Olivia Louvel is a French-born British composer and artist whose work is presented in the form of sound recordings, sound art installations, video art and live performances. She won an Ivor Novello Award in Sound Art at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023 for LOL, a sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough's CCTV surveillance network, reflecting the state of political affairs in Britain.[1]
Previously, The Sculptor Speaks, a resounding of a 1961 tape of Barbara Hepworth's voice, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the Sound Art category at the Ivors Composer Awards 2020.[2] She was interviewed by Stuart Maconie on his BBC Radio 6 programme Freak Zone about her "compelling sculpture-inspired work" on Barbara Hepworth.[3]
In 2003, with her first computer, she produced her debut album Luna Parc Hotel, released on Angelika Koehlermann in 2006.[5] With guest appearances by Michael J.Sheehy and Sébastien Libolt.
Lulu in Suspension (2008) composition, video art
Inspired by silent-movie star Louise Brooks and her book Lulu in Hollywood. Released as a digipak CD on Optical Sound Records and Fine Arts,[6] run by French artist Pierre Beloüin.
Doll Divider (2010–11) composition, video art
Initially released as a digital version on Ototoi Music and Optical Sound. Doll Divider[7] was originally inspired by A4 paintings which she made using pages from fashion magazines and repainting on top of the photos of the models. Collectively these paintings are called "Processed Dolls". Following her Qwartz Album Award in 2011, she created her label Cat Werk Imprint. "Doll Divider" was re-released as a limited-edition vinyl, enhanced and remastered version.
ō, music for haiku (2007–12) composition, video art, artwork
A soundtrack based on haiku by poet Bashō, released on Cat Werk Imprint. The limited edition CD is adorned with a hand-drawn "Magic Fish Dog", a character invented by Louvel. Performed in 2007 in the electronic kiosk conceived by Cocktail Designers/architect Olivier Vadrot [8] at Festival en boîte, Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu, Lyon, France (F).[9] Screened at Festival Electron, Geneva, in 2008.
Beauty Sleep (2014) composition, video art
A suite of songs complemented by a series of experimental short films shot in West Sussex, reinventing herself as a bird-woman. "Bats" was remixed by Simon Fisher Turner.[10]
Louvel contributed a "compelling audio-visual" [12]Afraid Of Women to the female:pressure campaign—curated by Antye Greie-Ripatti to raise awareness for the special de facto autonomous zone in northern Syria, Rojava. Released and screened at CTM Festival, Berlin. Produced using sampled sounds and re-fragmented images sourced from the internet, an attempt to highlight the formidable solidarity and courage of these women fighting on the front line against IS.[13]
Data Regina (2017) composition, 3D videos, online platform
Louvel "packaged experimental electronic music, new media art, and 16th century conflict into multimedia art", exploring the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, through an interactive digital platform and an album release.[14] "A multimedia suite by composer Oliva Louvel digs deep into the psychic warfare between the 16th century British Queens. (...) The refined melodies of Louvel's intimate vocals and Fiona Brice's lyrical violin stand in fragile opposition to a backdrop, based largely around processed tambour samples, of harsh percussive rolls and looming reverberations. It evokes not only the brutality of the battles that peppered the UK in the 16th century but the sense of surveillance and paranoia that both women must have experienced." Abi Bliss, The Wire, February 2017.
