Dear Alice - New work for The Immersive Guitar
Dear Alice is a new composition for The Immersive Guitar - an 11:1 scale classical guitar originally built for Curiocity Brisbane (2021) by the research team Tomlinson, Schaupp with Hassan Karampour, Bruce Wolfe and Jim Redgate. This new work was commissioned by The Adelaide Guitar Festival to mark the purchase of this installation by the Adelaide Festival Centre.
Dear Alice is composed and performed by Karin Schaupp and Vanessa Tomlinson - each contributing compositional ideas alongside performance techniques. This work corporates text from Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland, drawing upon the original concept for The Immersive Guitar - to have the experience of climbing inside the soundhole of a guitar. Dear Alice is scored for The Immersive Guitar and a classical guitar to be played together - by both of the performers.
This premier performance formed part of the 2022 Adelaide Guitar Festival, with visitors signing up for tours of the installation, with the composition shared in the lobby/waiting room of the Festival Centre, and online. The work was also shared via The Morning Show (Channel 7) and The Advertiser.
Dear Alice builds on the world premier of The Immersive Guitar at Curiocity Brisbane. In this Adelaide iteration there are refinements with the instrument tuning, new performance techniques explored, the pairing of the original sized guitar with The Immersive Guitar, and the introduction of storytelling into the project.
Funding
Adelaide Festival Centre
Curiocity - Brisbane City Council
History
ERA Category
- Original Creative Work - Musical composition
Funding type
- Public funds
Eligible major research output?
- Yes
Research Statement
Dear Alice was commissioned by the Adelaide Festival Centre as part of the 2022 Adelaide Guitar Festival. This works extends the repertoire for The Immersive Guitar, building on work devised during its first installation in Curiocity entitled Curious TIG. Dear Alice draws on an extensive body of performative sound installations reaching back to Luigi Russolo, and referencing work for long strings by Alan Lamb. In addition it extends an ongoing interest in co-composition as an extension of the improvisational process. Dear Alice situates spoken word and classical acoustic guitar alongside the 11:1 scale guitar, juxtaposing the sonic properties of the classical guitar, with the deep resonance, and unique performative qualities of TIG. In addition this work seeks to explore the psychological qualities of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and a choreographic and spatial exploration of the space within the guitar. The work was co-composed, and both performers played TIG, classical guitar and spoken word. This work was performed at the opening of Adelaide Guitar Festival and the video of the work was provided to TIG attendees throughout the festival. A feature article on TIG appeared in Limelight magazine, the installation was showcased on the Morning Show (Channel 10), and highlighted in Adelaide’s Weekend Notes and Indaily. The commissioned work and the installation are now owned by the Adelaide Festival Centre, with Dear Alice operating as a “how-to” guide for composing for and playing the installation.Confidential / Culturally sensitive
- No
Exhibition date from
2022-07-09Exhibition date to
2022-07-24Was the work disseminated?
- Yes
Form of dissemination
- Exhibition
Scope of dissemination
- National
