Steam Control at Boundless 2008 

For Boundless 2008, the disability arts and culture festival in London, on 16 September, Steam Control wowed a 70-strong  audience at the brilliant Roxy Bar and Screen with

A Sudden Leap Forward

a multi-sensory evening of danger, dreaming and bewitchment

featuring:

·         radical performance poetry by Tim Evans from Wales

SEE IT HERE!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouWEqJYjdto

·        a mind-blowing lesson on The Secret History of disability in 'Great' Britain by Sasha Callaghan and Paul Brown from Scotland

·         Spiked duets and murder ballads from Something in the Water: Polly Maclean and Joe Murphy  - story-based serenaders with a sting in their tales  ·         Damien Robinson’s experimental sound piece constructed from field recordings and composed using feelsound techniques

·         Ady Cousins' mesmerising animated visuals obsession/depression/insomnia

·         a chilled ambient DJ set especially compliled for Steam Control at Boundless by Hybernation, to be broadcast on Fluid Radio on Friday 31st Oct 7pm but in the meantime check out
www.myspace.com/autumnale 

·         Robert Youngson's breathtaking digital landscapes

15Hz Studios   Listen Hear Sound Projects    Hybernation     MXB Media

Steam Control at the Hayward

Stuart Bowditch/Hybernation will be presenting a late-night set of ambient/electronica as part of Echaskech Presents  at The Hayward Concrete, Hayward Gallery on Saturday 16th August 2008.  His track Planet Earth will be accompanied by a new video by Nicola Field.

It's free!

 http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/music/productions/echaskech-presents-39849

Steam Control at Marxism 2008

Seventy-five people (aged about 3 to 80) clamoured for more at the Marxism 2008 festival in central London (3-7 July) when they packed into the SOAS student bar for Steam Control's live show:

 Steam Control and Get London Reading 2008

The Book Trust commissioned Steam Control to produce new work for the Get London Reading 2008 initiative.  Check out our production Thank You Universe under CastWords3 in our exhibitions section on this site.

http://www.getlondonreading.co.uk/2007/

Steam Control at X'08: the 8th London International Disability Film Festival,
14-17 February 2008

Steam Control presented Why Won't You Tell Me? plus work in progress from its forthcoming Castwords series Melting Into Air and Soundings From Deep In The Well, as well as Behind the Grey, a new landscape/poetry/sound piece from digital artist Robert Youngson, poet Laurence Quant and media artists Simon Hope and Andy Brittain.  

The screening sold out several weeks in advance and received some excellent feedback and comments from those who attended.  Here are some examples of what people said:

 'I enjoyed it, it was cohesive between films.  It had a dark, almost gothic ambience and a sesne of expectation that something scary might happen'

'It was a really great event; community-minded, meeting like-minded people, opportunity for those involved to be creative in a safe, encouraging environemtn.  Long may it continue.'

 'Very moving with exciting, experimental feel. Lots of different approaches married into the unusual and the intriguing'

'I would be interested to see a more rehearsed BSL interpretation.  Nice to see a full house!'

 'The sound and visual in the auditorium were excellent.  The intimate space was excellent for the work.  The time afterwards to meet and talk with participants was invaluable'

'This was a fantastically well put-together production.  Insightful and thought-provoking yet controlled and direct.'

'I was especially impressed with and interested in the ensemble/collective work process seen here.  Thanks!'

Steam Control at the V&A

The audio version of a poem/soundscape in Steam Control's CastWords One series is now on show at the V&A in London. 

The Dead Dog was written by Nicola Field and performed by Clare Cameron, with a moving soundscape by Steven Brown.  The piece was selected to be part of the Sound Design exhibit in the Collaborators: UK Design for Performance exhibition organised by the Society of British Theatre Designers at the V&A (until November 2008).  You can hear this piece by clicking on Exhibitions above and following the signs for CastWords One. 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/tco/exhibitions/Current%20Exhibitions/1709_collaborators/index.html

CastWords is a fusion of original writing, soundscape and visual art that promotes collaborative artistic practice and offers social empowerment through a new and contemporary form of expression and communication. It was devised as a versatile tool to be used in educational/social support/therapeutic settings, podcasting, theatrical presentation, gallery exhibition and installation.

Why Won't You Tell Me? is the first CastWords collection that 'visits dangerous places and unnameable fears... in words and sounds that will dislocate the heart'. Visit our Exhibition pages to see the full collection.

The next collections in CastWords, Soundings from Deep in the Well (exploring experiences of mental health services) and Melting into Air (a sequence interpreting the hidden messages of dreams) are in development and scheduled to be presented at X'08 - The London International Disability Film Festival 2008 - and Get London Reading 2008.

Steam Control at the Peckham Literary Festival, November 2007

Some 85 good-natured and enthusiastic people crammed into the minimalist white space of the Sassoon Gallery on 17th November to experience the multi-sensory literary and multimedia works on offer from the new community disability arts group Steam Control, in association with Listen Hear Sound Projects.

The programme was:
• Why Won’t You Tell Me? - a series of five poems, soundscapes, videos and digital images which form the first in Steam Control’s CastWords project.  The series features the work of writer/media artist Nicola Field, actor Clare Cameron and soundscape composers Steven Brown and Fari Bradley
• Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone read her strange dream-story of family dysfunction, Carousel
• Heidi James gave an electrifying fictional account of a stay in a psychiatric hospital,  Battente
• Stand-up poet Rachel Pantechnicon astonished everyone with her surreal and virtuoso performance
• Robert Youngson displayed his staggering and moving digital landscapes

Comments from people who came to the show:

 “Refreshing to see new work and see writers present their work.  Great to have a free art event for people to connect with artists.  Very accessible and non-threatening venue and atmosphere.”  “Good start to a potentially vast project.  Art and disability?  Eternal bedfellows and saviours (mutual).  Keep going and I’ll keep coming back.”        “I thoroughly enjoyed it and it made my evening.”      “I enjoyed it very much and liked the variation between the tense feelings carried by some of the poems and the comedy after the break.”     “The evening event was wonderful – great venue, great people and great art.”   “I enjoyed it very much, it was intense, entertaining and diverse.”    “Congratulations on delivering a great and successful event.”