Home
Biography
Compositions
Conducting
Dates
Discography
Contact
And Here To There
60’/open duration
a performance-installation for string quartet
commissioned by The Black Lights and Grundy Art Gallery (Blackpool)
Jack Sheen’s And Here To There sits in dialogue with the paintings of Louise Giovenalli’s From Here To Here To Here. This new work continues the logic and underlying preoccupations of Giovanelli’s paintings into a sonic and physical intervention, taking Telomere (2020) as a precise point of focus.
A string quartet, encased in and obscured by the luminous fabric which the painting depicts, inhabits the gallery as both a musical ensemble and a sculptural presence. Their music continually folds over itself, suggesting constant supple motion whilst remaining hung in one place.
Like many of Giovanelli’s images, the music becomes cropped: its sounds are zoomed in on, at times coming to rest on a fragmentary detail, mining it for sonic and affective potency. Yet the focus is often blurred. The musicians trace similar melodic paths, yet a distinct musical image remains elusive. Instead, the quartet become an icon: preserved, adorned, and smothered.