A Symbiotic Symphonic Movement review: A triptych of experimental compositions casts a spell

A Symbiotic Symphonic Movement

National Botanic Gardens

★★★★☆

The relationship between music and plant growth has been a hot button for the scientific community since the early 1970s, when various practitioners, including Dorothy Retallack, found that flora preferred Louis Armstrong to Led Zeppelin and dissonant noises.

That research has been largely discredited. So we can only wonder what the vegetation of the magnificent Glasnevin glasshouse known as Teak House, at the National Botanic Gardens, will have made of the frequently discordant sounds of the Symbiotic Symphonic Movement.

The experimental collective, instigated by the visionary Dublin artist Laura Skehan, has responded to the environmentally motivated, northern-bound migration of plants with a triptych of compositions. A flickering visual backdrop, marrying sound-waves and the shadow of a monolithic succulent, establishes the speculative tone.

[ Dublin Fringe Festival: Full coverage here ]

The Turkish-born, Berlin-based music producer and DJ Banu Çiçek Tülü opens the set with imaginative, zigzagging sounds pitched somewhere between Nyan Cat and Stockhausen. The Japanese-born, New York-based composer Masaya Ozaki provides the most daring and angular noises of the night, utilising an untuned radio, a pitch pipe, a pendant lampshade and bodily movements. The Irish experimentalist Clíona Ní Laoi provides an avant-garde rendition of a Buddhist gong ceremony, replete with resonant bowls and birdsong.

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Over the hour-long recital, even the squawkiest passages cast a spell. Some attendees bow their heads in a liminal trance; others lie down and absorb the noise. The vast ceilings and splendid light of the historic structure, seldom open to the public after 5pm, add to the magic of magic hour. By the end of the performance some intrigued local tabby cats have crept up to the historic structure for a sneaky peek.

Continues at the National Botanic Gardens, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, until Monday, September 11th