A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Capricorn, Peter Stevenson. https://www.peterstevensonarts.co.uk/
A circle in 12 parts: Capricorn
Sound
The Astromusical house of Capricorn
The Astromusical house of Sagittarius
Annoyingly I have no album cover for this, the only one missing from the set..
Image below from discogs.com
A circle in 12 parts: Sagittarius
A combined live audio visual improvisation with visual contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Sagittarius, Wez McCreary.
A Circle in 12 parts: Scorpio
A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Scorpio, Jack Smylie Wild.
I really enjoyed working on this experimental project with Jake. For me, it was a chance to leave my usual writing practice to one side, and focus on enjoying the collaborative process, dipping into areas I’m interested in, but don’t give much time to.
I found a lot of old footage I’d taken, and Jake was happy to play around with it. I also made some new bits of film especially for A Circle in Twelve Parts, transforming myself into a kind of Green Man in the woods, with river clay and leaf litter.
For the live recording on the night, I revisited some characters I used to draw when I was a teenager, for a comic I made called ‘Creatures of the Moonshine’ – which explores ideas around the multifaceted nature of self, and the seeming contradictions and juxtapositions therein.
This work felt more like the start of something than an end-product, and I’m looking forward to getting back into Jake’s lab to conduct further multi-media experiments, perhaps with some spoken word and rap, in the future.
The Astromusical House of Virgo
A circle in 12 parts: Virgo
A combined live audio visual improvisation with contributions and vinyl selection from this years guest Virgo, Anna Sherratt.
“I’m a writer, director, producer and sound designer from Aberystwyth, but currently living in Cardiff. When Jake approached me with his brilliant avant garde project, I was excited but nervous – not knowing quite what to expect. True to my star sign, I am a meticulous planner, but I also love improvisation and chaos, and the creativity that brings.
In the end, I went with a “Desert Island Discs” approach, taking ideas from where life and music intersect and responding to Jake’s amazing mixing in chatter, spoken word and song.
It was an honour to take part in such a unique series, and to have a go at making Virgo whatever it happens to be – especially if that’s a bit messier than the stereotype!”
Analog outputs
Revisiting some old tech including the Sony FD Mavica! what a camera!
A popular digital stills camera about 20 years ago, I remember there were 2 available in West Wales School of Art where I was studying at the time, so popular we had to book it at least a week ahead!
One of the first digital cameras to save to removable media, it used a floppy disc and could hold around 10 photos a disc!… amazing! It also boasts the ability to record short low resolution videos and has an A/V out!
Experimenting with the analog output – after not pressing anything for a while the camera went into a lovely demo cycle…
After rearranging the studio, I can now reach the turntables and synths at the same time! This is really quite exciting, these are the second or third time I’ve played the two together seen by Sony A1E and GoPro4 cameras through a Skytronic A/V switcher.
A third half – Layers of live
Halfway through a third year of a circle in 12 parts.
Thanks again to all the lovely people who have been part of this years series.
I am very excited by the process of making these works and how it has developed this year.
Both visual and sound elements are now being created live, though not necessarily concurrently. Where possible guests have come to my studio and interacted live with the turntables or synths, playing them or their own instruments into the mix. I then have live cameras and recorded video clips, images ready in VJ software to mixin real time with the live audio.
Where we have been working over zoom the audio mix is created and recorded live both ends and both zoom visuals feeds are recorded. I then process those recorded visuals and any other material from my guests to input into a different format for the VJ software where I manipulate and mix all of the visual elements while playing the live recorded audio from earlier.
A circle in 12 parts: Leo
A live audio visual improvisation with sounds, images, video and vinyl selection from this years guest Leo, Susan Sluglett.
In the mix are: Louis Armstrong -‘Dream a little Dream of me’; Ella Fitzgerald – ‘Can’t we be friends’; Talking Heads -‘Road to nowhere ‘; Kate Bush – ‘And dream of sheep’; David Bowie – ‘Heroes’;
Nina Simone – ‘To love Somebody’; Earth, Wind and Fire – ‘Let your feelings show’; George Benson -‘Lady love me (one more time)’; Bob Dylan – ‘She belongs to me’; Joni Mitchell – ‘Chinese cafe/unchained melody’; The Smiths – ‘Stretch out and wait’
Paintings by Susan Sluglett https://www.susansluglett.com
The found of music 