BREATH QUARTET - SPRING EQUINOX (2024)
Breath Quartet @ Long Sands Beach, Tynemouth, North Shields on 20th March 2024: Spring Equinox Sunrise: 06:06 am
‘WE HAVE ALWAYS WALKED’ is Breath Quartet’s third collaboration celebrating the season change and performing an improvised ritual for our common ancestors. This project is a special one, speaking directly to all the world’s wanderers, pilgrims, uprooted and displaced souls, searchers, explorers, the curious, the lost, the broken, the found, the confused, those grieving, those weeping, those singing, those praying, those speaking, sharing, laughing, teaching, learning, passing on wisdom, exchanging gifts, cooking, eating, sleeping, sheltering, healing, leading, following, holding hands, holding each other, loving each other, loving, breathing, breathing, loving, smiling, hearing each other, heading towards and from the horizon, heading towards and from the sea, sharing a common ancestral thread, sharing common ancestors, hearing them whisper with every step ‘we have always walked, we have always walked….we have always walked….’ @margot_wilson_art @patrickziza @jamesmerrellphotography & marcusherne.com @breathquartet.
‘WE HAVE ALWAYS WALKED’ is Breath Quartet’s third collaboration celebrating the season change and performing an improvised ritual for our common ancestors. This project is a special one, speaking directly to all the world’s wanderers, pilgrims, uprooted and displaced souls, searchers, explorers, the curious, the lost, the broken, the found, the confused, those grieving, those weeping, those singing, those praying, those speaking, sharing, laughing, teaching, learning, passing on wisdom, exchanging gifts, cooking, eating, sleeping, sheltering, healing, leading, following, holding hands, holding each other, loving each other, loving, breathing, breathing, loving, smiling, hearing each other, heading towards and from the horizon, heading towards and from the sea, sharing a common ancestral thread, sharing common ancestors, hearing them whisper with every step ‘we have always walked, we have always walked….we have always walked….’ @margot_wilson_art @patrickziza @jamesmerrellphotography & marcusherne.com @breathquartet.
BREATH QUARTET - WINTER SOLSTICE EXTENDED (2024)
Full version improvised performance at The Safehouse, Peckham, London on 21st January 2024.
ABOUT BREATH QUARTET
Breath Quartet is an improvisational collaboration between myself, Marcus Herne, Patrick Ziza and James Merrell. Using experimental and traditional tantric and shamanic breath practices such as kundalini 'breath of fire' my body is both percussion and wind instrument. This film shows our first live collaboration performed at Powerhouse Studios in Surrey. Inspiration was drawn from my ongoing research into protoconsciousness and proto-emergence and theories such as 'the orchestral universe' led by Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose. Earlier this year I attended and shared my research at the Science of Consciousness Conference in Sicily. I came away with deep awe at the role of microtubules in orchestral consciousness. As a life long practitioner of experimental meditation and energy channelling the notion of the cosmos and consciousness being musical resonates for me. Our Breath Quartet improvisations invoke ancestral voices, rhythms, and spiral flow that circulate fluidly throughout the 'body' of the quartet. Improvisational collaboration is a generative space and place for a nameless, post-ontological breath to be heard, felt, shared, inhabited, inhaled, exhaled, elevated, levitated.
Marcus Herne's original Celtic and shamanic sounds weave a sonic spectacle that urge both performers and audience to raise arms, spreads wings, and fly.
Patrick Ziza's continuous flow traces the bends and pulses of the cosmic waves. James Merrell's presence and ethereal eye captures the beautiful collective organ of breath. Breath Quartet is committed to one thing, the universal basis of human life: breath. At the end of the performance we concluded that the improvisation was 'not a performance', neither was it a 'happening'. We're sitting with this.
