Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Matt Stokes: "Cantata Profana" Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK


Matt Stokes
Cantata Profana

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead Quays South Shore Road
Gateshead
NE8 3BA UK
www.balticmill.com

24 September 2011 - 7 October 2011
19, 20 and 21 of October 2011

Matt Stokes' remarkable video and audio installation takes the form of an amphitheatre of screens presenting a new musical composition, created in collaboration with the leading British composer Orlando Gough and six grindcore vocalists. Cantata Profana interweaves extreme metal music culture with classical choral traditions, resulting in this unexpected union. The intense sound and body movements of the vocalists together with the backdrop of the outdated GDR radio studio in which the piece was filmed, all contribute to the atmosphere of this unique and immersive work.

image:

Matt Stokes
Cantata Profana, 2010
Six-channel HD video and audio transferred to synced hard-drives
Duration 06:48 minutes, looped
Commissioned by Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Germany. Produced by Forma, UK. Supported by De Hallen Haarlem, Netherlands and Arts Council England.
Photo: Nils Kilinger
Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK