Public Actions, Information, Archive
Selected Projects, Time, Place,
Touch Wood
2017, London, Performance
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Hosted by cAt and Arebyte gallery, Touch Wood was a playful soundscape installation that activated Concertina for a day.

We often ‘Touch Wood’ – knocking on wood twice to keep from jinxing the expected good fortune. This tradition seems to have long debated various origins. Some say that it derived from the Pagans who thought that trees were the homes of fairies, spirits, dryads and many other mystical creatures. If you expressed a hope for the future you should touch, or knock on, wood to request good luck, or to distract spirits with evil intentions.

Touch Wood called the public to ‘play’ the wooden staircase of Concertina by Richard Wentworth X APPARATA, and let the fairies and spirits in the wood hear our beat!! Everyone was invited to pick up a tool or two provided in the space, and create a spontaneous Concertina concert! Tap-tap-tap, ratta-tatta, bang-ba-bang, and thump snip knock!! Find their favourite spot for making noise, up on the staircase down under the steps, walk up the steps to your delight, to let their bodies and hearts sense the beat!

cAt is Colin Priest and Takako Hasegawa – working in the context of architecture and art. Site-specific and performative, to create public encounters, manifesting as ephemeral actions and interventions that choreograph experience, conversation, and gathering. For this event, cAt were joined by a trio of artists Tom White, Rob Lye and Andrea Kearney, whose work spans sound, moving image, installation and dance. At times, they activated Concertina by experimenting with its rhythmic and sound potentials.

Evening Performance, Touch Wood Soundscape marked the culmination of a day of playful sound activities at Concertina by Richard Wentworth X APPARATA. Artists Tom While, Rob Lye and Andrea Kearney joined cAt to experiment further with the rhythmic and sound potentials of Concertina’s staircase structures.

3rd December 2017
Arebyte, London City Island, E14
Concertina | Richard Wentworth x APPARATA
5 October – 22 December 2017

LINKS
Takako Hasegawa
Tom White
Rob Lye
Arebyte
cAt