Engagement
Since June 2012 Neil Luck and has led collaborative projects with students, children, and the public.
Sometimes as himself, with ARCO, with other musicians, and with university departments Neil has devised and led activities for the Tate Britain and Tate Modern galleries, University of York, as well as other arts institutions.
Telemusic
A project co-led with Federico Reuben and over 100 students at the University of York. University of York 'Practical Project' 2020.
York Practical Project
Every year, the University of York’s Music Department runs a Practical Project involving all first-year undergraduate students and many second and third years, in an intensive five-week rehearsal period culminating in a succession of public performances. Due to COVID-19 this year running the project was very challenging due to the changing restrictions and due to many students having to self-isolate. In the end, the public performances had to be cancelled, but instead students devised and produced a film/documentary and an interactive website.
Telemusic
The project this year was called Telemusic, and it explored the idea of music and distance, and was inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen’s electronic composition Telemusik and his 1972 lecture about the piece.
The 8-14's Thing
In 2016 Neil Luck and Aya Kobayshi led a series of workshops with children aged 8-14 at both the Tate Britain and Tate Modern.
The project explored approaches to creative thinking, making work, sound and movement. The outcomes of the project were exhibited for a month at the Tate Modern Switch House.
A video of our regular warm up can be seen below. Film by Hydar Dewachi.
Photos are from the final installation at Tate Exchange (Tate Modern Level 5)
Table Top Music-Theatre
In August 2016 Neil Luck and ARCO were invited to create an interactive musical experience for children at the V&A Museum of Childhood.
Inspired by the museum's vast collection of miniature theatres and dolls houses, children were given the opportunity to create to create their own music-theatre pieces, manipulating objects in a table top 'black box' that was magnified by a projector and screen. Neil Luck & Benedict Taylor provided live, improvised musical responses.
The performance was adapted in 2018 in response to the Joan Jonas retrospective at Tate Modern.
Skip to 7 minutes to see footage from the V&A
The Young Person's Guide to Radical Music
In June 2012 ARCO presented an interactive music-theatre piece at the Tate Britain, London. Participants were involved in preparing, restraining and restricting the performers as they performed live.
The performance featured Neil Luck, Adam de la Cour, Richard Thomas and Sam Rice.
Congregations
In September 2012 ARCO presented a new interactive work at The Tate Modern ‘Tanks’ space. Four performers seated in front of speakers interacted in various ways with participants vocalising into radio mics spread throughout the space. The performance featured Neil Luck, Sam Rice, Adam de la Cour, Tom Jackson and Lawrence Tatnall.
In July 2014 ARCO presented an interactive event connected to the Tate Britain show 'British Folk Art'. Three troubadours (Neil Luck, Adam de la Cour, Stanley Bád) improvised an ongoing folk ballad, the musical and lyrical content of which was controlled and directed by participants choice of everyday (or 'contemporary folk') props and objects.
Troubadours
Copyright: Tate Britain
Strange Songs and Stories
In August 2017 the V&A Museum of Childhood invited Neil to contribute an activity to a day of participatory events relating to an exhibition of the author Michael Morpurgo’s work.
Strange Songs and Stories involved creating weird, absurd stories by collaging together characters and plot points conjured up children. These stories were then stitched together, narrated, and enacted by two opera singers - Oliver Brignall and Sarah Dacey.
Scroll
In November 2013 ARCO presented an interactive piece in Tate Britain's Duveen galleries as part of the Time Loop 2-day festival.
The public were encouraged to create, erase, layer, destroy and paste on an evolving 6 metre-long graphic score. Tom Jackson (sax) and Benedict Taylor (viola) were on hand to interpret it live, as it was created.
BP Family Festival: Time Loop. Photographer: James Harris. Copyright Tate.
In February 2013 ARCO presented a new interactive work in the Tate Britain Duveen Gallery. Two performers (Elo Masing; vn, Tom Jackson; Cl), and various pieces of performance paraphenalia were moved around, restricted, pulled around, and toppled by Marionette-like wires operated remotely by the public.
A bizarre fusion of new music and slapstick comedy, this work was described by one participant as "the most inspiring thing I've experienced, ever".
SLAPSNAPSTICKPIZZ
Skip to 3:48 to see some video footage of the performance
Sonic Portraits
In July 2013 ARCO presented an interactive piece at the Tate Britain's historical galleries as part of the 'Big and small' programme. Members of the public were invited to choose words to describe members of their families, using these as a basis to create, in collaboration with live musicians, short sonic portraits.
The performance featured Neil Luck, Lawrence Tatnall (trombone) and Enrico Bertelli (percussion/e-percussion).
