NOISE OF THE PAST' AT THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE, LONDON
Friday 29th October 2010, 5pm, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall
Free Entry - register with info@jennyharris.org
Organised by Taking Part.
'Noise of the Past' - a poetic journey of war, memory and dialogue through two inter-related works.
Introduction by Nirmal Puwar, Co-Director of Methods Lab, Goldsmiths, University of London
Post-colonial War Requiem (excerpt from live performance) - Composed by Francis Silkstone, AHRC Fellow, Dept of Music, Goldsmiths, University of London
Unravelling (screening) - Directed by Kuldip Powar (Poet/Screenwriter), with original score by Nitin Sawhney
Q&A with Kuldip Powar, Francis Silkstone, Nirmal Puwar & Sanjay Sharma Noise of the Past project (principally funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council) presents two commissions produced from a creative 'call-and-response' method to cast a different light on war, memory and the art of dialogue. Project Directors: Dr Nirmal Puwar (Goldsmiths, Univ. of London) & Dr Sanjay Sharma (Brunel University).
Unravelling (2008, 17 mins) is the result of a unique film-making process, creatively working with poetry, archive materials, visual art and music. Internationally acclaimed Nitin Sawhney composed a new score in response to an original inter-generational poetic dialogue in Urdu between Sawarn Singh, a WWII Indian soldier who fought for the British in Burma, the Middle East and Africa, before moving to the UK, and his grandson, Kuldip Powar. Through poetic motifs a sensory experience emerges, both evocative and haunting, inviting us to explore our own ambivalences towards collective and personal stories of war.
Post-Colonial War Requiem (2008) also drew upon the inter-generational poetic dialogue as the source of inspiration for Francis Silkstone, who produced a new composition performed with moving musicians. Benjamin Britten's original 'War Requiem' inaugurated the newly-built Coventry Cathedral in 1962, offering Remembrance without militarism. Though consciously inclusive, it did not reference the contributions of the (former) colonies.
Directions to Southbank Centre
Noise of the Past was a launched as an event in Coventry Cathedral
8th November 2008
Noise of the Past screenings of 'Unravelling'
Unravelling (2008, 17 mins) is the result of a unique film-making process, creatively working with poetry, archive materials, visual art and music. Internationally acclaimed Nitin Sawhney composed a new score in response to an original inter-generational poetic dialogue in Urdu between Sawarn Singh, a WWII Indian soldier who fought for the British in Burma, the Middle East and Africa, before moving to the UK, and his grandson, Kuldip Powar. Working with this haunting score Powar directed an evocative and searching film. Produced by Noise of the Past (AHRC) screening.
Unravelling at the Black Screen Heritage Conference (31 July 2009), Imperial War Museum, London. Download the Black Screen Heritage Conference flyer [pdf].
Unravelling screened at RIBA in London at the Visuality/Materiality Conference.
Unravelling. Saturday 8 November 2008, Coventry Cathedral
Unravelling screened from 11–23 November 2008, The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum,Jordan Well, Coventry, CV1 5QP. www.theherbert.org
Performance of Post-Colonial War Requiem – composed by Francis Silkstone
Saturday 8 November 2008, Coventry Cathedral
A Special Opening by Martin Bell - OBE, UNICEF Ambassador, former war reporter & independent politician. Chaired by Prof. Carolyn Steedman (University of Warwick).
Noise of the Past presented two new related commissions produced from a creative call-and-response method to cast a different light on war and the art of dialogue.
Francis Silkstone has also taken the inter-generational poetic dialogue as the source of inspiration for Post-Colonial War Requiem, a new score to be performed in interaction with the phenomenal space of Coventry Cathedral. Benjamin Britten's original War Requiem inaugurated the newly-built Cathedral in 1962, offering Remembrance without militarism. Though consciously inclusive, it did not reference the contributions of the (now former) colonies.
Coventry Cathedral, Priory St, CV1 5AB
www.coventrycathedral.org.uk
Pre-Launch Conference: War, Sound & Post-Coloniality
Saturday 8 November 2008
St Mary's Guildhall, Bayley Lane, Coventry, CV1 5RR
Programme
| 1.00pm | Registration; Tea & Coffee |
| 1.30pm | Welcome and Plenary Alessandro Portelli (University of Rome) - So much depends on a red bus: war memory and bombardments as metaphor . Author of The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue; The Text & Voice; The Order Has Been Carried Out; The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories; Form and Meaning in Oral History. |
| 2.30pm |
Working Between ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ Prabhjot Parmar (Royal Holloway, Univ. of London) – “Defending Land Unknown to Them:” Indian Soldiers and the Great War . Co-author of When your voice tastes like home. Les Back (Goldsmiths, Univ. of London) – “Trust your senses?” sound, alterity and racism's nervous system. |
| 3.30pm | Coffee & Tea Break |
| 3.45pm | Noise of the Past Discussion Kuldip Powar, director of Unravelling (2008) Francis Silkstone (Goldsmiths), composer of Post-Colonial War Requiem Discussants: Gen Doy (De Montfort University), author of Black Visual Culture, and Picturing the Self & Drapery: classicism and barbarism in visual culture. Said Adrus (University of East London), Visual artist: Pavilion Series; Next We Change Earth, New Art Exchange. |
| 5.00 – 6.30pm | Canapés & Drinks (Crypt) |
| 7.00 – 9.30pm |
Noise of the Past Premier in the Coventry Cathedral Reception with Food & Drinks |
Noise of the Past is a creative engagement with post-colonial histories of war, principally funded by the AHRC.
Supported by: Coventry Peace Month, Goldsmiths, Brunel University, Arts Council England, Punjabi Foods, LCACE.
Project Directors:
Dr Nirmal Puwar - Goldsmiths, University of London; n.puwar (@gold.ac.uk)
Dr Sanjay Sharma - Brunel University; sanjay.sharma@brunel.ac.uk
- Noise of the Past
- Responding to the Exhibition
- Howard Becker: Telling About Society
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