Leona Jones: Women Make Music
An eight-channel sensuous, imaginative, labyrinthine sonic immersion created from Voice
A sensuous eight-channel sound installation created from Voice in which sounds crack open conventional language to immerse the listener in a complex labyrinth comprising sonic colour, texture, sense and non-sense, questioning innate imperfections of our digital age.
During lockdown Leona Jones and her colleague/mentor Caroline Wilkins had long-distance discussions about the rush on-line and the torrent of digital information forced to substitute for so much previously gained from live gatherings. Everyone listened to and watched each other virtually even more than previously, creating an on-line infostorm. Does digital technology enable an ever-expanding world of increased freedom and power? Or is this an illusion? How can an individual protect themselves from being rendered inert by overload? Big questions. Questions that generated this project. The installation will be an aesthetic experience, but will also spark debate around surveillance, mental health, community and exclusion, and the role of Sound as an artform in its own right. Premiering in The Engine Room, Somerset, in conjunction with Bridgwater Quayside Festival 2023 the work will remain open for two weeks, and potential exists for installation in other venues around the country. Leona’s cross-disciplinary practice explores the hardlyheard and underseen, creating events/performances/installations which reach into an audience’s imagination, encouraging their ability to listen. She gained her MA Performance Writing from Dartington/Falmouth University.