Text by CLOT Magazine
Cryptic, the Glasgow-based internationally-renowned producing art house founded by Cathie Boyd in 1994, has continued its popular Sonic Bites digital series. Giving paid work to 32 freelance creatives since launching in September 2020, all of the artists programmed for Sonic Bites 2021 were selected through Cryptic Nights open call, giving them a much-needed digital platform to continue to develop and present their work during the pandemic.
Broadcasting for free at 13.00 GMT (and available for 24 hours) on the second and fourth Thursday of every month, Sonic Bites offers viewers a welcome lunchtime escape from emails and online meetings, inviting them to down tools and indulge in some digital delights to invigorate and inspire for the afternoon ahead.
For this week (and still on view) Sonic bites are presenting the work of Eloise Kretschmer and Sean Lìonadh, who began to collaborate and explore the experience of containment within lockdown. Producing a mesmerising series of singular static frames of the film matched with frenzied and frenetic music, drawing on electronic as well as Kretschmer’s classical background, Still Sound portrays a range of emotional states experienced throughout this period… drifting from day to day, feeling to feeling.
The next one will be on 8th April, with Christian-Alexandru Popa’s On a boat with rails. A poetic, cinematic flow exploring the memories sound and film, when fused together, can evoke. His work is an audiovisual narrative, a diary that documents and reflects his creative process, whilst playing with viewers’ own personal perceptions and recollections. Taking much of his inspiration from nature, there is a familiarity in what we see and hear, but the enchanting and expressive combination of sound design and image, juxtaposed with violin improvisation, also opens up new possibilities and inspires new ideas.
