The glare of many fires and sweeping clouds of smoke kept hiding the shape. Then a wind sprang up. Suddenly, the shining cross, dome and towers stood out like a symbol in the inferno. The scene was unbelievable. In that moment or two, I released my shutter.'
- Herbert Mason on his iconic 1940 photograph of St. Paul's Cathedral.
On 18th June we will be performing 'Blitzkrieg Sonata' at the Daniel Blau Gallery in London. Taking its cue from the the vintage 1940's photographs comprising BLITZ: WWII in LONDON (Daniel Blau Gallery, London), Blitzkrieg Sonata combines spoken word with live video and a collaborative sound work with Paul Bavister from Audialsense to capture the progressive degeneration of an imaged ideality; evoking a dreamworld in catastrophe. More prosaically, this piece explores -- as it embodies -- an enmeshment of image, architecture and ideology within the condition of continual and ongoing contemporary warfare.
The performance is part of a reading series entitled 'Amid the Ruins' that runs monthly at the Daniel Blau Gallery, and is organised by Professor Robert Hampson as part of the RHUL Poetics Research Centre with performances by:
+ Kreider + O'Leary with Audialsense
+ Allen Fisher
+ Stephen Willey
+ Becky Cremin
Daniel Blau Gallery, 51 Hoxton Sq, London N1 6BP, 7pm.