As the culmination of her Connect/Exchange residency at Stills Gallery, Kimberley O’Neill will present a workshop event on her research around Rough Music. The workshop will be led by invited artists and musicians Julia Scott and Fritz Welch, who will offer exercises and games to explore collective music and noise making. We will play with the untrained voice and body and instruments made from household objects so no musical skill or performance experience is required to participate. This workshop imagines itself as a preparation for protest as well as a collective space of expression.

Rough Music is a term that describes a number of folk rituals performed by working class communities from the 16th–19th centuries. These rowdy public processions were accompanied by discordant music performed on household implements. Rough Music was an opportunity for people to mock authority, openly flouting the law and social norms. During the workshop O’Neill will share her research, which covers crowd dynamics, contagious energy, and public noise as a productive force or form of acoustic punishment.

This workshop is free and open to all, no musical or performance experience required.