Breath Quartet is an improvisational collaboration between myself, Marcus Herne, Patrick Ziza and James Merrell. Using experimental and traditional tantric and shamanic breath practices such as kundalini 'breath of fire' my body is both percussion and wind instrument. This film shows our first live collaboration performed at Powerhouse Studios in Surrey. Inspiration was drawn from my ongoing research into protoconsciousness and proto-emergence and theories such as 'the orchestral universe' led by Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose. Earlier this year I attended and shared my research at the Science of Consciousness Conference in Sicily. I came away with deep awe at the role of microtubules in orchestral consciousness. As a life long practitioner of experimental meditation and energy channelling the notion of the cosmos and consciousness being musical resonates for me. Our Breath Quartet improvisations invoke ancestral voices, rhythms, and spiral flow that circulate fluidly throughout the 'body' of the quartet. Improvisational collaboration is a generative space and place for a nameless, post-ontological breath to be heard, felt, shared, inhabited, inhaled, exhaled, elevated, levitated.
Marcus Herne's original Celtic and shamanic sounds weave a sonic spectacle that urge both performers and audience to raise arms, spreads wings, and fly.
Patrick Ziza's continuous flow traces the bends and pulses of the cosmic waves. James Merrell's presence and ethereal eye captures the beautiful collective organ of breath. Breath Quartet is committed to one thing, the universal basis of human life: breath. At the end of the performance we concluded that the improvisation was 'not a performance', neither was it a 'happening'. We're sitting with this.
This first edit uses only the sound recorded by the Fuji X100 camera. The full length 2.5 hour film will use the studio recording. All breath and vocals are raw and though amplified are not electronically altered.
The location is Powerhouse Recording Studios in Addlestone, Surrey UK. Our next performance will be site-specific and with audience participation.
BREATH QUARTET is seeking galleries and performance venues to expand and experiment with this investigative practice. Initially interested in locations in London, New York, Europe.
MAA - BODY AS AMPLIFIER (2023)
MA is the signifier for my breath and voice performance art. These four short videos document an improvisation session with composer Marcus Herne. The filming is by photographer James Merrell. Following the breath and charting the geometry of the voice was the aim, amplifying sound as volume and VOLUME. Using my body as vessel and amplifier is critical to this investigation, intersection performance with astrological concepts of the geometry of sound. These are rough cuts with no editing of the soundtrack recorded by the camera. Marcus is currently working with the professional recordings which I'll share in due course. This project builds on my meditation and expanded breath practice and intersection of sentient sculpture and performance.
MAA Tetraptych: 4 AMPLIFICATIONS
This is the warm up session seeking the geometry of connection. Improvisation opens a multi-dimensional space inviting a 'jump on' point or colliding intersection that interrupts the travel of flow. This binding or holding of a collision is a sonic fugue in which spatio-temporal stillness co-exists with expanding forces. In my 20's I listened day and night to Bach and read Douglas Hofstadter's Godel, Esher, Bach, immediately recognising the reality of 'fugue' as the basis of stabliised but not static form. Filming by Sound Design and Original Composing by Marcus Herne, Filming by James Merrell. Editing by Margot Wilson. This is a collaboration project born out of passion for improvisation.
Although titled First MA, it is actually the LAST MA. In terms of improvisation techniques I call it my 'Britney' performance. This will never happen on stage as the vision I have combines my live voice and live music mediated by dimensionalised light and sound as astrological geometry. Filming by Sound Design and Original Composing by Marcus Herne, Filming by James Merrell. Editing by Margot Wilson. This is a collaboration project born out of passion for improvisation. |
This was the most powerful session of the day, one in which I gave myself permission to step fully into Gaia's wound and pain. I wanted to give voice to the rage of planet Earth, of Gaia, of Venus, of the Matriarch forgotten. This was both the easiest and hardest thing I've ever done. More to follow. Filming by James Merrell. Sound Design and Original Composing by Marcus Herne. Editing by Margot Wilson.
