Since 2017 I have had the privilege of being involved with Steve Fowler’s Poem Brut project. Alongside exhibiting works, I have engaged in performances exploring the interaction of material, sound and semi-ritualistic processes. Originally no conscious intent or theoretical agenda lay behind them - what drove these performances was instinct, affect and an inclination towards uncensored creation.
However, as I have performed more frequently I have become more aware of connections I feel my performances have with the theories and work of neuroscientists, psychologists and therapists such as Antonio Damasio, Bessel van der Kolk, Dan Hughes and Margot Sutherland. Each in their own way is concerned with emotions and the embodied nature of consciousness. I see the performances as an opportunity to put body, emotion and senses upfront. My aim is to take risks, become vulnerable and trust in a form of communication beyond words.
My Poem Brut commission, generously supported by Serendip, is a collaboration with poet, visual artist and performer Paul Hawkins. So far the project has concentrated on sound, with Paul developing my chants, murmurings and pseudo-songs into new musical/ sound art creations. We plan to use these as the basis of future visual/ film based live performances for Poem Brut.
Patrick Cosgrove is a London based artist. His work utilizes the body, collage, text, sound/voice, digital, moving image, paper, paint, felt tip, biro, found objects etc. His work often begins with something ready-to-hand or discarded and develops from there.