Simon Fisher Turner

‘A Quiet Corner in Time’ Remixed And Reworked

NIK COLK VOID, ALESSANDRO CORTINI, YANN TIERSEN, MAPS, MICROCORPS + MORE REMIX REMIXES OF SIMON FISHER TURNER + EDMUND DE WAAL’S A QUIET CORNER IN TIME

LISTEN TO THE FIRST FOUR REMIXES OF A REMIX!

Simon Fisher Turner + Edmund de Waal’s 2020 collaboration A Quiet Corner in Time has been remixed and reworked by 10 artists to create a musical exquisite corpse, with each artist remixing the previous remix in the series with no knowledge of what went before that.

The Surrealist technique, exquisite corpse (or “cadavre exquis”), most commonly uses words or visuals but A Quiet Corner in Time (Exquisite Corpse) sees the medium work with music. Each artist presented their own remix to the artist that followed, so they could rwork on their own version of the track with no pre-conceptions or cognition to what went before. The resulting 10-track album is a brilliant journey with unforeseen twists and turns, all stemming from one piece of work created by Ivor Novello award winning composer Simon Fisher Turner and renowned ceramicist and author Edmund de Waal.

Nik Colk Void launches the album, with a spectral piece that highlights the intricate sound world Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal created, adding her own unmistakable sound and a fractured processed vocal. Alessandro Cortini’s remix of Nik Colk Void’s remix sees him building the tension, bringing out some of the fiercer elements of the recording before MICROCORPS (Alexander Tucker) arrives to remix Cortini’s remix, bringing mutant concrète electronics into the picture. Looper then takes MICROCORPS’ remix, introducing beats to the narrative for the first time, leaving the floor open for Yann Tiersen, whose remix of Looper is due to drop next. 

Listen to the first four remixes here: https://simonfisherturner.bandcamp.com 

Subsequent folds of the exquisite corpse by Polly Scattergood, Stubbleman (Pascal Gabriel), Martin Moscrop (A Certain Ratio) and Maps are set to be released before Simon Fisher Turner’s finale brings entire work a full circle. Keep watching the socials and Bandcamp for more updates.

Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal’s original collaboration was for an architectural installation at the Schindler House in LA, a radical work which celebrates its centenary this year. The sound work that Fisher Turner created for de Waal’s installation then metamorphosised into A Quiet Corner in Time, a composition collaged and constructed from field recordings collected in Vienna and LA [both Schindler and de Waal’s family have significant pre-WWII connections with Austria, de Waal’s described in his prize-winning bestselling memoir, The Hare With Amber Eyes (2010], alongside placed materials and architectural interventions: porcelain vessels and shards, furniture, and vitrines.

The installation and the album represent the first time de Waal has collaborated so closely with a musician. For Fisher Turner, this piece draws his past into the present, referencing his early sound work for Derek Jarman’s films, which included Caravaggio (1986) through to Jarman’s final work Blue (1993). The collapse of past into present a core theme of de Waal’s work, and he has consistently broken new ground through critical engagement with the history and potential of ceramics, as well as with architecture, music, dance and poetry. 

This collapse of more recent past into the present is highlighted once more when a whole new swathe of artists react and respond to both Simon Fisher Turner and Edmund de Waal’s work.

All of the artists involved have given their time and contribution to A Quiet Corner in Time (Exquisite Corpse) for free, and all the tracks are available at no charge via Bandcamp. Simon Fisher Turner would like to highlight the ongoing struggle in Ukraine and encourage donations as an extension of the collaboration and community extended here by the artists: https://u24.gov.ua 

Follow the unfolding of A Quiet Corner in Time (Exquisite Corpse) here: https://simonfisherturner.bandcamp.com 

Listen to / buy Simon Fisher Turner + Edmund de Waal’s A Quiet Corner in Time: https://mute.ffm.to/AQCIT