Since 2008 I have been part of this project by Maura Hazelden and Lou Laurens. It has taken place on May 22nd at the same time and place most years since, with 2 exceptions, 1 year was lost due to admin error and one to a pandemic. This year the date shifts and an opportunity for change arises.
there is no path; we make the path by walking’ Antonio Machado
Mae’r digwyddiad perfformiadol hwm yn dangos sut y gellir creu, profi a rhannu gofod trothwyol, trwy ddefnyddio cyfres o symudiadau a chân o’r 13 ganrif dros gyfnod o 6 awr.
Mae pob un digwyddiad yn cynnwys perfformiad lleisiol byw a chwarae recordiad y flwyddyn flaenorol; mae’r broses yn chwyddo ymateb acwstig y gofod ac o dipyn i beth bydd yn goresgyn y recordiad blaenorol i ffurfio llun rhyfeddol mewn sain.
Maura Hazelden was commissioned by Ruth Jones in 2008 to create a work for Holy Hiatus: a series of artworks and a symposium. In collaboration with Lou Laurens she created a six hour event using repetition and stillness in the Small World Centre, then newly completed. untitled: holy hiatus is an annual ritual.
2012
2024 15 x 3 minute extracts from the 5 hours 30 minute point, recorded at the same time, date and place over 15 years. The 1st years recording was played and recorded the following year with added live voice. That second recording was played the following year and recorded with added voice again. This was repeated until 2012 when the additional voice was added for the last time.
Improvised audio visuals with J&K Hodges on turntables, pedals and synths. Cardinal water and crystal circles for an anniversary with live circle drawing by Spike from https://waldenarts.co.uk/
The Fourth Circle
The fourth circle is a return to the cardinal mode, itself suggesting a new initiatory principle that marks a shift towards more tangible and visible circles both at home and beyond.
Astrologically speaking the 4th house represents the home and family life, echoes the zodiac sign of Cancer, the cardinal mode and water element. The number 4 also suggests solidity, stability and structure, perhaps representing the solid physical world. With these principles in mind the work will extend further into the physical space of the studio and around my home as well as out to wider audiences in the coming year..
The social ritual that has developed over the year of the third circle with Jay and Keryl will also be extended to create a new, larger circle around the home, engaging more people in the physical world by inviting new participants to social ritual performances around the 4 Cardinal points of the zodiac. (edited extract from circular ramblings)
The fourth circle at Beltane with friends Ceri, Elsa and Kathryn. I previously wrote about my plans for the fourth circle here.
Visual earth symbols for this session are almost exclusively derived from video clips of the trees of the Ogham Tree alphabet which I have been collecting as part of a new work for ‘Aberetwm’ at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on May 8th.
The birthcharts in the video are mine and Jay and Keryl’s. There’s also one drawn up from the date, time and place of our first play together on Youtube on March 22nd last year.
We were also celebrating the anniversary of the wonderful Cragen Beca parade in Carmarthen on Mayday 2022. An amazing project with public art parade event by Kathryn Campbell Dodd that we were all involved with in some way! Cragen Beca was a conch shell blown by the leader of the ‘Rebecca ‘Merched Beca’ protestors in the 19th century (without them you’d probably be paying tolls on all the roads!). For Kathryn’s project and for this fourth circle celebration of it’s anniversary event artist Ceri Owen Jones sounded a conch, each in a very different way. (Read more about Cragen Beca)
This year the sounds went into some Make Noise modules and bounced around to become some of what you hear in this.
Circular ramblings. As I start another circle in 12 parts I want to say again just how grateful I am for the time and contributions of all my guests over the last 2 years. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunities and challenges it’s raised.
Circles, cycles, endings and beginnings. When I started in 2020 it was with an idea of creating and posting monthly on the the same date each year, that it would become a monthly and annual ritual act. Art, ritual and magic share so much.
Alongside the monthly mix my studio time is now guided by the Sun’s movement through the zodiac signs, images and vinyl selected to compliment and explore the qualities of the sign, its element and planetary ruler.
The third circle brought a number of new ideas to the project and is where the ideas and interactions consolidate as a social ritual.
All live mixes – In January 2022 I bought some VJ software and started to explore using that during the performances instead of editing post. Wherever possible my guests have joined me physically in the studio and both visual and audio mixes have been improvised live with some mixed results! When my guest was remote, I recorded the audio mix with them over the web live, I then took the live audio and the camera recordings along with any video clips we decided on and used them as the material for a live visual mix.
Modular Synths – I started playing with VCV Rack, a virtual eurorack synthesiser back in August 2021 and by the time I started the 3rd circle had invested in some hardware. I added the Make Noise Strega, the 0Coast and 0Control in February 2022 and over the following months started to use them in the mixes if it felt appropriate. The first mix of the third circle for Aries 2022 with Elsa Davies was the first time they were included. Sometime around the same time I started playing more regularly with 2 of my previous guests, Jay and Keryl Hodges, continuing the process of selecting and playing records according to zodiac sign and using the sign’s element and planetary rulers to influence the visual material.
Perhaps the years and the different approaches can be seen as echoes of the astrological houses or modal qualities – 1 – The principal act – A monthly vinyl mix 2 – Consolidation and continuation – Inviting guests to participate continuing a process and reiterating the method 3 – Extension and inclusion – Extending and experimenting with more processes to introduce more liveness
The Fourth Circle I see the fourth circle as a return to the cardinal mode, itself suggesting a new initiatory principle that marks a shift towards more tangible and visible circles both at home and beyond.
Astrologically speaking the 4th house represents the home and family life, echoes the zodiac sign of Cancer and cardinal water. The number 4 also suggests solidity, stability and structure, perhaps representing the solid physical world. With these principles in mind the work will extend further into the physical space of the studio and around my home as well as out to wider audiences in the coming year..
The social ritual that has developed over the year of the third circle with Jay and Keryl will also be extended to create a new, larger circle around the home, engaging more people in the physical world by inviting new participants to social ritual performances around the 4 Cardinal points of the zodiac. The first of these was to take place on the spring equinox but unfortunately I was too unwell to do it, I’m still not sure what that means and how it affects the whole…
Having completed a full circle I decided to continue the work and to invite artists to contribute to the live recordings each month. Invited artists are selected according to sign and can contribute in any way.
There are some staples established already that will continue through the work, the spoken word astrology records for each sign will feature as will some of the associated planet records. Other records can be selected from my database, they could be themed according to sign or planet or might just reflect the taste and zodiac sign of the guest!
Artists might also choose to contribute live via Zoom and/or send audio recordings to mix into the work. They can also introduce visual material through Zoom live or send images/video to include. The structure of the work can also be guided by my guests to some extent, there are opportunities to construct a ‘playlist’ of material, guide the overall balance of different components, to play certain combinations of recordings etc.
The final work will be made with audio and video recorded live, with other visual material combined in post production.
The found of music 