In Photos: Somerset House Studios’ Assembly

Performances from felicita, Laurel Halo with Hanne Lippard, and Mark Fell with Mohammad Reza Mortazavi unfolded in the fifth edition of Somerset House Studios’ bi-annual arts and music gathering.

With artistic offerings threaded throughout the New Wing of Somerset House’s sprawling neoclassical complex, the three-day bi-annual arts event series Assembly ran between 26-28 March, presenting a suite of multidisciplinary, immersive performances – ones that might not fit in typical concert halls.

At the centre of its vision, Assembly is an experimental sound series dedicated to showcasing sonic art and sound-based practices, as well as a constellation of talks, exhibitions and installations from current Somerset House residents, alumni and more. Now in its fifth edition but as daring as ever, many works are newly commissioned for the event, rendering the festival closer to a series of live experiments. 

The opening night on Thursday, 26 March focused on deep listening encounters, with composer Ellen Arkbro premiering a new piece for crumhorn and reed organ, alongside artist Raheel Khan’s new performance, Oh Forewarn, again drawing on the use of horns. 

In gallery space G31, musicians Laurel Halo and Hanne Lippard’s collaborative sound installation, Sour Loop, was unveiled on this first night, taking the form of a warped soundtrack for a vacant gallery that plays with recordings of easy-listening muzak, PA announcements and anti-loitering deterrents.  

Friday saw PC Music affiliate felicita (Dominik Dvorak) present a live core from new ballet czysta forma (pure form). Hannah Jones and Samir Kennedy’s performance Relay was also performed this evening, which used contact microphones to sample sounds of bodily motion. 

The final day showcased collaborations including electronic and Persian fusion from Mark Fell & Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, and theatrical works from Hanne Lippard & Renato Grieco in the Lancaster Rooms. 

In the New Wing Staircase, Seyi Adelekun’s (un-)drowned featured water percussion and hydrophone recordings in a ceremony performed by live experimental vocal group Wellkeepers, followed by improvisational work from Daniel Oduntan and the Audio Visual Ensemble, Working Memory, in the River Rooms. 

Turner prize-winning Jasleen Kaur debuted her first performance work Supra, inspired by Nation States, borders and the body, before live activation from music and media theorist DeForrest Brown Jr, and ‘tone poem’ from artist and composer Trevor Mathison, which brought the event to a close in the early hours. 

Alongside performances on Saturday, a full roster of conversations and listening sessions featured artist Aura Satz, writer and curator Sarah Shin, filmmaker Onyeka Igwe, industrial music pioneers Test Dept, and a panel convened by Black Industrial Research Group (BIRG). 

Revisit our highlights in the photos below.