Kirkos Ensemble + Experimental Film Society present Wilderness Notes

A work of experimental film and contemporary music created in collaboration by some of Ireland’s most original filmmakers and composers. Wilderness Notes features 3 new films by EFS filmmakers Rouzbeh Rashidi, Maximilian Le Cain and Vicky Langan, and Atoosa Pour Hosseini, created in tandem with new compositions by young Irish composers Barry O’Halpin, Sean Ó Dálaigh, and Robert Coleman which has been recorded by the Kirkos Ensemble. The three films that comprise Wilderness Notes all explore psychic, territorial and technological margins. Isolated characters, all somehow locked into masks or fixed personae, navigate desolate zones between dimensions where a sense of being physically adrift and at risk is mapped onto a corresponding inner state.

Making experimental use of several outdated moving image formats, notably Super-8 and VHS, Wilderness Notes summons up ghosts from an abandoned future, taking its cues from the western, the nightmare of nuclear holocaust and the masks of ancient theatre. All three of Wilderness Notes’ musical compositions were written to complement EFS’s filmmaking approach. Barry O’Halpin’s is derived from the electromagnetic spectra of 5 chemical elements, resulting in an ethereal and almost alien set of harmonies and moving parts, while Sean Ó Dálaigh pits the ensemble against undulating sine waves and introduces an element of choice into structural repetitions to create a vibrant microtonal universe. In contrast, Kirkos co-director Rob Coleman’s contribution is a song cycle, setting poetry by American poet Morri Creech for voice, ensemble and electronics, examining the states of consciousness that flash beneath the waking mind.

The collaboration marks a new frontier in the experimental filmmaking and contemporary music scenes in Ireland, combining both groups’ radical approach to presenting their art and engaging with audiences in challenging and refreshing ways. Warning :: Will contain some explicit content. Parental guidance for under 18’s is advised.

Wilderness Notes is presented by Kirkos Ensemble and the Experimental Film Society and is funded by The Arts Council.

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Kirkos aims to create musical performances of the highest quality, and to push the boundaries of the concert experience through multi-sensory, interdisciplinary events where the creative concept is present in every element. Everything they do pursues a larger goal: to help audiences feel, understand and love contemporary music. Kirkoskammer: Season 2 is a chamber music series that distills this ethos, with no strings attached: considered programming, great performances, and the gorgeous setting of Dublin’s Powerscourt Theatre, on the top floor of the Powerscourt Centre.