two performers

11 minutes

In Laughter Studies 1, two performers describe and imitate an audio score using their voices. At first, the score consists of fast-changing field recordings – all manner of sounds from natural, physical, digital, and artificial realms. The focus then shifts to the sound of a jazz band, a home recording made by someone in the audience at the time. The final section explores the sounds of two different people crying. Throughout the piece, these materials are combined in different ways, are associated and dissociated with each other.

The Laughter Studies series is based around performers verbally describing and vocally imitating assembled collages of sounds communicated via headphones. The focus of the pieces is on each individual performer's spontaneous reactions to the sounds. In each case, their personal relationship with material from everyday life is foregrounded.