Automatic Writing Circle
About
AWC are from diverse musical backgrounds, amongst them, historically informed performance, noise musics, electroacoustic composition, experimental and popular music. They meet to explore the nature of these traditions, the currents that flow between them, and to experience the loss and rediscovery of sonic identity in the liminal state of Ouija mediated improvisation.
The moving focus of the ‘here and now’ is something that can surprise and enlighten us while performing together in the AWC. Part of this changing focus stems from the varied instruments being performed, the Ney, the Baroque Flute, the Cello and the Daf—each of which have rich cultural histories in which the performers have, at various times, been deeply immersed. The performers may be liberating themselves from these histories, or re-engaging them in a novel context. They are assisted in this process by the performers of the Ouija board, whose focus is not so much on a particular instrument or cultural history, but on mediating between the different spirits that may appear.