Elemental Dialogues

Undergraduate composer Tricia Mann (year 3) describes her recent experience and prize winning success in an event at the Winchester Arts Festival:

On Sunday the 27th of October I took part in an event which formed part of the Winchester Arts festival.  Artist and lecturer at Winchester University Anna Cady organised a project which was originally titled as Translations, but was later changed to Elemental Dialogues.

The project began with Anna Cady and Suna Imre making a selection of films which were distributed to different musicians and writers.  Each artist was asked to translate that film into a medium they were comfortable with.  I was asked to write a piece of music to accompany the film ‘Earth’ that Anna Cady and Suna Imre had made.  A writer was then played my composition and asked to create something influenced by the music I had written.

This chain was repeated with different films, involving different musicians and writers.
The film, music and poetry were all presented at the Guildhall in Winchester, showing how the creation process had been passed to each artist. During the film I had written the music for, there were some live dancers and there was an artist drawing a picture live in the middle of the venue, the way it was presented was like an interactive art exhibition!
After the films had finished, there was a general discussion where the public asked any questions they had about the works displayed and the artists involved spoke a little about their process of creation and the difficulties that occurred.

I was thrilled to be awarded a certificate for best in category (music). I received £100 and a CD containing a film that Anna had made.  I had a great time seeing my work involved in such a creative event and all the other artists made me feel very welcome as I was the only participating student.