Presented here in a web installation version that locks the viewer to the specific moment from the performance corresponding to the current time of day.

Traffic Piece was created as a goodbye to Unit 44, a venue Kirkos ran which was heavily impacted by traffic sound. It ran from rush hour in the morning to rush hour at night. I got the idea for this piece during a beautiful saxophone performance by Josten Myburgh where his barely audible multiphonics fought for attention with the traffic outside in a way that really captivated me. After four years watching the traffic pass Unit 44, I thought sitting down and really listening to it would be the perfect way to say goodbye to the venue.

A bunch of the performers who contributed a lot to Unit 44 played a 14-hour long score (working in shifts) made from a full week of security cam footage of the street outside Unit 44, while they and the audience also watched the traffic in real life.

These different time cycles (moment to moment, rush hour to rush hour, Monday to Sunday) will mingle with pitch material derived from the resonances of Unit 44 itself to influence a ritualistic performance which is fully about the specific place that Unit 44 is and has been, and about the way the outside world has spilled into it.

The piece finished with a guided improvisation using the traffic as a score, open to all.

06:30 - 08:10 Shift 1: Sebastian Adams and Tom Roseingrave
08:10 - 8:30: traffic only
08:30 - 10:10: Shift 2: David Bremner and Sharon Phelan
10:10 - 10:30: traffic only
10:30 - 12:30: Shift 3: Aonghus McEvoy, Susan Geaney, David Lacey, Nick Roth
12:10 - 12:30: traffic only
12:30 - 14:10: Beethoven Freeze: Sebastian Adams and Robert Coleman
14.10 - 14.30: traffic only
14:30 - 16:10: Shift 5: Kevin Free and Jane Hackett
16:10 - 16:30: traffic only
16:30 - 18:00: in nomine: Sebastian Adams, Hannah Miller, Caitríona O'Mahony
18:00 - 18:30: traffic only
18:30 until the traffic ceases: Shift 7: open improv jam (all welcome)

Joan Somers Donnelly made a parallel performance taking notes on the passing traffic almost all day

A typist transcribes texts contained in a Fluxkit into musical notation, which is displayed to performers (and audience). The music notation, along with the typed text, is then used as a framework for improvising by a group of performers. 



To play this piece, you also need to get or make a Fluxkit. A Fluxkit is a collection of event scores stored in a container (e.g. Water Yam by George Brecht). I made the piece with the Fluxkits Kirkos created in 2016 in mind, and used one of these to play the premiere. If you don’t have access to a Fluxkit, you could make one, for example by cutting up parts of the Fluxus Workbook (freely available online e.g. on the Monoskop website) and placing them in a box.

The first performance of this piece was played by Lina Andonovska, Hannah Miller, Adam Collins and Yseult Cooper Stockdale (as Kirkos) on 25.06.24 as part of an Irish Composers’ Collective concert in Unit 44, Dublin. I was the typist for the performance.

The software used for this performance (ChatMusic) is currently only available by request. Please get in touch if you're interested.

Three unique viola / string improvisers join forces since Cleek is in the country (this gig is a long time coming). After a set from the trio, audience members are welcome to join in an informal improv jam.

Performers: Cleek Schrey, Joanna Mattrey, Sebastian Adams

DATE: 24.08.24
TIME: Doors - 7.00pm / Start - 7.30pm
VENUE: Unit 44 (Kirkos)
TICKETS: FREE, donations welcome (and will go directly to the musicians) — No booking required
DURATION: c. 40 minutes (+ improv jam)