The starling murmuration season is well underway and Lancaster based artists, Darren Andrews and Dave Shooter/Guerrilla Biscuits bring us an immersive cinematic experience featuring a brand-new exclusive cut of Darren’s breathtaking films of the murmurations, with a live soundtrack.
The accompanying soundtrack will be created entirely from recordings of starlings; these will be sampled and reprocessed to produce a unique soundtrack to Darren’s equally unique film.
Darren is a freelance photographer who in recent years has been obsessed with filming and photographing starlings. His work will be on view in the Great Hall foyer during the evening. Dave is a sound artist and electronic musician focussed on improvised live performance; often using place or situation-based samples to create unique sound palettes.
A special and bespoke evening, and not to be missed!
“The speed at which climate change is accelerating has brought home to us how fragile the natural environment in which we live is, and Darren's images of mutability are a powerful symbol of this condition.”
Excerpt from Dr Bruce Bennett’s introduction to Darren Andrews' book 'Murmur'.
Credit: Darren Andrews
Post-show discussion information
Inspired by starling murmurations, the evening explores the power of flight. Following the film showing with live music, Darren Andrews and Dave Shooter will be joined by the following artists, all of whom respond to the ideas of flight in different ways:
Sena Başöz is an artist working across many different media whose works investigate healing, seeking ways of interacting with what is considered out of reach and experimentally regenerating what is considered frozen-dead-stale-lost. Her work, Forough was the first exhibition for Lancaster Arts in 2024.
Polly Atkin is a writer based in Grasmere, in Cumbria, whose poetry and nonfiction deals with the natural world and disabled lives in various ways. Her book, Some of Us Just Fall: on nature and not getting better won the Lakeland Book of the Year 2024.
Steve Varden was the first person with significant physical disabilities to train as a hang glider pilot in 1989 and since the millennium he has migrated to flying various powered microlight aircraft that includes two modern variants of the infamous 1930’s flying-flea.
Both Darren and Polly’s books will be on sale in the foyer after the event.
