Helen Dewhurst - Songs of Borderlands 4/ 4/25 - 29/4/25

Helen Dewhurst is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer and creative technologist investigating the experiential interplay between human body, technology and environment. For her recent project she is collaborating with Jack Kingslake(sound), Jon Armstrong (lighting) and Baran Elitez (data) to develop a *data-informed spatial sonic composition, working with material gathered along migration routes.

limited capacity work in progress sharing on Tuesday 29th April

‘Songs of Borderlands’ is an immersive sonic installation environment, a memorial to lives lost at borders. A data driven soundscape plays records of lives lost along global migration routes, particularly focussing on lives lost at sea in small boat crossings.

The installation acts as a memorial to individuals often lost without trace, without ceremony or identity.

As audiences explore geographical space, the piece offers opportunities for ‘embodied listening’*, for individuals to experience migration records in a sensory way, listening with their bodies - providing alternative, expanded methods of listening.

Connecting in multisensory ways, the aim is to foster raised awareness, collective accountability and increased humanitarian empathy for the ongoing social impact of sea crossings and enforcement of borders, calling for safer routes for those seeking sanctuary.

Helen says:

We are currently researching presenting this data/psychoacoustic composition as an immersive sonic environment, creating an installation context for the sound sculpture, possibly additionally also for performative elements
Working with this data-sound system, during the Residency we plan to primarily work compositionally, creating a prototype spatial sound piece, researching recorded sounds and immersive experience through methods for ‘sensory’, ‘embodied-listening’.

Below is a more artist detail on the nitty gritty of their work plan for those interested:
Session 1: Fri 4 April

For the first session Helen Dewhurst & Jack Kingslake will focus on compositional elements of the sound-design, particularly the creation of ‘sea-bells’.
As a multi-channel composition, the composition represents lives lost along different migration routes. We plan to test playing the data-composition via multiple speakers setup in space, representing these geographical ‘routes’ on different speakers, testing these spatially, both ‘up close’ and ‘further away’.

We also plan to set up an immersive ‘embodied listening station’ for one of these ‘routes’, where the sound plays both above and below the listener - the location from above and the chimes from beneath - via a ‘floor speaker’ for sensory ‘feet + bodily listening’.

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Session 2: Wed 16 April

For the second session, we also plan to research possibilities for data driven lighting and/or visual elements to the installation, consulting on these with immersive lighting designer Jon Armstrong.

We plan to test link this ‘listening station’ in with sound/data activated lighting, to animate this experientially.

We will also test the potential to run visual animated responses via Touch Designer / projection.

The collaborative residency is as part of Helen Dewhurst's ACE 'Develop Your Creative Practice' grant investigating immersive experience, embodied and spatial listening and notions of the ‘collective shadow’. It is part funded via UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England DYCP Grant.


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Mr Poetivist X Jinn Records 10/6/24 - 24/6/24

Don’t miss debut live show of this new collaboration on 22nd June - Tickets here

Mr. Poetivist will be working in our studios with Jinn Records' producer Abraham Moughrabi to soundtrack and record a brand new collection of works. "kumbaya" pays tribute to grief, family trauma, reflects the vulnerability of time and interrogates the moral narrative of a home that prohibits human nature from wearing emotions on its sleeves.

The stanzas in this collection navigates the myriad forms of loss, from the simplest to the most intricate – bearing witness to memorable sentences, infused with raw farewells meant to epitomise the intersection that separates our beautiful existence; the delicate balance between life and grief. It is a dance between poetry, music and sound that reminds us–the brutal mornings of relatives and friends; people whose love, fears, and names have perhaps slipped through life’s tongue into the unknown.

The residency will culminate in a live performance with guest artists and musicians - delivering the world premiere of "kumbaya - an elegy to distant relatives".

Accompanied by guest musicians and performers wherever he goes, Mr. Poetivist captivates audiences with his powerful spoken words and heartfelt expressions. His collection of stanzas delves into the myriad forms of loss, from the simplest to the most intricate, bearing witness to memorable sentences infused with raw farewells. Through his poetry, Mr. Poetivist epitomises the intersection that separates our beautiful existence, reminding us of the delicate balance between life and grief.

Mr. Poetivist, born in Ghana, is a poet and curator whose voice echoes with the essence of his homeland. With a keen eye for unsaid narratives, he unearths visuals that resonate deeply with audiences. Notable works include a commissioned series of poems for Isshaq Ismail's exhibition, 'Beyond the Fence, Begins the Sky,' at Efie Gallery. Additionally, Mr. Poetivist debuted his radio playwright "The Village We Are" on Berlin-based radio-Refuge Worldwide, showcasing his versatility as a creative force. His poem "Ode To Afrika" was featured as the lead poem for TEDxAccra 2021, further solidifying his place as a prominent voice in contemporary poetry.

