The Water Sinks Down with Them by Emma Critchley

Press Release

8 May 2016

The water sinks down with them by Emma Critchley

In conjunction with Opera North’s epic presentation of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle, a new sound and film installation by artist Emma Critchley comes to Leeds Central Library from Monday 16 to Thursday 26 May, before touring alongside performances to The Royal Festival Hall, Londonand the BALTICCentre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.

Commissioned by Opera North Projects,The water sinks down with them is an immersive installation that holds the evolution of human consciousness within the walls of a specially-designed room in the Library’s new art space, Room 700.

Emma Critchley takes her inspiration from the opening bars of Wagner’s 16-hour epic, beginning where the composer began with the primeval energy of the River Rhine. “The fact that the Ring starts and ends in water is central to my response with this work”, explains Critchley. “It’s an exploration of this Wagnerian idea of a pre-existing cosmos in which human consciousness takes form. The water is primordial and evokes an expansive sense of time, before and after our own existence. Through the film a timeless, ever-changing space unfolds that seems at times colossal, at others microscopic”.

Sound designer Nicolas Becker, who has worked with filmmakers including Roman Polanski and David Cronenberg, and received his second Golden Reel award for his work on Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, has been collaborating with the artist. A recording of Opera North’s Rhinemaidens – the first and the last characters seen in the four-opera cycle – will form part of the soundscape. “It’s inspired by the opening bars of Das Rheingold that evolve into the first sung word, which is Wagner’s metaphor for the evolution of consciousness”, says Critchley.

The artist, a qualified commercial diver whose fascination with the submarine world can be seen throughout her work in photography and film, admits that she is a newcomer to the music of Wagner: “It’s been a steep learning curve - I spent Christmas getting to grips with recordings of the cycle and the libretto translations, and reading around the myths and the philosophy that fed into Wagner’s work.”

She cites Ludwig Feuerbach, the German philosopher and contemporary of Wagner, as an influence on the new installation. Feuerbach’s belief in the supremacy of nature, which ‘has no beginning and no end’ and ‘is at once effects and cause, acting and reacting on all sides’, was taken up passionately by Wagner as he wrote the Ring, and in an early draft the cycle concludes with the so-called ‘Feuerbach ending’.

The water sinks down with them is part of an extensive programme of special events and commissions, including talks, film screenings, live broadcasts and family workshops, in celebration of Opera North’s performance of six complete cycles of the Ring in cities across the country this summer.

The water sinks down with them opens in Room 700, Leeds Central Library, from Monday 16 to Thursday 26 May. Emma Critchley will give an informal artist’s talk in the exhibition space on Tuesday 17 May from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. Admission is free and no booking is necessary, but space is limited so early arrival is recommended.

The installation will then accompany Opera North’s Ring cycle on tour to The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London (Friday 24 June to Sunday 3 July) and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, in association with Sage Gateshead, from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 July. For more details visit operanorth.co.uk

/ENDS

The Ring Cycle is financially supported by the Opera North Future Fund, The Ring Fellowship 2016, Ring Circle and The Emerald Foundation.

For further information, please contact:

Julia O’Sullivan, Head of Communications

0113 223 3526 | 07956 647573 | julia.o’

Elizabeth Simmonds, Press Officer

0113 213 5641|

Rowland Thomas, Press Officer

0113 223 3528|

LISTINGS

ART

Emma Critchley: The Water Sinks Down with Them

Monday 16 - Thursday 26 May

Room 700, Leeds Central Library, Calverley St, Leeds LS1 3AB

12pm to 15 mins before Library closing time daily

Commissioned by Opera North in celebration of their tour of the complete Ring cycle, a new, immersive film and sound installation explores the beginning of life and human consciousness, based on the opening bars of Wagner’s masterpiece.

Admission free, no booking necessary

operanorth.co.uk

ART

Emma Critchley: The Water Sinks Down with Them

Friday 24 June – Sunday 3 July

The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London

Admission free, no booking necessary

southbankcentre.co.uk

ART

Emma Critchley: The Water Sinks Down with Them

Fri 8 July - Sunday 10 July

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead in association with the Sage Gateshead

Admission free, no booking necessary

balticmill.com

Notes to Editors

Emma Critchley

Emma Critchley has worked as an underwater image-maker for over ten years. In 2011 she graduated with an MA from the Royal College of Art. Through working with a combination of photography, video and installation she explores the human relationship with the underwater environment. Emma has developed works funded by The National Media Museum, The Photographers Gallery, The Arts Council England, The British Council, the Singapore International Foundation INTERREG IVC (financed by the European Regional Development Fund). Awards include the Royal College of Art Sustain ‘Moving Minds’ award, winner of the British Underwater Image Festival, finalist in the Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4’s New Sensations, the Saatchi Gallery & Google’s Motion Photography Prize and most recently the Firtash Foundation & Saatchi Gallery’s UK/RAINE award. Her work has been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at The Australian Centre of Photography, the ICA Singapore, Gerhard Marcks Haus Germany, Eyebeam New York, The National Portrait Gallery, The Photographers’ Gallery and the Royal Academy.

Emma’s underwater work has enabled her to explore waters across the globe, with recent artist residencies in Singapore, New York and Barbados. She also works as underwater Director of Photography and camera operator within film and TV and has performed as a freediver herself.

Opera North and Opera North Projects

Opera North is England’s national opera company in the North and one of Europe’s leading arts organisations.Opera North is a vibrant, lively organisation which actively challenges conventional perceptions of opera. Breathing new life into the classics, the Company is also a strong advocate of lesser-known works and a champion of musical theatre.

The work of Opera North Projects crosses conventional boundaries, bringing classical and contemporary arts together in an eclectic year-round programme of performance, visual arts commissions, literary events and artistic development. Projects take apart the elements of opera: words, music, visual arts and theatre, and put them back together in new ways.

Opera North Projects produces small-scale touring shows, site specific performance and commissions, together with a rolling programme of artistic residencies. ‘Home’ is the beautifully restored Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, a captivating and flexible performance space whose public programme is curated by the Projects Department.

Work often has an emphasis on collaboration, with recent partners including The Royal Shakespeare Company, the Manchester International Festival, Kneehigh Theatre, The Opera Group and The Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

operanorth.co.uk