say hello
[ online ]
I now work as part of circumstance
please visit wearecircumstance.com for my recent and current activity.
We Are Forests [2011]
I’m currently working with Emilie Grenier on a residency across the Pervasive Media Studio (Bristol), NiMK (amsterdam) and the Kitchen (Budapest).
We’re creating a new mobile sound work that explores ideas of intimacy in public space.
You can follow the project blog here – http://nimk.nl/blog/weareforests
Give me back my broken night [2010]
Video documentation of a recent collaboration with Uninvited Guests as part of the Theatre Sandbox project.
“I take away the unforgettable sense of wonder at the first lightings of the map, the poetry of the authored texts, the intimacy of the relationship between guide-guided, and the incredible atmosphere of dreaming, contemplation and wandering the city as though in a film.” – Nina Steiger, Soho Theater
This piece is a theatre work using pervasive technology that asks audiences to collaboratively imagine the future of their city. Using a combination of location sensitive mobile devices and portable projectors it will create a magical, relevant and timely walk for participants.
on the road (NZ,AUS,HK)
I’m in Sydney now being hosted by Performance Space and then on to Hong Kong from the 29th Aug – 4th Sep, if you’re in either of these two places and want to say hello then drop me a line.
I just left Auckland after attending the amazing Semi-Permanent 2010.
Was wonderful to meet so many enthusiastic attendees and also the incredible speakers I shared the stage with. thanks to Jessica Hische, Katrin Sonnleitner, Adrian Shaughnessy, Chris Allen, Sarah Estens, Gareth O’Brien, Dick and Otis Frizzell, Nic Roope, Andrew Gordon and Storm Thorgerson for all the inspiration and insights.
And of course thanks to all at the Church, SemiPermanent and British Council for being such welcoming hosts.
UPCOMING SUBTLEMOB EVENTS [2010]
late summer season starts in Milton Keynes, then carries on to Auckland, Edinburgh and Ghent.
Click here for more info . .
SUMMERSCHOOL 2010 [UK]
‘Ghosting Lancaster’
Duncan Speakman and Paul Clarke from performance company Uninvited Guests will come together to deliver a 6-day school exploring how mobile technologies in performance can reframe and fictionalise real spaces.
1st – 6th August, Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster
as if it were the last time (2009)
Audiences were invited to download an MP3 and turn up at a secret location to listen to the track at a specified time.
On the soundtrack the audience would hear a specially composed score along with narration and instructions.
Two MP3 files were made available, so the audience were divided in half. While one group was instructed to perform a simple scene the other group heard this described as if it were a film scene, but they could actually see it happening around them.
Throughout the piece these roles of watcher/performer alternated between the groups, ever increasing in pace until by the end they are all performing/watching simultaneously.
The work is a snapshot image of contemporary Britain, allowing the audience to watch it, reflect on it, and live it. It explored ideas of how mobile technology can create social disconnection in shared public spaces. It also looked for ways to use those same technologies to create connections between strangers and friends, to savour the moment and the temporary space that was created during the performance.
This is no requiem, this a celebratory slow dance, a chance to savour the world you live in, and to see it with fresh eyes.”
‘as if it were the last time’ is the second subtlemob.
Information and videos are at http://subtlemob.com,
I’m still trying to work out what subtlemobs are exactly, but these are the current thoughts –
Imagine walking through a film, but it’s happening on the streets you live in
Subtlemobs usually happen in public spaces
This is music composed for those spaces
This is about trying to make films without cameras
It’s about integrating with a social or physical space, not taking it over
The audience listen on headphones, a mix of music, story and instructions
Sometimes they just watch, sometimes they perform scenes for each other
A subtlemob is not a flashmob
try to remain invisible . . .
3rd Person Redux (Prototype Theatre)
soundtrack composed for 3rd Person Redux by Prototype Theatre. Touring Summer 2010.
extract:
‘The Tally’
[audio: tallydeath.mp3]
‘breathing is important’
[audio: breathingisimportant.mp3]
for emilie
[ for emilie ]
construction workers in Bristol chalk out their latest existentialist
epic
posted from mobile using flickr
FROZEN (sita calvert-ennals)
soundtrack composed for the Sita Calvert-Ennals directed version of Frozen by Bryony Lavery.
extract:
[audio: nancyThemeBFinal.mp3]
action
more fun with gumstix, arduinos, and phidgets. working with Tim Redfern and Kathy Hinde on portable realtime audio tools
posted from mobile using flickr
WHAT WE HAVE DONE (2009)
An MP3 soundwalk for two people in the Soho area of London.