Erasure I&II is a Black Box video installation (2023) video, digital display, wood, metal, 40 cm x 38 cm x 28 cm. Live recording single take of my bi-handed drawing studio practice using chalk and eraser. Inspired by Rauschenberg's Erased De Kooning Drawing (1953), Erasure I experiments with spontaneous fluid dual line making, tracing the human figures loosely based on Eadward Muybridge's Human Figure in Motion (1901). My practice aims at a drawing technique that merges breath, motion, and narrative, after which the entire piece is erased. I consider the convention of erasing a work especially liberating, 'freeing up the body and brain to 'play'!' Erasure II performs my newly emerged skill of bi-directional writing, something that occurred during my time on the Royal College of Art Graduate Diploma - Fine Art programme 2022/23.
THE LIGHT BETWEEN US (2023)
All graphical imagery in this piece is organically produced by light and an MDF pegboard (200 x 100 cm). Filmed at night using LED strip lighting. I recorded the humming sound to the video and realised it was the missing lament I was searching for. Camera & Voice Margot Wilson Tech: Sony A7 R3 and Zoom Lens/ iPhone 7+ Edited in Premiere Pro v23.2.0
M25 LAMENT FOR GAIA (2023)
M25 Lament speaks to the intersectional complexity of a life as a borrowed nervous system and the finitudal breath. My sanctuary for 10 years is a houseboat moored on the Basingstoke Canal. The canal was conceived as a waterway to stimulate colonial trade. Her stillness reflects the underbelly of the M25, its pillars and trusses and anonymous graffiti tattoos. A few miles away is Heathrow airport - the sky is crowded. To the left on the other side of the canal is colossal electricity power station. Earth, sky and body buzz. This project overlaps Investigate and Realise projects evolving from raw recording in a ‘hide’ to an urban lament. Voice Margot Wilson & Directing Images James Merrell Sound Design Marcus Herne Video Editing Margot Wilson Fuji GFX100S Camera Premiere Pro v23.3.0
BLUE MEDITATION: WINTER SOLSTICE (2020)
Film #1 - Winter Solstice (2020): Performance by Margot Wilson, Videography & Photography by James Merrell
Filmed at sunrise, these 60-minute films examine the intersection of light and elevation in the sun and body. Each practice is spontaneous according to the movement of the spiral energy emerging through the body. In this piece, the arms are effortlessly raised for the majority of the experimental meditation performance. This project forms part of my 'embodied emergence' research.
Critical to ‘embodied emergence’ is the circadian nature of waking and sleep and geometry of the bodily postures as horizontal and perpendicular. Falling occurs in sleep, dreaming, and dying, and is a constant of gravity. Elevation occurs in bodily uprightness, dreaming and rising against gravity in all its forms. Embodied emergence here is the constant of gravity and the emergence ‘thickness’ (Lyotard: 1996) and re-emergent rise against gravity. Humans rise and fall each day. The research aims at a view of embodied emergence as the thickness (Lyotard: 1996) between rising and falling, called here, elevation towards levitation. Elevation not only resists gravity but transcends or grasps agency it in dreaming and hypnogogic and hypnopompic visualisation. Meaning, humans as embodied elevation, possess physical and virtual technologies, enabling us agents of own emergence and re-emergence.
Filmed at sunrise, these 60-minute films examine the intersection of light and elevation in the sun and body. Each practice is spontaneous according to the movement of the spiral energy emerging through the body. In this piece, the arms are effortlessly raised for the majority of the experimental meditation performance. This project forms part of my 'embodied emergence' research.
Critical to ‘embodied emergence’ is the circadian nature of waking and sleep and geometry of the bodily postures as horizontal and perpendicular. Falling occurs in sleep, dreaming, and dying, and is a constant of gravity. Elevation occurs in bodily uprightness, dreaming and rising against gravity in all its forms. Embodied emergence here is the constant of gravity and the emergence ‘thickness’ (Lyotard: 1996) and re-emergent rise against gravity. Humans rise and fall each day. The research aims at a view of embodied emergence as the thickness (Lyotard: 1996) between rising and falling, called here, elevation towards levitation. Elevation not only resists gravity but transcends or grasps agency it in dreaming and hypnogogic and hypnopompic visualisation. Meaning, humans as embodied elevation, possess physical and virtual technologies, enabling us agents of own emergence and re-emergence.
