The first Sonic Vigil initiated by Cork Artist Collective took place in November 2005 as part of the Art Trail programme. Curated by Mick O’Shea and project managed by Mary Cremin, the 12-hour marathon session included 25 sound artists performing from 15 minutes past 12 noon to 15 minutes past midnight. The performers were free to choose a location, or roam the Cathedral and interact with the space, the visitors and the other performers.

With acts coming from Dublin, Limerick, Waterford and as far afield as Germany  and America this promises to be one of the sonic highlights of the year. Among the acts appearing are Tony Langlois and Harry Moore, MERSK, Anthony Kelly & David Stalling, Concerned Parasites ubh Kürka Gweenagh, The Quiet Club, Christian Carley & Jesse Ronneau, Yo-Yo Club, Barry John Maher, Linda O’Keeffe, SAFE, KFDS, miXile, Daniel Weiss and Kevin Tuohy.

One particularly special guest is Daniel Weiss, a German sound artist and physicist from Berlin. Weiss will be doing a sonic drawing with Mick O’Shea and also performing on the Luxophon, a self made instrument. The Luxophon was created by Weiss in 2001, having been based on the solar sound modules by Ralf Schreiber. It’s an instrument that uses small solar panels and analogue circuit to generate various sound pattern which depends on the amount of light that reaches the surface of the solar panels.

“The participants were selected because of the quality of their work and whilst they might be varied they have quality in common along with their ability to improvise and work in unusual situations,” says curator Mick O’Shea. “Working in a place like St Fin Barr’s Cathedral is so very different to working anywhere else so we needed artists who could adopt and make full use of such a space and with artists coming from all over the country we feel we have achieved that mix. We expect that the artists performing will react with the wonderful architecture of the space and explore it sonically and in turn create some new and exciting works.”

Another very special highlight of this years event will be the inclusion of the Yo-Yo Club a new and innovative film and video collective whose works will feature in between the music and sound events and sometimes during them. “The visual aspect of the show comes through a presentation of new works by the Yo Yo Club featuring Irene Murphy Colette Nolan and Clair Guerin amongst others,” says O’Shea. “It features collaboration amongst artists and the collaborators were selected some months ago by drawing names from a hat in the cathedral and each pair drawn then had to create a work together. They will be shown as installations around the cathedral and can be heard on headphones. They will run throughout the afternoon.”

Sonic Vigil is an event not to be missed with audiences free to come and go as they please over the course of the afternoon. It is due to commence at 2pm and finish at 8pm.

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