DRIFT
A short documentary about the making of DRIFT - a project devised by the artist Sonia Boyce.
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Filmed and edited by David Bickerstaff
4 x Video screens | 16:9 | 14 minutes
With Axel Lapp, Sonia Boyce, Markus Utz, Iris-Anna Deckert and Philipp
Claßen-Utz
This film records the making of a project called Drift by the artist
Sonia Boyce, where she continues her interest in collaborating with
choirs and vocalists. Working with curator Axel Lapp and the music
director Markus Utz, Sonia films the soprano Iris-Anna Deckert singing
the same medieval plain chant in different parts of a cloister attached
to the Konstanzer Münster in Konstanz, Germany. Markus Utz speaks about the medieval song
‘O Viridissima Virga’ (Hail, o greenest branch), and
its composer Hildegard von Bingen, a mystic and important woman
of her time. The song is a beautiful prayer-like homage to Mary
as the fertile being through who nature is renewed, bringing great
joy as mankind worships to the praise and glory of God. The gently
weaving melody is accompanied by a continuous drone and is usually
sung by a combination of a male solo voice and unison ensemble verses.
The films are edited so that each rendition
of the song begins at the same time. In the finished video installation,
each scene is displayed on a seperate screen. As the piece proceeds,
the four voices drift in and out of sync, creating a gentle clash
and haunting chorus. Drift was devised as a four screen video installation
by Sonia Boyce and was first shown as part of 'Menschen
und Orte' curated by Axel Lapp for the 150th anniversay of the
Kunstverein in Konstanz, Germany
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