TIBETAN TANTRIC BREATHING SONIC INSTALLATION (2017)
Sound and Video by Marcus Herne. www.marcusherne.com
THE DREAM DOCTOR (2017) - THE DRAMA STUDIO, SHEFFIELD
Written and directed by Margot Robbins ('The Bag', Cockpit Theatre, London) and performed by Matthew Hickey (Band of Brothers, Wallander, Children of the Sun - National Theatre) and Mary Margaret Lyons (All My Children ABC NY, The Rimmers of Eldrich - New York). The Dream Doctor is set in a dream research lab within a psychiatric hospital where psychiatrist Dr. Jay, convinces an agoraphobic addict called 'Pig' to become a guinea pig in an off-the-grid experiment with shocking consequences.
OTHER PROJECTS
The second project is a full-length play titled 'Algorithm' (synopsis: It was agreed in 2015 following the creation of a super-computer Algorithm based on all of the philosophies and geopolitical systems ever created on earth, that the 8 global leaders retain the power to sanction or veto all radical solutions. A quirk of the Algorithm is the inclusion of the Oracle of Delphi to mediate the sanctioning process).
The second project is a full-length play titled 'Algorithm' (synopsis: It was agreed in 2015 following the creation of a super-computer Algorithm based on all of the philosophies and geopolitical systems ever created on earth, that the 8 global leaders retain the power to sanction or veto all radical solutions. A quirk of the Algorithm is the inclusion of the Oracle of Delphi to mediate the sanctioning process).
The VREAM Project (2017-2022)
About: The VREAM Method
The word VREAM relates to the activity of ‘vivid dreaming’ as highly memorable, frequently absurd, dream fragments induced by a specific technique of breathing. The technique was developed in 2005 by Margot Wilson (me) as part of long-standing experimentation with breathing, meditation and lucid dreaming and went onto to be used as a personal-transformation method still in use today. Over 250 individuals have successfully participated in the VREAM Method and with few exceptions[1], the method is reliable. Vivid Dreams are analysed differently to regular REM dreaming and relate specifically to periods of the dreamer’s life, spatial relationship with self, and when/how existing soma-neuro-holding patterns held within dreamer were established. This VREAM Method was presented at The Royal College of Psychiatrists Congress (Edinburgh, 2017) and Towards a Science of Consciousness in Helsinki (2015). Dream neuroscience today (see Friston, Hobson) proposes dreaming as (performances of) ‘sampling’ change and absurdity and as a necessary feature of evolution and human development. The idea is that we are by necessity wired to constantly anticipate change, in being so, inevitably move around on a spectrum between conditioned cognition, cognitive bias, outright tunnel vision and delusion. Further, that this virtual sampling in sleep is essential to stabilise our continuous experience of self (me-ness) and to avoid total overwhelming, indeed, annihilation by the incessant accumulation of experience, memory and data.
[1] Participants who smoked marijuana or pot failed to remember their dreams. This is thought to be due to the disruption in REM sleep cycles. Low dosages of anti-depressants and prescribed anxiety also affected dream recall.
