LIQUID SKY
Bassline Circus/ MHz + SUE ZUKI
In association with Feral
(2019)
Visual theatre exploring the interface between sonic art and aerial circus, within a laser light scenography.
Audiences are immersed in an otherworldly environment that sits between an AV concert and a live art happening. Hypnotic and ritualised movement on the ground and in the air is paired with a Dark Wave live set of throbbing synthetic hymns and mesmeric vocals from sonic priestess SUE ZUKI
This sci-fi -infused work is anathema to any notions of a dystopian future, instead focusing on the possibility of strength through femininity. Timely, powerful and magnificent
Lorna Irvine The Tempohouse
definitely performance art that would appeal to all ages —
Broadway Baby
Closest I've ever felt to being in a science fiction film.
Glasswerk Magazine (Brian Beadie).
LIQUID SKY is name of a classic laser effect created by a flat static beam of light intersecting swirls of fog causing a cloud effect, it is also the name of Slava Tsukerman’s 1987 cult sci-fi film about the female orgasm and vaporizing aliens, set in New York City in the post-punk/new-wave clubs and influential to a whole generation of electronic musicians.
Music and lasers went hand in hand and the rise of techno music and rave culture in the 80's and 90's became the de-facto home for lasers. Young rebellious people were meeting in clubs, warehouses and fields to lose themselves to music. Giant sound systems, powerful lasers and chemicals were transporting the anarchic youth in ways traditional religious gatherings couldn't.
Mythologies abound, seasoned ravers coming down in early morning smoke filled living rooms and kitchens talk in fevered tones of moments of transcendence, of being lifted up, of out of body experiences.
Set in a metaphysical "dream" space, Doris Lessing's 198O's feminist science fiction novel 'The marriage of zones Three, Four and Five' traces the adventure of a queen forced into wedlock to save her territory from ecological demise. Navigating beyond gender conflict by way of metamorphosis, she finds kinship with a secret circle of women who sneak out at night and practice looking at the forbidden mountains of Zone 3, triggering her to find agency and solace in an ethereal land of light beyond borders, where no one with a heavy body can enter.
Lessing's mystical quest here becomes the back story for the re-imagining of the fabled Indian Rope Trick whereby a rope levitates before someone climbs it and disappears in the sky. In this version of the illusion, our aerialist performs the miracle of holding herself airborne for 20 minuets whilst completely blindfolded.
Leading the cathartic feat with a radiant live set, dark wave pioneer Sue Zuki provides the backbone for this real- world simulation of light, circus and new music.
The shape of the piece moves from celestial harmony into churning confusion, surrender, and a final Indian Rope trick ascension to serenity, before we too are raised out of the underworld through a layer of blue sky. I want to rejoin the communal rites of turning our heads to the sky and moving our bodies subtly to the beating soundscape. Liquid Sky thrilled my senses with beauty. I want more of that please.
by Katharine Kavanagh Circus Diaries