Relaxed Awkward – a performance for a stairwell, Danielle Arnaud, 2014

Performance for two choristers in a Stairwell. With their eyes closed, one chorister incants the word Relaxed on the F# above middle C, the other incants Awkward on the E a seventh above this and sounding more taught and tense. Between each word, they imagine a pendulum swinging very slowly through the space. This sets the rhythm. A timekeeper calls ‘End’ after 10 minutes.

The further lines of the harmony are from Absolute Pitch II  in the downstairs gallery.

 

Performed by Rochester Cathedral Choristers. Devised by Louisa Fairclough and Richard Glover. From a body of work commissioned by Whitstable Biennale and ICIA University of Bath.

Danielle Arnaud, London, 19 September 2014

The choral work is a response to this drawing by my sister Hetta Fairclough (1973-2008, drawing from early 2000s)