The word VREAM relates to the activity of ‘vivid dreaming’ as highly memorable, frequently absurd, dream fragments induced by a specific technique of breathing. The technique was developed in 2005 by Margot Wilson (me) as part of long-standing experimentation with breathing, meditation and lucid dreaming and went onto to be used as a personal-transformation method still in use today. Over 250 individuals have successfully participated in the VREAM Method and with few exceptions[1], the method is reliable. Vivid Dreams are analysed differently to regular REM dreaming and relate specifically to periods of the dreamer’s life, spatial relationship with self, and when/how existing soma-neuro-holding patterns held within dreamer were established. This VREAM Method was presented at The Royal College of Psychiatrists Congress (Edinburgh, 2017) and Towards a Science of Consciousness in Helsinki (2015). Dream neuroscience today (see Friston, Hobson) proposes dreaming as (performances of) ‘sampling’ change and absurdity and as a necessary feature of evolution and human development. The idea is that we are by necessity wired to constantly anticipate change, in being so, inevitably move around on a spectrum between conditioned cognition, cognitive bias, outright tunnel vision and delusion. Further, that this virtual sampling in sleep is essential to stabilise our continuous experience of self (me-ness) and to avoid total overwhelming, indeed, annihilation by the incessant accumulation of experience, memory and data.
[1] Participants who smoked marijuana or pot failed to remember their dreams. This is thought to be due to the disruption in REM sleep cycles. Low dosages of anti-depressants and prescribed anxiety also affected dream recall.
The VREAM Project (VREAM stands for 'Vivid Dreaming')
PART I: THE VREAM METHOD WORKSHOP – AS PERFORMANCE ART (ZOOM RECORDING)
Participants will be taught the 3-minute vocal breathing technique called Breath-Induced-Vivid Dreaming (BIVD). This unique breathing technique induces 'vivid dreaming'[1]. ‘Vivid Dreaming’ (my term) is distinct from ‘normal REM dreaming’ and ‘lucid dreaming’.[2] Vivid dreams are more vivid, strange, involving and memorable. There are typically 2-5 dreams in any given night following the BIVD practice.
PART II: THE VREAM METHOD – AS ONLINE EXHIBITION
The audio recording of the live Zoom performance will be streamed online in as various compilations that composite, reassemble and isolate elements of the sound. This online exhibition will also include images and sound installations created from the Zoom recordings, the VREAM LOG content, the Selfie-Video clips, creating a narrative about dreaming as sampling the absurd. Date and programme to be announced.
PART III: THE VREAM METHOD – POST-WORKSHOP FOLLOW UP WORKSHOP – HYPNOGOGIC VISUALISATION
The post-workshop workshop teaches how use hypnogogic visualisation techniques to aid the ‘outgrowing/maturation’ process, enabling individuals to utilise their own altered states to gain new perspectives on existing SNHP, potentially ‘complete/bring closure’ to arrested or incomplete stages of soma-psycho-emotional development. The visualisation work evolves/transforms/outgrows the BIVD dream content as scenes, players, actions, symbolism. This method is safe, enjoyable and remarkably powerful. Hypnogogic and hypnopompic visualisation, sitting close to lucid dreaming, may also be used for creative problem solving and concept development in the arts, humanities and sciences.
[1] ‘Vivid Dreaming’ (my term) is distinct from ‘normal REM dreaming’ and ‘lucid dreaming’. The dreams follow the practice of BIVD and are more vivid, strange, involving and memorable. There are usually several dreams in any given night following the BIVD practice.
[2] ‘Lucid dreams’ are dreams in which the dreamer possesses cognitive agency. See Kahan T.; LaBerge S. (1994). "Lucid dreaming as metacognition: Implications for cognitive science". Consciousness and Cognition. 3: 246–264
PART I: THE VREAM METHOD WORKSHOP – AS PERFORMANCE ART (ZOOM RECORDING)
Participants will be taught the 3-minute vocal breathing technique called Breath-Induced-Vivid Dreaming (BIVD). This unique breathing technique induces 'vivid dreaming'[1]. ‘Vivid Dreaming’ (my term) is distinct from ‘normal REM dreaming’ and ‘lucid dreaming’.[2] Vivid dreams are more vivid, strange, involving and memorable. There are typically 2-5 dreams in any given night following the BIVD practice.
- Participants are required to commit to performing the BIVD practice twice per day for 3-minutes over 7 days.