Not A Creature of Paper (2019) composition
Commissioned by avant-garde ensemble Juice Vocal, a Louise Labé inspired composition, premiered at Kings Place, London.[15]
SculptOr (2020) composition
A suite of nine pieces based on Hepworth's extensive writings. "Armed with an algorithmic chisel and mallet, Louvel repurposes writings by the late English sculptor Barbara Hepworth (...) SculptOr is a highly conceptual and meta-referential piece, a sort of meditation on artistic practices." Antonio Poscic, The Quietus.[16]
The Sculptor Speaks (2020) radio broadcast, audiovisual
A resounding of a 1961 tape by Barbara Hepworth, premiered on Resonance Extra Resonance FM,[17] and followed by an audio-visual iteration. "The sculptor's cut-glass Received Pronunciation might be off-putting for the modern ear, but waves of technological manipulation have eroded its edges, turning it into a dreamy meditation on the nature of creativity."Deborah Nash, The Wire. Exhibited at Towner Eastbourne in 2023.[18]
doggerLANDscape (2023) composition, video art
A multimedia suite comprising an album and a video art form based on Doggerland, the land that used to stretch between today’s coast of Britain and Europe. Around 8000 years ago, the river Thames was then connected to the Rhine. "doggerLANDscape is a taut, charged and insightful collection that poses significant questions, at least in my mind, about political identity, ideological and material borders, and the ways in which our geological environments shape our lives and thinking." Johny Lamb, The Quietus.[19]
Installations
The Whole Inside (2019)
A generative sound mural of nine speaker drivers and data projection, exploring an explicit sociopolitical agenda: the violent misogyny of incel communities.[20] Installed at the Sound Diffusion Lab, DMSA, University of Brighton.[21] Seected for the Longlist at the Aesthetica Art Prize 2021, and is featured in the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology: Future Now.[22]
The Sculptor Speaks (2020)
Presented in 2021 at the Hepworth Wakefield museum as an audio-visual installation alongside the 10th anniversary exhibition 'Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life'.[23]
Doggerland Channels (2022, 2023)
A generative sound-relief based on the ancient land which once linked Britain to the continent. The cartographic sound art installation for voice and data projection throws a net over the North Sea, revealing the rivers which used to connect us to the continent – when the Thames flowed into the Rhine. Premiered at Phoenix Art Space for the Sound Art Brighton festival.[24] Installed at Middlesbrough Art Week 2023.
Wave Dome (2022)
A white noise and radio waves installation for a Willow Dome experience at Stanmer Organics for the first Sound Plotting festival.[25]
LOL (2022)
A sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough's CCTV surveillance network, reflecting the current state of political affairs in Britain, produced with Kersten Glandien, artistic director of Sound Art Brighton for Middlesbrough Art Weekender.[26]The Ivors Academy jury remarked: “LOL is a provocative, disruptive and impactful work, deftly constructed with humour”.[27]
Live performances
In November 2018, she toured throughout the UK presenting a headline audio-visual set of Data Regina for Synth Remix, an event curated by Benjamin Tassie under Sound and Music's Composer-Curator scheme, also featuring Jo Thomas. [28]
Initially trained in classical singing, she began to work as a singer for the flying trapeze circus Les Arts Sauts, performing at 12 metres in the air a Meredith Monk composition. She toured with them for three years, with notable performances at Festival de la Batie in Geneva, and Festival of Perth in 1995.[33]
Collaborative practice
Under the moniker of The Digital Intervention, she worked with Paul Kendall (long term Mute Records collaborator) on the album Capture, which was released in 2003.[34] With Paul Kendall as The Digital Intervention, they produced the piece "When the sea will rise II'" or Acoustic Cameras, a project which invites sound artists to annex the real-time flow of webcams located in various places around the world.[35]
Along with Daria Baiocchi, Fiona Hallinan, La Cosa Preziosa, Vicky Langan, Úna Lee, Jenn Kirby, Claudia Molitor, Gráinne Mulvey and Rachel Ní Chuinn, Louvel contributed to the collaborative art project "Mean Time" with her composition "25 minutes and 21 seconds". The event was broadcast live on Nova, RTÉ Lyric FM from Richmond Barracks, Dublin.[36]
Louvel performed with the Mi.Mu gloves '54 bones', a gesturally based performance art for an audience of one at Onca Gallery for Brighton Digital Festival 2018, in collaboration with Duncan Cabral, Jaimie Moore and Dominic Rae. [37]
2021. Pathetique N.8 for CHAINES 'Beethoven Simulator'. Classical Remix.[47]
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