Methexis (μέθεξις), meaning participation or communion, is a sonic performance that investigates listening as a participatory methodology for engaging with locality. 

[currently in development]

In their practice-led research, George Kypridemos sets out to model instances of 'sonic ecophronesis'. This new category of sound-making, documented through their effort, embodies an approach to sound shaped not by aesthetic considerations but by the desire to contribute creatively to emergent social and cultural needs. As a sonic artist and improviser, they conceive of sound-making through the values of Aristotelian phronesis—or practical wisdom, enabling the one who practises it to understand ‘the right way to do the right thing in a particular circumstance, with a particular person, at a particular time’ (Schwartz & Sharpe, 2010).

'Diversifying Improvisation' is an RSE-funded project led by Dr Una MacGlone and Prof. Raymond MacDonald, both improvisers and researchers who have investigated (i) barriers to participation that exist for creative musicians from diverse backgrounds and (ii) which artistic strategies and logistical aspects for improvisation best serve the principles of a diversified, accessible space for creativity. Commissioned by this project and hosted by Riah Naief at Listen Gallery, George Kypridemos curated a three-day long meeting of improvisers in the space of GACO (Glasgow Autonomous Community Orchestra), culminating in a weekend of performances and live broadcasts.  

Qualia is a posthumanist sonic journey through which the artist co-builds a generative language for improvised soundmaking alongside the synthesis software Animoog Z. It is available for puchase and streaming on Bandcamp.

Improvisation: George Kypridemos

Cover art: Mith Chahal

Hosted by Listen Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, 'In the course of being undone' wasa two-piece multichannel installation that uses audio, film, improvisation and performance, presented by four Glasgow based artists; George Kypridemos, Mith Chahal , Taner Kemirtlek and Adam Benmakhlouf. The installation combined two pieces,  Hexagonal Compound and Magenta Velour Glove, all inspired by the meeting of technologies, machine as a medium, and the behaviours and power dynamics between humans and non-humans alike. 

Magenta Velour Glove is a play comprising of a script, slideshow of drawings and music suite. A collaboration between Adam Benmakhlouf, George Kypridemos and Taner Kemirtlek, the scene tracks the curdling attempt of two people attempting to do community organising without a boss. The pessimism of the scripted dialogue is countered by the sensitivity and warmth of the collaboration unfolding.

Presented at the CCA, Glasgow, UK. 

Contributors 

Adam Benmakhlouf  | Creator, Writer, Illustrator, Performer
George Kypridemos | Composition/Improvisation
Taner Kemirtlek | Live music performance  

This work was collaboratively conceptualised by an improviser (George Kypridemos) and a composer (Nora Marazaitė). The performance involves the use of a 40 minute long improvised audio-visual set, which was created by George Kypridemos on the synthesiser software Animoog-Z. While this set is projected and sounded into the performance space, the instrumental ensemble is tasked with delegating and delivering their response; in this, they are aided and guided by a score composed by Nora Marazaitė in accordance to the improvisation. 

The score itself utilises aleatoric writing, meaning that it involves the deployment of elements that are undetermined, improvisational and spatially situated, rather than pre-determined and stratified. Because of this, creative decisions around the delivery of the score rest with individual players, who are in direct communication with each other, and are not being led by a conductor.

Contributors

George Kypridemos | Improvisation, Conceptualisation &  Project Management
Nora Marazaite | Composition, Conceptualisation & Project Management
Baichuan Hui | Piano
Masha Zhuravlova | Violin
Santiago Gil Duarte | Cello
Isidor ten Hooven | Electric Bass
Dean Garrity | Saxophone
Alexandra Katerinopoulou | Sound Editing 

During: Compliment is a sound–based performance that challenges the idea that live performance involves seeing the performer’s body. In the first iteration, Before:Compliment, presented in London as part of the Robert Institute of Art’s Live Art Commissions in March 2022, Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom invited a string trio to play an improvised musical arrangement.  In this new version at the Fruitmarket, Boakye-Yiadom layered the piece, building on the structures laid out in the first performance. A new group of Scotland-based musicians (double bass, piano, drums, flute and saxophone), again mostly hidden from view of the audience, played a new improvised arrangement in response to a recording of the music from the original performance. This presentation was accompanied by video recordings from Before:Compliment giving the audience a chance to see this build-up of relationships and how the musicians improvise within the original structure.

Performers

Rick Bamford, drums
Steve Kettley, flute and saxophone
George Kypridemos, piano
Armin Sturm, double bass

During: Compliment was commissioned by the Roberts Institute of Art as part of its Live Art Commissions and co-presented by the Roberts Institute of Art and the Fruitmarket.

Image: Chris Scott

Glasgow Autonomous Community Orchestra (GACO) is a queer-led improvisational space cofounded  and cocurated by George Kypridemos. It upholds open conditions of participation and aims to increase access to soundmaking and cultural organising. In its years of operation, it has hosted fundraisers, open sessions, jams, broadcasts, and more. It continues to operate in Glasgow, currently in collaboration with the music library Music Broth.  

Camera Obscura (2020) is a piano suite composed by Taner Kemirtlek and premiered by George Kypridemos in 2020. It traces each day of the week across seven movements, and was conceptualised as a contemplative, meditative series during the Covid-19 pandemic.  

The score is available for download and purchase at:

www.cameraobscura2020.com

where you can purchase the PDF, Paperback and Hardback copy with handwritten manuscripts also available on request 

Using the oldest surviving complete musical composition - the Seikilos Epitaph - as stimulus, the Equinox Epitaphs is an improvisatory journey in three parts, exploring the significance of our history and shared pasts on how we live our lives in the present. 

Directed and Edited by Theo Panagopoulos
Cinematography by Weronika Frycz
George Kypridemos, Improvisation
Maya-Leigh Rosenwasser, Improvisation
Taner Kemirtlek, Improvisation, Composition

Production and Audio Design by Black Goblin Audio

The Fitkin Quartet was a piano ensemble dedicated to exploring lesser known collaborative repertoire, particularly repertoire for multiple piano combinations. 

Ensemble Members 

Maya-Leigh Rosenwasser
Viktoria Sarkadi
Edyta Mydlowska
George Kypridemos