Hellsö by Charles Harding - Live on Kökar - Solo Performance Video
This performance video was recorded live on Kökar, Åland, Finland by members of Trajectories Collective while embarking on the Åland Archipelago Guest Artist Residence program hosted by Kökar Kultur.
Hellsö was composed in the same-named area of Kökar throughout Oct. 1-22. This piece is dedicated to Charlie's experience during a wind storm in this area that shook houses, snapped trees, and filled the air with ocean spray. Part of the wind-themed audio was devised through recording a very old pipe organ located in the Kökar Museum, as seen in the picture below. This piece of music will also be released as part of small collection of similar compositions in January 2024.
Charles Harding is a composer and sound artist presently residing in New Brunswick. His creative journey spans years of immersion in music composition and facilitation, pivoting around computer music creation as the cornerstone of his artistic process. Whether weaving sonic tapestries through modular synth or documenting the delicate sounds of crackling seaweed on beaches, Harding's dedication to music has remained steadfast for over a decade.
Composed, performed, mixed/mastered by Charles Harding.
Filmed by Malte Leander and Connor Cook.
Presented by Trajectories.
Thanks to the Åland Archipelago Guest Artist Residence program.
Trajectories
https://www.trajectories.net/epk
Trajectories is a collective of electroacoustic composers and interdisciplinary artists from Montreal, Quebec. The group, comprised of Charles Harding, Malte Leander, Connor Cook, and Michael Pinsonneault, focuses on generating an ever-expanding catalog of multi-disciplinary projects exploring diverse and relevant subject matter. Reflecting and commenting on contemporary issues, events and areas of research, each individual creator’s perspective interactively shapes the collective’s direction, and vice-versa.
In February 2023 the group released their first full-length album Blood & Breath, an hourlong odyssey of dark ambience, synthesis, and noise. For Trajectories, Blood & Breath represents the silver lining that came out of the global pandemic lockdowns of 2020-21 and their aftermath. Collaborating over Zoom and using shared drives, the group engaged with the unique circumstances and states of mind, body and emotion being personally and generally experienced in that historical moment, and the result was this album’s 10 tracks. Source materials were personal and intimate: recordings of apartments and private journeys and spaces, made into communal, holographic fabric when shared and reinterpreted amongst all members. As the pandemic raged on, the context shifted and tilted. So too did the relationship change between artists and their compositions.
Kökarkultur rf
https://kokarkultur.wordpress.com/kokarkultur-rf/
The association Kökarkultur rf was founded on the autumn of 1996 on Kökar, with the aim of promoting the interest in culture, raising the level of the culture life, improving the environment and bringing together individuals, associations and organizations for common cultural activities. The association manages it´s own projects, organizes cultural events, discussions and courses. As well as together with other associations, organizations and projects.
Since 1997 a lot of professional artists has visited Kökar, which has enriched and improved the culture life. In 2017 approximately 50 artists stayed in the residence.
Within the association there are several independent subdivisions that appear separately; gästateljén, kökarform och bildkonstcirkeln.