Mr Poetivist website

DANNY BRIGHT - Sonic Ghosting 25/3/24 - 29/3/24

Danny will be exploring his ‘Sonic Ghosting’ work using 3D sound and immersive technologies inviting guest musicians collaborate and experiment all week long at The Rose Hill.

What IS Sonic Ghosting?

Sonic Ghosting explores space/place/memory and sound/music/noise. It is the idea that all places have memories and echoes of the past. This includes sounds that would/ could have occurred there. In a way it turns a specific place into a ventriloquist to say what is heard and seen there or what sounds and feelings might be imagined there from the past and future. Often Field recordings and the actual materials present in the specific place are used to explore and create the new work / music / research.

There is an academic article all about it here if you want to learn more about it

What IS 3D Audio?

3D Audio is an umbrella term for a number of immersive audio technologies that aim to surround the listener with sound.  One of its main goals is to reproduce audio in a way that replicates the way we hear sound in the real world, especially when compared to the mono and stereo experiences most have been used to. 

Danny Bright is a composer, sonic artist, sound designer, musician and researcher working across the fields of music, performance, installation, theatre and media. His work investigates space/place/memory through a Sonic Ghosting practice; develops composition, performance, research and installation work; using his electric guitar, electronics & technology.

Danny performs uses guitar, samples, tape, electronics, and text/voice as an ensemble member/leader, solo artist and improviser, and as half of no-input pedalboard duo Noise Peddler with Lee Westwood.

At The Rose Hill he will explore Sonic Ghosting with 3D sound s collaborating with guest artists Kassia Zermon (Bunty), Jules Arthur, Lee Westwood & Jon Armstrong (Light Artist).

Danny Bright’s website

Funded by Arts council England

CNT - Pierre Bastien & Louis Laurain 28/2/24 - 2/4/24

Legendary inventor Pierre Bastien collaborates with virtuosic and pioneering trumpet player Louis Laurain in new duo CNT to record their debut album at The Rose Hill - to be released later in the year on Rose Hill Records.

“A mad musical scientist with a celebrity following” by The Guardian about Pierre Bastien.

The duo have said that trumpets are one handed instruments leaving the other hand free! Pierre & Louis play their trumpets with 4 hands and sometimes even without their mouths to create an orchestra of pounding rhythm, melody, bass and more!

Pierre Bastien has built a cult following best known as musician and inventor for building sound machines and instruments made from Meccano parts and powered by motors taken from old record players which activate gears, pulleys and all sorts. Previously he has collaborated with fashion designer Issey Miyake, singer and composer Robert Wyatt and Aphex Twin (who released three of his albums on his label Rephlex) to name a few, and is heralded as one of the most influential musicians working in the field of experimental music. Pierre’s website

Louis Laurain is a virtuosic and wildly entertaining player. Any of you who caught his solo show supporting Pierre last year here would surely agree. His music lives at the borders of experimental music, electro-acoustics, Jazz and performance art. He has developed his own personal dynamic language for playing the trumpet which is amazing to watch ! He has collaborated with Eliane Radigue, Stephen O’Malley, Umlaut Big band, Pierre Huyghe, Axel Dorner, Guy One, Perrine Bourel, Xavier Charles, Mosin Kawa, Yves-Noel Génot, John Tilbury, Nicolas Collins, Zombie-Zombie, Chakib Bouzidi, Pierce Warnecke.

He is also a member of the Berlin band DIE HOCHSTAPLER, the French-Polish group LUMPEKS, the duo TDTNDG and has toured in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and Russia. Louis Laurain website

COME AND SEE THEIR BRAND NEW WORK LIVE AT THE END OF RESIDENCY SHOW!!!

Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani - For You 13/11/23- 17/11/23

Zahra is a musician, composer, performer and award-winning director of the Young Women’s Music Project. She is based in Oxford where she was born and raised as a second-generation immigrant, her father having emigrated to the UK from Iran and her mother being Irish. Thoughts on identity run as an undercurrent through her creative process as she connects the different cultures she embodies.

For You celebrates creativity triumphing in adversity. The tour aims to bring together musicians of all gender minorities of diverse cultural heritage, who are more vulnerable to experiences of marginalisation in the music industry, to showcase new music written in response to liberation from an abusive relationship.

