The Northern Charter
5th Floor
Commercial Union House
39 Pilgrim Street
Newcastle, NE1 6QE

thenortherncharter@gmail.com

Project Space open during events only

Saturday 2nd November 2019 1pm-3.30pm

with 'Posset' as narrator and the Shunyata Improvisation Group perform John Cage's
Lecture on Nothing

Next Event: Saturday 2nd November 2019
with 'Posset' as narrator and the Shunyata Improvisation Group perform John Cage's 'Lecture on Nothing'.

Open 1pm, performance starts 1.30pm-3.30pm

Northern Charter Project Space, 5th Floor, Commercial Union House
39 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, NE1 6QE

Donations requested but not required

“I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry”
” We need not fear these silences”
- John Cage, Lecture on Nothing.

To mark the 60th anniversary of John Cage’s Lecture on Nothing the Shunyata Improvisation Group will improvise a response for two hours with the dictaphone, tape and vocal bending maestro Posset as the improvising narrator. The Lecture on Nothing is an inspirational text for those of us interested in the application of Zen aesthetic principles in art.

Posset. Dictaphone and vocal improviser. All goof, all the time. Skronk etc.
https://posset.bandcamp.com

The Shunyata Improvisation Group arose out of Newcastle’s improvisation workshops and open jam sessions in 2018 searching for an alternative direction in musical improvisation. The musicians share an intention to frame improvisation within the 7 Zen Art principles by exploring the balance between the ambient sound of the environment and musical intervention. Performance time is stretched out to break down habitual patterns to see what emerges in their place. Improvisation is conducted collaboratively, distinctly and quietly.
Improvised music can have a powerful part to play in creating inspiration and renewal. The Shunyata Improvisation Group formed to explore space and restraint in performance while simultaneously maximising the opportunity for meditative reflection in the audience.
The core members of the Shunyata Improvisation Group are:

• Katie Oswell - vocals and zither
• Tobias Illingworth- vocals percussion ,everyday objects, room manipulation (Improvisers Workshop, Cooking with Three)
• NofC – vocals, melodeon and percussion (Improvisers Workshop, Cooking with Three)
• trubba not – guitar and implements (Jewel, Improvisers Workshop, Cooking with Three)

The 7 Zen art principles which will serve as a frame for our improvisation are:

1. Asymmetry- not adhering to perfection
2. Non-attachment- Open minded and detached, being without any form completes every form
3. Naturalness- Artless in its natural form, without pretence
4. Simplicity- Not complicated or gaudy
5. Silence- Limitless Silence, the inward looking Mind
6. Wizened Austerity- Solitary, dignified like an old tree
7. Profound subtlety-A hidden memory lingering deep inside, limitless implications

" This unformed unity is Shunyata"
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