- Participants are required to write down their dreams in their own notebooks as well as fill in VREAM LOG Google Forms.
- Participants are also required to provide a selfie-video of them describing their dreams and upload them to the Institution-VREAM Project portal (googledrive/website).
- Participants will be required to sign appropriate consent and disclaimer forms (if required by the Institution Ethics Board)
- In the interests of research, participants will be required to complete a post-workshop questionnaire (anonymous).
- The project will comply with institution standard of ethics.
PART II: THE VREAM METHOD – AS ONLINE EXHIBITION
The audio recording of the live Zoom performance will be streamed online in as various compilations that composite, reassemble and isolate elements of the sound. This online exhibition will also include images and sound installations created from the Zoom recordings, the VREAM LOG content, the Selfie-Video clips, creating a narrative about dreaming as sampling the absurd. Date and programme to be announced.
PART III: THE VREAM METHOD – POST-WORKSHOP FOLLOW UP WORKSHOP – HYPNOGOGIC VISUALISATION
The post-workshop workshop teaches how use hypnogogic visualisation techniques to aid the ‘outgrowing/maturation’ process, enabling individuals to utilise their own altered states to gain new perspectives on existing SNHP, potentially ‘complete/bring closure’ to arrested or incomplete stages of soma-psycho-emotional development. The visualisation work evolves/transforms/outgrows the BIVD dream content as scenes, players, actions, symbolism. This method is safe, enjoyable and remarkably powerful. Hypnogogic and hypnopompic visualisation, sitting close to lucid dreaming, may also be used for creative problem solving and concept development in the arts, humanities and sciences.
[1] ‘Vivid Dreaming’ (my term) is distinct from ‘normal REM dreaming’ and ‘lucid dreaming’. The dreams follow the practice of BIVD and are more vivid, strange, involving and memorable. There are usually several dreams in any given night following the BIVD practice.
[2] ‘Lucid dreams’ are dreams in which the dreamer possesses cognitive agency. See Kahan T.; LaBerge S. (1994). "Lucid dreaming as metacognition: Implications for cognitive science". Consciousness and Cognition. 3: 246–264
Terminology
The BIVD technique incorporates breathing techniques rooted in the Kundalini Yoga and ancient Yogic Breathing systems. These ancient techniques utilise the breath to pressurise and depressurise the diaphragm and torso for the purpose of releasing SNHPs. These ancient Vedic and Buddhist methods are traditionally strictly supervised by experienced teachers to ensure the avoidance of adverse effects of over-stimulation of the [SN] nervous system, known as ‘Kundalini Awakening’. These methods are traditionally taught as part of an over-arching spiritual objective (usually Enlightenment and freedom from corporeal suffering). This modified breathing technique is called ‘Breath-Induced Vivid Dreaming Method [BIVD] and comprises of three variations:
The BIVD practice is restricted to 3-minute sessions twice per day, the practice of which induces vivid dreaming. The duration of the practice is critical to the safety of the process, defined as a short, intense, immersive experience of SNI states.
- BIVD – Level 1: Belly breath, moderate ‘Ojai sounds, long in-breath, long-out-breath, holding for a slow count of 4. Practiced twice daily for 3 minutes. [Produces relaxation, focus, stamina, may trigger vivid dreaming.]
- BIVD – Level 2: Based upon (BIVD - 1) plus maximum in/out breaths then 3 further breaths on top of the maximum first breath accompanied by a strong growl/roar Ojai sound, holding for the count of 10. Practiced twice daily for 3 minutes. [99% produces vivid dreaming. Produces energy, vitality, positivity, feeling of courage.]
- BIVD – Level 3: defined but not included in this study.
The BIVD practice is restricted to 3-minute sessions twice per day, the practice of which induces vivid dreaming. The duration of the practice is critical to the safety of the process, defined as a short, intense, immersive experience of SNI states.