She will be working on a live set and installation for four live shows Brighton, Bristol, Liverpool and London. She will work on creating a stage set with designer and pupper maker Iman Mahdy and performer Hannah Fredsgaard-Jones and Young Women’s Music Project drum troupe -Team Drum.

Check out website

Book tickets to the live show on Friday 17th November

Jenny Moore - Wild Mix : 27/8/23 - 30/8/23

“I’m drawing on the methodologies behind F*Choir, the all-genders, intergenerational choir I started 6 years ago as a place to gather in body and voice.” says Jenny

WILD MIX is a performance album rooted in the creative and physical practices of communal singing, kickboxing and drumming. Located in experiences of mutual influence, reciprocity, and interdependence, this enquiry asks, how can we sign ourselves back to life?
At Rose Hill, they will test out the ritual, material and sonic world we’re building, including water-filled boxing bags amplified with hydraphones. Moving from more experimental, improvised beatmaking into fully formed choreographed choral landscapes. Core team members include Bianca Stephens, Tanya Auclair, Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani, Nandi Bhebhe, Georgia Frost and Sib Trigg.

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS TO WORK IN PROGRESS SHOW ON WEDNESDAY 30TH AUGUST

Jenny Moore is a composer, singer, drummer, performance artist and choir leader. Her London-based six-piece choral-punk ensemble Jenny Moore’s Mystic Business is known for their tuned percussion, huge vocals and chanted soulful mantras, a mix of the 90's R&B and post-punk Jenny grew up listening to in the Canadian prairies. Their new EP, "He Earns Enough," was released on Lost Map Records in 2021. Moore founded the alternative feminist choir F*Choir, composing and arranging for the diverse group of singers using non-gendered voice parts, graphic scores, no auditions to create highly energetic, rhythmic and political music.

Jenny’s Website

Nad Spiro - LIMBO CHANNEL : 22/7/22 - 29/7/22

Spanish experimentalist Rosa Arruti, an essential figure in Barcelona’s cutting edge music scene, has worked for many years under the alias NAD SPIRO, a solo project where she explores unfrequented audio zones and creates sound fictions. 

“Fiction, memories and emotions melt into a hermetic and trivial, murderous and loving sonic fabric” The Wire Magazine

Besides her albums on the prestigious Spanish label Geometrik Records, her releases can be found on imprints like Farpoint Recordings, Silent Records, Sloow Tapes and international compilations. Her collaborators include My Cat is An Alien, Kim Cascone, The Asterism.

Nad Spiro will be working in residence with legendary Japanese feminist punk pioneer Atsuko Kamura to record new collaborative music. She will also be setting up a daily radio broadcast called LIMBO CHANNEL featuring collaborators including DIAL aka Miguel Ibáñez (Writer and broadcaster from Barcelona iconic free radio RadioPICA, Rn3 and author of pOp Control, Zap, Ultrabrutal )

She describes “LIMBO CHANNEL will be a symbolic antenna set up at The Rose Hill to explore sonic transits, dream broadcasts and escape routes past and future: artists constantly drifting into the Limbo Zone. Collaborators will be invited in to form NAD SPIRO & LIMBO STARS  > sonic extended voyages and unexplained ideas will be transmitted in daily intervention broadcasts”

TUNE INTO SLACK CITY RADIO EVERY DAY FROM 11PM FOR THIS LIMITED BROADCAST SERIES

Monday 24th July | Tuesday 25th July | Wednesday 26th July | Thursday 27th July | Friday 28th July

Don’t miss her end of residency show on SATURDAY 29 JULY click here for tickets !

15/1/23 - 21/1/23 Cosmic Transmissions Collective

A new collective will learn and develop a language of hand signals for conducted improvisation. It is an opportunity for musicians to become fully immersed in the environment of a large ensemble. Musicians from many different worlds of sound are involved in the project, and they hope to expand on what is seen as possible when it comes to composition, spontaneous composition and sound exploration. The emphasis is on the 'group mind' creation of the compositions and spoken narrative, which is rare for large ensembles. Using group imagination and improvisation they will create a variety of made up locations in their universe which they will guide the audience through when they perform live. The spoken narrative, and descriptions of these contrasting environments will also be sonically represented through conducted improvisation and a few loosely composed ideas, along the way. The ensemble includes members from Waxmachine, keg, the new eves, yumi and the weather, Daisy Rickman, hill, Mu quintet, Amon ra collective, MC4, yellow door, Ancient infinity orchestra, the Jed cutler band, and many more... + 'Safehouse' regulars.

