Tectonics 2022 Artist Profile
Amber Priestley
Born in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains, I have been called a score-maker, because the physical process of making scores by hand is central to my artistic practice, as is the visual aspect of the completed score, especially the play between notational markings and the simple but elegant staves in conjunction with the materiality of paper.
My usual technology is pen and ruler, but for For Jocelyn Bell Burnell, I enjoyed the click-clack of my wireless mouse & the fn button on my borrowed keyboard.
Some performances include: k. 581 (but not quite his way) (Heather Roche, hcmf//); There, I’ve said it, I’ve put my cards on the table. (London Sinfonietta commission); Repeat yourself until friends are embarrassed (CME, Goldsmith’s commission), and Ev’ry evening, ev’ry day (LCO Soloists with Mira Benjamin, nu:nord commission).
For Jocelyn Bell Burnell
I never even knew what a pulsar was before listening to an interview with the eminent astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell; on6/8/1967 she witnessed CP 1919, the first sighting ever of this object. Through generous discussions with her, I imagined—through the filter of an orchestra—radio interference together with the regularity of the rhythm given off by a pulsar. My translation of this phenomenon is just one way that it can be heard.
