Speaking Towards One Another is a series of interdisciplinary staged performances for voice, live electronics, video, wearable performance technology, and British Sign Language. The first full performance will be premiered in Inspace in May 2025 as part of a video and sound installation, co-created by Oana Stanciu, Anne Kjær, Stephanie Lamprea, and Yuki Neoh
Speaking Towards One Another project is created and performed by Stephanie Lamprea (soprano), Yuki Neoh (performer), Megan McArthur (performer), Oana Stanciu (video art), Jen McGregor (dramaturg), Anne Kjær (video dramaturg and performer), and Tim Cooper & Alistair MacDonald (live electronics).
The installation for Speaking Towards One Another is co-created by Oana Stanciu, Anne Kjær, Stephanie Lamprea, and Yuki Neoh. It features multi-screen projections of ‘moving portraits’ and a music composition by Wende Bartley, performed by Stephanie Lamprea. By exploring images of public identity, gender performativity, female presence, expression, and testimony, the moving images seek to subvert the male gaze and become figures of power in the public space.
The work is inspired by the ideas and works of Peruvian opera singer Yma Sumac, American writer and performer Adah Isaacs Menken, Spanish D/deaf nun and writer Teresa de Cartagena, American dancer Isadora Duncan, and Romanian dancer Miriam Răducanu. The film incorporates distortions and assemblages of bodies, moving portraits with object manipulation, and abstractions of British Sign Language.
The work is filmed and edited by Stanciu and performed by Kjær, Lamprea, and Neoh. Music is composed by Bartley and performed by Lamprea.
Speaking Towards One Another is made possible with funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Hope Scott Trust, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Make It Happen Fund, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities with support from Inspace Gallery and the Institute for Design Informatics.
Exhibition details:
Dates: 23-28 May 2025
Times: 10:00-17:00 daily | Free/Drop-in
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Performance Details
This unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance.
Date: 22nd May 2025
Time: 18:00 – 20:30
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Access Statement: The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music, a live BSL translator, and printed programmes with all texts spoken, sung, and signed in the performance.
Artists
Stephanie Lamprea – creative director and performer
Yuki Neoh – performer
Oana Stanciu – video artist
Megan McArthur – performance interpreter (integrated)
Jen McGregor – dramaturg (live performance)
Anne Kjær – performer and dramaturg (installation)
Alistair MacDonald – live electronics
Tim Cooper – sound design
Composers
Live Performance
Amble Skuse
Laura Bowler
Rebecca Saunders
Stuart MacRae
Tom W. Green
Installation
Wende Bartley
About Inspace
Inspace is part of the Institute for Design Informatics and is a collaborative hub, commissioning and producing creative activity. Our public programme connects data, research and creative talent. We host events and exhibitions where people can explore, learn, debate and create. Our programme unlocks digital technologies, tools and data and explores their role in society through a creative lens. We are home to Inspace City Screens, a unique seven screen street front projection space visible from Potterrow in Edinburgh.