24/10/22 - 31/10/22 Pilani Bubu with Abraham Moughrabi (Jinn Records)

Multi-Award Winning Storyteller, Singer-Songwriter, TV presenter and Creative Entrepreneur. Pilani Bubu is never without a lived experience etched into her heart and mind in a highly expressive musical journey. She tells authentic stories of inspiration, identity, and influence. A multifarious artist with a unique voice and a cohesive global sound she likes to call jazzy folk soul.

Pilani Bubu will be working with Jinn Records' producer Abraham Moughrabi on a new music and spoken word project in the early stages of development. Based around the concept of play, Pilani draws inspiration from childhood and folkloric playtime songs to create work that resonates with the archetypal inner-child that is so often suppressed under the pressures of adult life.

Her Website

1/8/22 - 17/11/22 Dan Powell & Andrew Greaves - Inside Journeys

Inside Journeys explores the physical and historical spaces occupied by The Rose Hill, as an arts space, a pub, and a building. It is a place people have met, lived and worked, and they plotted a course through all of this, using the sounds and stories they discovered in it to create a new audio visual performance and an album . Andrew Greaves and Dan Powell have released 'Inside Journeys, which was made during their residency at the Rose Hill in 2022 and is inspired by The Rose Hill's multifaceted history.

The audio and ideas for Inside Journeys were sourced by making instrumental recordings in the space to use as textures, recordings of soundings of objects they found, and field recordings made over the course of their residency. Dan recorded chairs creaking, barrels rolling, glasses being rubbed and and scratched, and all of these are in the mix. Andrew took pictures and filmed the space and the objects scattered throughout.

They spoke to Dave and Gill Barwood, who visited the pub in the late 1980’s, as well as Jim Purbrick who shared a tale of visiting more recently as part of an immersive art performance, and collected memories of the Rose Hill from regulars and local residents. Andrew worked with the Brighton Past group who shared their stories of the pub over the years.

Dan and Andrew worked on a text score and used extensive rehearsals and discussion to refine the sound of the piece, which was added to by local historian Dr Geoffrey Mead who they consulted with on the piece, and who gave a series of vignettes on the history of the area around the Rose Hill as part of the performance.

Andrew created themes and rhythmic motifs based on his exploration of popular songs of the kind that might have been performed in the Rose Hill from the 1930s onwards. His sound palette is suggestive of the audio technology of the time. Dan used software to manipulate the audio sources recorded in-situ, as well as working with amplified objects sourced from the Rose Hill.

Dan Powell is a sound artist who uses field recordings, handmade and proprietary electronics and tuned percussion. His main interest is exploring places which have a particular personal resonance. He released a couple of albums of sound art on Crónica . He has  been active in electro-acoustic improvisation in London and Brighton, playing with Gus Garside in The Static Memories, and Chris Parfitt in Nil. Currently he performs as part of Muster with James O’Sullivan. Website

Andrew Greaves is an active member of both the Spirit of Gravity and the Safehouse improvisation collectives. Andrew’s pieces combine melodic Casio organ improvisations within layered settings. Employing minimalist repetition and collages of manipulated found sounds. Andrew’s works explore memory and recollection and the process of sub conscience influences arising within spontaneous improvisation. Andrew believes each of us hold an incalculable library of memories, forming a unique fingerprint of influences and perspectives. His work seeks to access this resource via improvisation to create instant compositions.His work has been used in film, both in the form of live soundtrack performances and produced soundtrack scores.

ALEJANDRO VARGAS + XELÍS DE TORO : 7/2/22 - 12/2/22

Award winning cuban musician Alejandro Vargas + Galician award winning writer and performer Xelís de Toro will be working together in residence here for one week with a work in progress show at the end. They will use sound, sound poetry and movement to explore an iconic and enigmatic Galician poetry book published in 1920s which they describe as ‘fells like meditation during a trip out to sea’ They have meticulously converted all the letters of the poems into numbers and then the numbers into musical notes. They will use these as starting points and throw a dice , using chance results to create new work. They will create their own acrobatic journey, crisscrossing arts to weave a tapestry of sounds (piano, synth, percussion), vocals (sounds and words) and movement.

Alejandro Vargas is multi-awarded Cuban musician resident in Galicia (Spain), receiving important jazz (Best Jazz record Cubadisco, 2008) and composition (Special award Cubadisco 2013) awards and has been journeying in recent years to a more experimental sound work. https://alejandrovargas.info/

Xelís de Toro is a Galician multi-awarded writer and performer based in the UK. He has worked in theatre, live art, performance as a solo artist, in a duo laboratoro and is the vocalist of the Brighton based band chopchop. https://xelisdetoro.net/