive materials, spoken word performance and dialogue with musical elements. For the performances – improvised in each iteration - Etchells selects, intercuts and remixes material from texts he’s written or collected, creating a torrent of language that often loops and repeats on individual lines, editing and re-writing on the fly, creating new dialogues and juxtapositions between distinct genres of material. Alongside original writing Etchells’s materials include fragments of overheard conversation, out-of-context quotations from newspaper articles, movies, graffiti and web pages.