Stillness
Solo performance
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I inhabit between darkness and light, my presence weaving through shadows and substance. The magnitude of this experience reduces me to a minute, silent presence.
Renzo Spiteri, personal diary entry, Sandness, Shetland, July 12th 2018.
When I first arrived on Shetland in April 2018, I was greeted by a canvas of minimal sound textures as I had never experienced before. By the time I left Shetland in July, following the last of three field trips, nothingness had turned into a particular stillness from which so much had emerged. Immersing myself in its natural conditions and phenomena, I felt that, only by then, had I started to embrace the island’s rawness and particular atmosphere.
My experiences while visiting Shetland are unveiled and shared through the multimedia art installation Through Shadows and Substance, and Stillness, a solo performance of live sounds, electronics and field recordings.
My experiences while visiting Shetland are unveiled and shared through the multimedia art installation Through Shadows and Substance, and Stillness, a solo performance of live sounds, electronics and field recordings.
Stillness (2019)
A solo performance of live sounds, electronics, field recordings and visuals.
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Stillness is a solo performance of live sounds, electronics, field recordings and visuals shaped on my experiencing of Shetland, morphing between light and darkness, between the heard and the unheard. During this immersive piece, delicate percussive sounds and materials such as wood and stone interplay with particular field and marine recordings, inviting the audience on a journey that is experienced through personal perception of time, space, sounds and memory.
Since 2018, and following my relocation to Shetland, I have had the opportunity to spend long stretches of time carrying out field recordings in various parts of its isles. It is this fabric, gleaned in bare, rugged and still atmospheres, that has acted as the catalyst to this performance and its experiential treatment. The audience is invited to immerse in and engage with the detailed textures that are present throughout Stillness, in the unfolding of a work that moves and floats between visuals, natural sounds recorded from above and below the sea’s surface, and my live playing, elements that are weaved into a very particular experiential tapestry.
The ideal setting for this performance is with a quadrophonic speaker set-up with the audience sitting or lying down within the speaker formation (without the use of visuals) but it can also be performed in a stereo format with visuals.
Since 2018, and following my relocation to Shetland, I have had the opportunity to spend long stretches of time carrying out field recordings in various parts of its isles. It is this fabric, gleaned in bare, rugged and still atmospheres, that has acted as the catalyst to this performance and its experiential treatment. The audience is invited to immerse in and engage with the detailed textures that are present throughout Stillness, in the unfolding of a work that moves and floats between visuals, natural sounds recorded from above and below the sea’s surface, and my live playing, elements that are weaved into a very particular experiential tapestry.
The ideal setting for this performance is with a quadrophonic speaker set-up with the audience sitting or lying down within the speaker formation (without the use of visuals) but it can also be performed in a stereo format with visuals.
Audience feedback
Congratulations on a wonderful piece of work. Hugely inspiring and much to learn from it.
Katherine Wren, viola player at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Beautiful, transformative experience as always with the work of the music wizard Renzo Spiteri.
Lucía Piquero.
If you missed this, you missed out! An immersive, perception altering evening!
Callum Moncrieff.
Well done Renzo as always your gifted expertise manages to take us on a journey to the Centre of the earth, to its edge and with it take all its surrounding elements. It was fabulous. Looking forward to the next one!
Francesca Tranter.
What a great performance that was! Entrancing. Felt that it connected me with the distant mysterious past in a magical way.
Francesca Balzan.
Photo gallery
Performance photos by Lisa Attard.
Stillness
Premiere performance: April 2019, as Evolution, part of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti's project Music in Malta - From Prehistory to Vinyl.
Other performances:
Mareel, Lerwick (Shetland) - Part of Shoormal Conference 2019 organised by University of the Highlands and Islands and Shetland Arts.
An Lanntair, Stornoway (Isle of Lewis) - Part of The Hebridean Dark Skies Festival 2021.
Premiere performance: April 2019, as Evolution, part of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti's project Music in Malta - From Prehistory to Vinyl.
Other performances:
Mareel, Lerwick (Shetland) - Part of Shoormal Conference 2019 organised by University of the Highlands and Islands and Shetland Arts.
An Lanntair, Stornoway (Isle of Lewis) - Part of The Hebridean Dark Skies Festival 2021.