‘what we have done’ imagines a film being made in a dystopian soho of the future. As the dust settles on a post credit crisis world what’s left of our trust and values when everything is ‘to let’.
This work was commissioned by the Soho Theatre as part of ‘Everything must go’.
To experience this work one participant should download the soundfile [ LEFT ] and the other person should download [ RIGHT ]
(right click if you’re on a pc and choose save as or hold down the CTRL key and click if you’re on a mac. )
Both of you should then start outside the door of the Soho Theatre on Dean St. and press play simultaneously. The walk is approximately 18mins long. Please bring something of personal value with you.
‘what we have done’ by duncan speakman
[additional voice] Jane McCarthy [script editor] Emilie Grenier [thanks] Nina Steiger, Sheena Bucktowonsig
Tiananmen
Today is the 20th anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
In remembrance this tank man tango was performed in cities around the world today.
Visit http://www.forget2forget.net to find out more.
This photo from Bristol, UK.
posted from mobile using flickr
my world is empty without you (2009)
“..the show made me notice the beauty and cinematic elegance of everyday life itself” – SuitYourself Magazine
The first subtlemob was created as part of this piece.
Originally commissioned by Mayfest Theatre Festival.
What happens when everyone in the city is listening to the same song?
Wearing headphones, you begin to travel across the city, the soundtrack in your ears turning the world around into your personal cinema. Suddenly a stranger stops you and puts a hand on your shoulder. Their lips don’t move but in your ears you can somehow hear their voice. It feels like telepathy as they begin to speak the words to the song that’s playing in their head…
You continue to move across the city, sometimes guided, sometimes alone; as events unfold in front of you it becomes harder to tell which are staged and which are real.
Built using ‘mscape’, the audience were given handheld computers with headphones. The music score they heard was controlled by satellite positioning and changed to reflect the physical location of the audience. Some performers carried battery powered wifi beacons in their pockets. When they were near an audience member the device carried by the audience would play a recording of that performers voice, the effect was like being able to hear a persons thoughts. Another group of performers were a ’subtlemob’, who roamed the streets following instructions given to them on an MP3 player, they performed everyday actions around the audience, creating a sense of deja-vu as you saw similar events occuring all around you.
SOUNDTRACK BY DUNCAN SPEAKMAN SARAH ANDERSON SAM HALMARAK
DEVISED AND PERFORMED WITH TOM WAINRIGHT MARTHA KING SYLVIA RIMAT ALEX BRADLEY EMMA BUSH SITA CALVERT-ENNALS
COMMISSIONED BY MAYFEST AND ARNOLFINI LIVE
SUPPORTED BY PERVASIVE MEDIA STUDIO BUILT WITH MSCAPE
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION DEB HEARNE
GRATITUDE TO (AND INSPIRATION FROM) CLARE REDDINGTON HELEN COLE TOM MELAMED BEN CLAYTON KATE YEDIGAROFF MATTHEW AUSTIN JO CUTHBERT SIMON GAMESEMILIE GRENIER GENEVIEVE BROWN CARO WINTER JOLYON GREENAWAY VANESSA BELLAAR SPRUIJT BETTINA SCHEIBE PAUL CLARKE ROD DICKINSON PHOEBE DAVIES ROTOZAZA WIM WENDERS ALL THE SUBTLE MOBS
FOR JANICE
hardware
working on structure of ‘my world is empty without you’ . . . the eternal benefits of post-it notes
posted from mobile using flickr
london tears
although I generally advocate listening to the world there are times when picking the right iPod soundtrack is the best way to deal with difficult environments. Moving through crowds in London is, for me, one of those situations.
There are numerous songs and compositions that work, but I almost always return to the heartachingly beautiful textures of Tim Hecker; his music creates the kind of ‘world as cinema’ that I dream of making in my performances.
This picture was taken as I walked north from Waterloo listening to his new album "an imaginary landscape".
In my ears are low pulsing tones and warm washes of distorted harmonies, in my eyes are tears.
posted from mobile using flickr
Workshop
My studio is in workshop mode thanks to Kathy Hinde + Sarah Nicolls.
I’d like to start having some micro-residencies/collaborations here,
want to come make something?
duncanspeakman.net
twitter.com/duncanspeakman
posted from mobile using flickr
migration over
[harbourside neighbour returns, migration holiday over?]
posted from mobile using flickr