1997 - 2001

demo/text

demo/text evolved from our various text-music experiments, as a way of challenging writers to create new work for performance with improvising musicians.
there were 5 projects between 1997 and 2001.
the intention behind demo/text was to liberate language from books, to find ways for new writers and musicians to perform their work in an unusual but also a professional way. demo/text presented writing as an active, projective art intimately related to the other performing arts. Participants were urged at every stage of the process to stretch themselves, and to try ways of working which they may not have tried before.

Mike Hoy, Sean Burn
Dave Kane & Cheryl Martin
performing in demo/text 2001
at The Showroom, Sheffield.
In the background, Matt Black
& Keith Jafrate, performing at
Modal 2001 in the same venue.

demo/text gave writers and musicians the chance to experiment and collaborate with new ways of working and new approaches to performance. Initially, each participant created a new text/music performance piece over a period of a month, through a series of workshops in creative writing, music, work on the voice and stagecraft. In the last two projects (2000 & 2001), these separate pieces were blended into a continuous performance. The project culminated with public showcases of this new work, initially as part of Huddersfield Poetry Festival, but later as demo/text events in their own right. demo/text in 2000 took place in 3 locations, and the last demo/text project in 2001 went on an 8-date national tour.

There were usually four artists involved as tutors, all available throughout the project, which had a maximum of eight participants, and so one of the project's best qualities was the opportunity for in-depth, one-to-one work. There was always a free-flowing, collaborative process going on, and the results were always truly group efforts. One of the things we always asked of participants was that they support each other, and this led to some astounding results, perhaps the best being the collaboration between Anthony Shearn and Matt Black in
the performance of Anthony's piec
the body speaking
in 1998.

what happened to demo/text?
it divided and evolved,
feeding into our development work
and orfeo 5

We didn't demand that every piece be a finished work, in fact we enjoyed the performance of work-in-progress for its spontaneity and excitement. There was always a sense of the work evolving through performance, and this became especially fascinating in the last 2 projects, through multiple performances of the work we had created.

Scott Murfin's piece
researching oblivion
was written for demo/text
in spring 1998