I am a director, maker and performer. My work is an on going process. I do not settle into one specific methodology or frame. My work is the voice for how I feel and live as an artist and feminist fairy with an edge to resist specialisation or branding. I am a multidisciplinary artists.
I have been conducting a microscopic study about the role improvisation plays in real time composition integrating live music, movement, film, soundtracks, objects and text for over 40 years. My performances are about the experience of being there. My practice is a reflection of what I believe time art can only be; “Live”.
I have developed a research to conduct a tight rehearsal process towards a loose performance based on my background and obsession to respect, study and mix time art disciplines.
Public, in my performances, are witnesses and the main provider for how the piece is perceived . My performances are a sound driven space with a flirtation to engage a public to remember what they have seen, heard and felt long after the performance has died.
My work begins in the mid 1970’s. Some pieces were short lived, some long term then put to sleep. I prefer to place, on this page, my millennium projects that had, or still have long term.
SOLOS
The Day After 2024 (Ongoing)
I was inspired to create The day after after I did a duet with, 85 year old musician, Mohammad Mahdi Behrad in December 2023. Behrad learned the art of Ney as a child from shepherds in the mountain foothills of Northern Iran. His music is hypnotic.
I have created movement, film, and text that is played in an hypnotic atmosphere, based on the diversity of the mind; Living in the river of what we believe is normal or real, swimming in the noisy reality of how the mind is private. “I know I am here, I can not know if you are here”.
The Day After is designed to be played in diverse platforms; small scale theatres, galleries, studios and domestic situations. Solo with my soundtrack and/or film, and/or with live musicians.
The Day After is a fresh piece” I have played: (On my own) Impulse festival, Salzburg, Austria March 2024. / (On my own) Exhibition-Gallery, Arnhem, Netherlands, April 2024. / (With Live musicians) Ashburton Arts Center, Devon, UK, November 2024. / (With Mohammad Mahdi Behrad, live music), Ventilator Cinema OT301 Amsterdam, Netherlands, December 18, 2024, and GO Theatre, Leerdam, Netherlands, January 12, 2025.
CAGE – A solo with invitations for collaborations with artists – 2015 to 2024 (sleep)
Cage evolved out of duet project I did in 2012 with the extraordinary dance and visual artist, Yolanda Snaith. When we resolved our collaboration, I decided to remake materials I had found in our duet, and create a solo score with duet as a part of it’s concept.
The solo score had a theatrical theme provided by a black dress, chair, three wigs, text, movement, soundtrack and film. The text was non narrative based on four titles ; “The institutionalisation of Everything. Love. The Anatomy of the Vagina. Death”.
The solo score was used in the rehearsal processes in collaborations with performance artists, dancers, musicians and actresses, where ever I toured in world.
The text was placed in and around body, space, sound and objects that were discovered with collaborating artist, in each location. I used the same film, played behind the performance as a score for the light design. I redesigned the sound track for each event according to what the guest artists added from their culture. My concept was for that artists to voice their cultural and personal expression, treating me as a visitor.
I did collaborations in the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Hong Kong, Slovania, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain…… on and on….. in countries, with artists, all over the world.
I have closed this piece with a memory of the many performances and collaborations with artists. I learned that the institutionalisation of everything is happening all over the world and, unfortunately, it is increasing daily.
Traces of Casualty – Crazy –an investigation into the homeless and mental health. 2012 to 2014 (sleep)
This piece was performed as a solo in diverse situations; galleries, intimate theatres and studios. I worked with musician Alfredo Genovesi, and with Korean film artist, Jong-kag Park, who created the mood of the subject in music and film. I made this piece with the intention to play it in unexpected locations, using text, movement, live music, soundtracks, costume, and objects.
I have closed this piece with the memory of Alfredo Genovesi’s vibrating ear, and the keen eye of Jong-kag Park, and the loss I feel, when considering that homelessness has indeed increasingly grown.
DUETS
Abandon Human 2016 to 2025 (Ongoing)
What is important about Abandon Human is that the two performer/writers, Katie Duck and Sharon Smith, are in their 70’s and 50’s. They have worked and played together for twenty years. They are female. They are ‘unruly women’ (behaving inappropriately especially for their age and stature).
The title was a combination of ‘abandon ship’ and some sort of ‘you can’t run away from yourself’ reality check. Somehow, ‘being human’ is what we are stuck with. Abandon human is like a punk band. It feels like a gig.
It is structured by a pre-recorded sound score of chaos and songs, songs written by women, songs written by women, for men. The performers in Abandon Human try to ‘get off, shake off, escape’ the shabby constructs that define them, position and police them.
Abandon Human has it’s own website: https://abandonhuman.com/ Go here for further text, visuals a booking information.
Julyen Hamilton and Katie Duck duet project 2012 to 2025 (Ongoing)
Creation and performance Julyen Hamilton and Katie Duck
Julyen and I met in the late 70’s and have continued to have a deep relationship about our work and lives. Since 2012 we have done a one night, duet performance in Amsterdam.
Each year Julyen chooses a title. We meet before the performance. We play with light, object (table, chair, or sofa), movement and text. Each performance is fresh off the back of the year before.
The performances take place at the OT301 cultural centre. During the pandemic we did our performance in my Attic Studio space. 2024, it was held in the Ventilator cinema located on the third floor of the OT301 building. We will meet there once again in 2025.
“Corona Princess – The dairy of a quarantine Artist”. A soundtrack and film series. Not to be played live.
At the beginning of the pandemic I was in quarantine. I made a series of films in my Attic Studio in my home. Social media became an outlet for teaching and performing. I hoped that the series would be a reminder of how the pandemic affected our lives day to day and our futures. It seems to me that everyone has quickly forgotten?
Each of the films run 3 to 4 minutes, with individual themes: Love, Hope, Daughter, Autonomy, Distance, Alone.
GROUPS (Ongoing)
Since 1985 until now, I have been invited to create compositions for groups all over the world. These pieces were usually performed short term. Occasionally, groups were able to tour the composition for a period of time in their country. Group project invitations come from academies, companies, bands, and workshops. The artists range from musicians, singers, dancers, performance artists and actors.
In my group work I use a theme or storyboard as a spine for process, with a plan to transform the theatre with light and music designs. My projects are, ideally, a group with a mix of disciplines. If it is a specialised situation, I invite individuals to explore alternative disciplines; hidden gifts they have perhaps, never explored.
The bulk of my group processes is a workshop that provides a platform for me to discover who they are as individual artists, and prepare them to make choices in real time.
My aim is to direct a tight rehearsal process that results in a performance that is played loose. My objective is to insure that the event is readable for public’s. My wish is to leave each of the individuals with a unique experience to access in their future work as artists.
In an alternative group situation, I advice dancers, musicians, actors and singers, their composition processes. I do tutorials, lectures, assignments, and advise their choice of disciplines, themes, scoring and writing. These processes are usually conducted over a long period of time, with breaks in between for them to study on their own.
Videos of the pieces on this page – Corona Princess, Solos and Duets