It was as a while that I didnt listen to something without skipping. Nice one

For this episode of Transience we have invited expert improvisor and cosmic angel, Dan Nicholls to create a 90 minute journey to alleviate our physical realm anxieties. I've been following Dan's work for many years and am very happy that the stars finally align to host them live from the Cashmere Studio to begin the weekend's programmation. I love the way Dan is able to create such detailed sound worlds that invite us to meander about in them, sway like spores or lay gently nestled in their foliage. For this occassion we sat on the floor of the Cashmere Radio studio in the same space as the audience with a few cushions and Dan’s live setup. Having spent the previous night dancing we were super relaxed and ready to continue the adventure. We arrived at the studio with no real plan, wondering about how to start and what kind of sounds the set might begin with. Despite the not knowing, we both had total trust and a willingness to surrender to the moment.

Dan sees improvising as a way to bypass certain tendencies we might have to control and rationalise; to get in the way of the story or the energetic flow. A personal process of deconstructing, unravelling and healing – but more importantly an experience of playful sharing, creating sonic spaces that the listener can inhabit. The set features an improvised text by Dan’s child Liv, which touches on our origins in the cosmos and the vital need to listen to our bodies. This monologue is spoken in a dream-like imaginary voice, refracting some of the ideas that Liv has been exposed to and has intuitively felt. A different kind of truthful speech. So in a sense, it does with a child’s freedom and clarity of thought what this collection of improvised sounds and imaginary landscapes also hopes to do.

We invite you all to listen to your bodies and your hearts, and lay down to embark on this journey back to our stars.

Photography by Micki Rosi Richter

transience #48 with dan nicholls (live)

This is the archive of our regular show on Cashmere Radio, Berlin. 

It is undeniable that we are living in uncertain times. For those of us failing - or refusing - to fit the patriarchal, racist, neoliberal mould we have lost hope in the future. We can see capitalism is not working but we cannot yet envisage an alternative. We discover that the stability we were instructed to obtain whether it be financial, political or ecological, is fleeting, if at all. The resulting anxiety is an instrument of neoliberalism that prevents many of us from being able to raise consciousness of the structural injustices that alienate us.

In a world where security is no longer feasible, the only constant we can rely on is change. Barad teaches us that the world is a dynamic process of intra-activity and materialisation, an ongoing ebb and flow of agency. The Buddhist Law of Impermanence proves that nothing in this world is eternal. Regardless of ones point of reference we can understand that every aspect of life, physical and mental is in flux and perhaps this transience is the only thing we can depend on.

Each month host @lou_drago invites an artist to ruminate on these ideas and create an hour of relief from these anxieties. A temporary suspension of reality, where the listener can speculate on alternate futures free from all systems of oppression.

Photographs 1-30: courtesy Ángela de la Serna
(except 25: courtesy of Sybil @syberkid)
Photographs 31 onward: courtesy Janusz Lorent (except from 37 with is a digital colourfield work by @ligovskoi) 
42 until now’s photographs are from Micki Rosi Richter (except 43 which is another digital colourfield work by @Ligovskoi.)

Cover art by Micki Rosi Richter

Contact: lou.drago @ pm.me

past listening occasions: 

kwia, berlin ~ 19 january 2025
with :
olle holmberg
marum
yuri shimaoka 
lou drago

kwia, berlin ~ 9 may 2024
with: 
ligovskoï
dan nicholls
yuri shimaoka
lou drago

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