Since 2017, I have been developing a Vocal Immersion Practice, in which the voice is explored as an internal, physical experience rather than as a sonic means of expression or communication.
Drawing from (amongst others) Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening, Thierry Madiot's sound massage practice, the fairly recent internet phenomenon that makes use of what has come to be known as ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) and Ohad Naharin's Gaga movement practice, Vocal Immersion investigates the boundaries and relationships between performers (researchers) and audiences (co-presents), as well as between language, imagination, the body and the voice.
With the use of audio scores (spoken word) diffused through headphones to each participant, Vocal Immersion Practice invites actors to explore (as individuals within a group, with their eyes closed) internal sonic resonances as a kind of 'by-product' of facial and other muscular movement research, as they 'take their breath on a walk' through their bodies' (real or imagined) internal spaces. As a practice open to anyone with a voice, an ongoing subject of this research is how the language and tone used in the audio scores, as well as the context and duration of the Vocal Immersion, impacts participants' experience and perception of their bodies and voices in time and space, as well as their relationship to one another.
Over the past six years, I have created works, run classes and workshops, and developed the practice in the following contexts:
2017: The performance piece Regnsvart for the Bergen-based choir Kammerkoret GNEIS. Premiered at the Borealis festival in Bergen, Norway.
2018: For the post-doctoral research project Wheels Within Wheels, for which I created the performance piece Intonation. Premiered at the Bergen International Festival in Norway and published as ‘Body As Memory’ on Research Catalogue and in VIS, Nordic Journal for Artistic Research, #3, ‘History Now’.
2018/19: The performance piece Stamp Club Report 1980, presented on three occasions at three different venues in Bergen: 1: Østre (house for experimental and electronic sound); 2: Visningsrom USF (art gallery) and 3: The Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design at the University of Bergen. Participants included members of Kammerkoret GNEIS, students from the university, and members of the public.
2020: Open public workshop at WRAP (artist-led project space) in Bergen.
2020/21: Open online workshops run from my home in Norway during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022: As project development for the composition Living Room, for ensemble consord, Münster, Germany.
2023: Workshop at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, UK, for the artistic collective The Brunswick Club, as research for their vocal project Calling Calling: A Gathering of Voices.
2023: Workshop for participants of Circle 7 at the Nordic Summer University in Palanga, Lithuania.
2023: Workshop for students at the Fine Art, Music, and Design at the University of Bergen, along with visiting students from Poznan, Poland.
2023: Workshop for composition students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK.
2024: Workshop for students at the Fine Art, Music, and Design at the University of Bergen.
Commissioned by Kammerkoret GNEIS and performed by vocalists Signe Bjorvatn, Lisa Braathen, Alexander Fiske Fosse, Jung-Jae Kim, Jone Kuven, Bendik Savstad, Tanja Silvestrini, Joar Simarud Stabell, Ørjan Hammar Vollvik and Emilie Wright. Recorded at The Grieg Academy (Bergen) by Cem Arapkirlioglu, mixed by Alwynne Pritchard.
Screenshot of Ingvill Holter from Intonation, the second performance in the final Wheels Within Wheels research project trilogy, Mouvance.