Transpositions
Taking inspiration from Barbara McClintock’s discovery of ‘jumping genes’ in her experiments with maize, Sophie Seita’s sound and video installation reflects on the concept and choreography of transposition, feminist and queer kinship, ritual, the ritornello, and the cross-pollinating possibilities of flowery metaphors and of planting queer objects. The installation is based on a collaborative polyphonic performance originally presented at the New Hall Art Collection Cambridge which included improvised singing, live and recorded sound, polyrhythms, scripted spoken text, costume, choreographed and improvised dance, and audience participation in the form of a sonic and transformative performative ritual.
Text, concept, video, installation: Sophie Seita
Sound piece: Sophie Seita (spoken text and vocals). Music creation, production and engineering, vocals and instruments by Caroline Smart. The piece is supported by a live ritual conceived, realised and recorded by Caroline Smart in Oct. 2018.
Transpositions was originally commissioned for a Wellcome-Trust-funded research project on reproduction in the Cambridge Sociology Department.
Supported by Art Night and Francis Crick Institute
www.sophieseita.com/ | Instagram: @sophieseita
www.crick.ac.uk/ | Instagram: @thefranciscrickinstitute
Transpositions coincides with extended opening hours of Craft & Graft: Making Science Happen, a free exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute, that takes a look behind the scenes at Britain’s biggest lab and celebrates the work of the technicians, engineers and specialists who keep the labs running and the research happening. Open for Art Night until 10 pm.
Image credit: Sophie Seita, Transpositions, New Hall, 2018. Photo: Wilf Speller.