Friday Lates: August
An evening of live activations featuring Sister Midnight, Jacken Elswyth and Vocal Constructivists, responding to Tai Shani's The Spell or The Dream in the courtyard.
Booking advised, Walk-ups welcome. This is an 18+ event.
| Dates | Fri 15 Aug 2025 |
| Times | 6pm-9.30pm |
| Space | Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court |
| Price | Free |
For the first Friday Late, the courtyard will be taken over by residents from South London cooperative organisation and radio station Sister Midnight, along with live performances by Vocal Constructivists and Jacken Elswyth, folk musician, banjo player and member of Shovel Dance Collective.
image: Jacken Elswyth. Courtesy of the Artist.
image: Vocal Constructivists perform Lektura at The Forge, 2012. Photograph: Monika Chilicka
image: Lottie, Lenny & Sophie of Sister Midnight
Artists In Residence
Biographies
Sister Midnight
Sister Midnight is a community co-op based in Catford, South East London, who are working to create community-led spaces for culture in Lewisham Borough. Made up of over 1000 members and led by Lenny Watson, Sophie Farrell, and Lottie Pendlebury, the collective is currently working to open a community owned music venue in Catford centre, and also runs a grassroots radio station based in Hither green.
Jacken Elswyth
Jacken Elswyth is a London-based folk musician, banjo player, and instrument builder. In her music making she is focused on exploring traditional tunes, developing extrapolations on folk styles and techniques, and investigating drone, ambience, and improvisation within and beyond folk music. She organises the Betwixt & Between tape series as one avenue of these investigations. She plays and records solo and in collaboration - with Shovel Dance Collective, Sullow, and others. She also builds and repairs banjos and other instruments, with a focus on folk craft and vernacular styles. This practice and these instruments inform and facilitate her music making.
Vocal Constructivists
Founded in 2011 by Jane Alden, the experimental Vocal Constructivists have premiered over 25 new works. Offering radical new interpretations, they were the first ensemble to give a sung performance of Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise (1964–67). Among the composers with whom they have collaborated are Mark Applebaum, Wojtek Blecharz, Anthony Braxton, Neely Bruce, Jin-Hi Kim, Ron Kuivila, Paula Matthusen, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Michael Parsons, Tom Phillips, Lauren Redhead, Christian Wolff.
Vivid concert presentations have led to invited performances at Café Oto, Peckham multi-storey car park, St John’s Smith Square, South London Gallery, Pentameters’ fringe theatre, and festivals in the UK, Ireland, and the US. After staging Tom Phillips’ 1969 opera Irma, the Vocal Constructivists were invited to realise the Scratch Orchestra’s contribution to the history of writing at the British Library.
Committed to cross-generational work, they adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic by launching an online youth participation scheme, a festival across five time zones, and a collective performance curated by a cyborg editor. In 2021, their recording of Oliveros’ Sound Patterns played every 30 minutes at Tabakalera Contemporary Art Centre in San Sebastián, Spain. The group regularly includes collaborations with dancers, including Linn D. and Hari Krishnan, a Bharatanatyam dancer and scholar who specializes in contemporary global dance styles and queer, anti-racist and anti-caste social critique.
Coming from diverse backgrounds, with ages ranging from under 20 to over 80, the Vocal Constructivists draw on a variety of artistic influences—classical, international, avant-garde, eclectic, and dramatic. Their album, Walking Still, is available on the Innova label (#898) and the group is on Instagram @vocalconstructivists and at www.vocalconstructivists.com.
Part of The Spell or The Dream, a major new commission by Somerset House Studios artist Tai Shani. Centered around a striking new sculpture for the Somerset House courtyard, this multifaceted work includes a 24/7 radio broadcast, live talks and performances, and an extensive family programme, inviting a host of guest contributors to collectively dream of possible futures.