Miranda Whall

When Earth Speaks: A Dirty Ensemble premiered at Theatr yr Werin, Aberystwyth Arts Centre 8th June 2024.

The Dirty Ensemble: Miranda Whall + Neil Luck + Mayah Kadish + Tim Beckham + Angela Wai- Nok Hui + Ashley John Long + Constance Humphries

The performance drew upon a live data stream generated by a long- range, high-resolution soil sensor network installed in the Cambrian Mountains, Mid Wales on the Elenydd plateau, known as the Ffridd (the upland fringe), approximately 600m above sea level. The performance was a collaboration between human and non-human performers; the mountain, the soil, sensor technology, data, musicians, a Butoh dancer, a visual artist, and robotics. Each of the 12 sensors in the network sent a datapoint live from the Cambrian mountains directly into the theatre every fifteen minutes, offering the performers and audience a unique real-time interaction with the natural environment. The emergent, dynamic, and experimental performance evolved as the performers responded and improvised to the numerical data, the fluctuations of the earth’s temperature and moisture levels, the upland landscape, each other and the soil ecosystem; interrelating micro and macro-organisms, air, water, minerals, organic matter, complex food webs, nutrient cycles, and feedback loops. The composite voice of the collaborators and a robotic xylophone interfaced with the live data stream, and a proximal sensor generated a continuous data stream from a turve of earth extracted from the mountain.

Thank you to Prof Mariecia Fraser, Dr Fred Labrosse, Prof Andrew Thomas, Dr Pete Todd, Prof Milja Kurki, Amy Daniel, Edie Mathews, Tania Camara, Kit Edwards, Tim Beckham, Max McCreary, Kay Davies, Ashley Calvert and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

When Earth Speaks: A Dirty Ensemble was supported by Live Art Development Agency, LADA as part of Live Art in Rural UK June 2023 – June 2024.