Haroon Mirza debuts new collaborative performance at Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

23 January 2024

On Sunday 28 January 2024 at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham, Haroon Mirza presents a new, one-off performance commission created in collaboration with composer Lucy Armstrong, singer Juliet Frazer and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

re_creation is a sound installation and performance, complete with light, scent, smoke rings and live musicians, which the audience experiences by moving through the space. The effect is a full-body sensory experience in which everyday low-end technology, such as light bulbs and used turntables, have been reworked by Mirza to make his sculptures. A new ‘Dream Machine’ installation is produced by colourfully enhanced simple LED light-tubes, creating new sounds and visuals as they switch on and off. Attendees will be invited to move around the space and experience every facet of the performance's sounds, shapes, and smells.

Haroon Mirza writes: "As an attempt to untether K. F. E. Trahndorff’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk from the tropes and conventions of opera, this “adisciplinary” project aims to dilute the distinctions between a myriad of artistic forms.

Sculpture becomes set, instrument, and lighting design. Dancer merges with instrumentalist and so on. The work is developed collectively by artists following their own path, working rhizomatically without a director or Conductor.

Evolving from a narrative based on the reincarnation of a murdered healer, this psychedelic piece delves into shamanic death and rebirth from a neurochemical and theological perspective."

The performance at 4:30pm will be preceded by an artist talk between Mirza and Armstrong at 3:30pm.

Find further information via Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.