Hello everyone!You may have seen some of our blogs about Hilary Powell and her stunning artistic Ring Cycle Project...Artist, Hilary Powell has spent the last year exploring the landscapes and narratives of Purfleet as recipient of the Stephen Cripps' Studio Award. She is preparing to present Ring Cycle - an audio visual symphony that transposes an epic cast of gods and mortals into this contemporary Thameside landscape. Ring Cycle is an audio-visual symphony that transposes Wagner’s epic cast of gods and mortals into a contemporary Thameside landscape. From river maidens on concrete barges to exiled gods and flaming shopping trolleys, this allegory of industrial capitalism takes place on the fringes of London just inside its own ring of the M25.
In the lead up to the launch screening of Ring Cycle, with live score (which takes place on Friday 14th July at 6.30pm at High House Production Park) we are going behind the scenes to have a closer look at the project.Today - we ask Hilary Some questions:- Your ACME studio award is in memory of ‘pyrotechnic sculptor’ Stephen Cripps. How does this project relate to his work?Stephen Cripps’ work defied boundaries. Cripps is described as building things and breaking them and this element of creative destruction attracts and resonates with me. In this case the foley sound studio is pretty much destroyed as it emits sound only to be rebuilt again in new configurations. In his spirit, the award encourages risk taking and this project pushes my practice to new levels of collaboration and creative experimentation. I have also used the explosive history of Purfleet - as a place of MOD land, gunpowder magazines and military history - as a resource for a narrative encompassing the beginning/end of the world.- You describe yourself as an artist and 'gleaner'. What is gleaning as an artistic practice?Historically, ‘gleaning’ refers to the practice of gathering leftover grains after the harvest. In her 2000 film ‘The Gleaners and I’ Agnes Varda expanded this definition to include practices of urban and artistic salvage, depicting field-pickers alongside her own ‘finds’. For me, gleaning is both a physical and mental act of connecting to place; a way of obtaining knowledge through interaction with everyday objects and spaces.Another prototype gleaner is the child who rescues discarded or old-fashioned objects and fragments to reassemble them in his or her own miniature world. My own practice relates to this through the exploration and reuse of leftovers and marginal spaces that in turn invert the typical value systems of the city.- What inspired you to use Purfleet as the backdrop for a retelling of Wagner's Ring Cycle?This area of Essex makes up the outer fringes of the capital and yet is still within London’s own ‘ring’ of the M25. In Purfleet, the natural geography of the Thames estuary meets the manmade landscape of logistics, industry and waste in a curious mixture that’s both toxic and angelic. It is a form of corrupted elemental landscape that I see in Wagner’s famous opera series – a tale of the greed and decay of both the Gods and humankind. With Canary Wharf an ever-present view it seems an ideal landscape for what is essentially an allegory of power and capital relations to play out.- Tell us about some of the characters that feature in the film. How have you transposed the mythic cast of Wagner's Ring Cycle into the present day?I’ve really stripped it back. You won’t find giants or incestuous aunts, cousins, sisters or even Siegfried personified. But there are some recognisable characters if you are a Ring Cycle fan: the Valkyries with flaming shopping trolleys, Wotan or the Wanderer depicted as a dishevelled man with a raven, the River Maidens of the Rhine relocated to the Thames, the Earth Goddess Urda and the Norns recast as women, knitting in the marshlands.- A project like this could not exist without support from the local community. Tell us about some of the relationships you've built up over the past year and how local people have helped Ring Cycle to come about.The RSPB have provided invaluable access to Rainham Marshes as well as helping to get people involved – one scene features a group of six bird watchers turned hunters. Call outs were also made through local networks for cast members – there are over 50 in all. Mike Ostler of High House Community Group and Alan Gosling at Purfleet Heritage Centre have helped with my local history research and Thurrock Council have been great, providing cage vans and responding to a lot of other odd requests. Being based at High House Production Park has allowed me to build relationships with singers from the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus. The birdwatchers turned hunters - more about them in a future blog!- What's the secret of a successful shoot on 'location' with a community cast?By necessity we are a tiny crew with not many resources. That has its down sides - exhaustion and being unable to delegate anything - but it also creates intimacy and makes it easier to get around. The main thing is atmosphere; keeping it fun, having clear direction and making sure everyone is well provided for with cups of tea and snacks. We essentially had great fun, from filming on the river bank in darkness to setting shopping trolleys alight and getting children to run wild through the marshes. The wildlings explore the reserve - more about these characters another time!- You have created what you call a 'flotsam and jetsam' foley studio from found objects. What are some of the objects we can expect to see 'played' and how?A lot of shopping trolleys! They’re ubiquitous within the Thames landscape, at the river edges, so have become a bit of a feature. Reeds, scrap metal, discarded spray cans found scattered from the infamous Thames side graffiti wall running to Grays.- What are the challenges of creating a live soundtrack? What do you think this adds to the work?The main challenge is that it’s all an experiment, finding out what works and building up the layers. That requires patience and trust but is also empowering for the singers and sound artists involved who have created a lot of the material themselves. The chorus – recruited from ROH Thurrock Community Chorus – are really confident and creative, having sung with each other previously, and the foley team are young and imaginative local students of music and sound production. I‘m also working closely with Kieron Maguire of the Cabinet of Living Cinema who has an amazing track record of creating live performed scores to film. Here, we don’t use musical instruments but voice and sound made from local found materials. I’ve always been fascinated by foley and the comedy of it – a couple of people in a room stabbing cabbages creating fight scenes – and wanted to present that backstage process as performance rather than retreating into a studio to emerge with a polished, finished work.
- A lot of the filming for Ring Cycle took place on RSPB Rainham Marshes. Are you tempted to take up birding as a hobby?I was given a book by Howard at RSPB ‘How to Be A Bad Birdwatcher’ and over this year I realise that’s what I am. I do not have the time or temperament so appreciate the knowledge and commitment of all the good birdwatchers I’ve met and worked with. When I was little my career choices were: artist, wildlife camera person, meteorologist. I think the first suits me best!
- What struck you most deeply about the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes?Each time I entered the reserve I was struck by the expansive, ever-changing skies and the sense of space. It’s a place where you feel free, where you can breathe deeply. The fact that such diversity can be found within the M25 in the midst of industrial chimneys and with the A13 rising on stilts above the marshes, makes it that much more special. Keep an eye out for more about the birdwatchers over the next few days!Thanks Hilary!We hope to see you all at the launch screening of Ring Cycle, with live score, takes place on Friday 14th July at 6.30pm at High House Production Park. It is presented as a prelude to the Big Screen relay of the opera Turandot organised by Royal Opera House Thurrock and the Backstage Centre.Production stills by Tony O'Brien and Hilary Powell from www.ringcycle.site