John Grant's North Atlantic Flux
Hull, UK City of Culture
May 2017
Over the May Bank Holiday in April/May 2017, Curated Place recruited Reykjavik based singer-songwriter John Grant to create and curate a four day music festival exploring the best in sonic creativity - featuring a variety of electronica, contemporary classic, avant-garde and experimental music, alongside one-off collaborations. We established new connections in and out of the city, bringing together the best international talent, with the event at the heart of the Roots and Routes season for Hull 2017 – UK City of Culture.
A host of Nordic and International artists were invited to take over the city seeing audiences exploring multiple-venues across Hull from the grandeur of City Hall to the grime of Gate 5 via the remarkable discovery of Jubilee Church. The festival hosted exceptional live performances from 47 acts, with 8 major new commissions specifically responding to the history, heritage and people of Hull and their connection with their Nordic neighbours. We received national and international news coverage attracting significant coverage on 6 Music and a live recording of Radio 3’s Late Junction that brought together 8 artists from the programme to perform and then improvise together live on the BBC’s flagship new music show.
Awarded Cultural Event of the Year, Small Event of the Year, and Events Team of the Year at the Drum's UK Event Awards 2017
“A rich smorgasbord of eclectic sounds and eccentric characters”
- The Times, Stephen Dalton
The event was a spectacular meeting of John's friends, influences and collaborators alongside Curated Place's stable of commissions and regular creative partners which transformed Hull into Reykjavik-on-Humber for a magical weekend that pushed boundaries and expectations. As well as a show-stopping performance from Grant himself, the festival included Icelandic electronic dance collective GusGus, Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, DJ and producer Lindstrøm, and Wrangler a project that brings together Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire fame, Phil Winter from Tunng and John Foxx collaborator Benge.
Programme Development
North Atlantic Flux was developed to feature prominently as part of Hull 2017 UK City ofCulture, and Curated Place worked closely with John Grant, Hull 2017 Events Team, and Hull City Council to deliver a programme of international music that was both groundbreaking and accessible, in unique locations. Over 24,000 visitors attended the festival with 50% of visitors travelling from outside of Hull to the festival and overseas visitors from Ireland, Sweden, Iceland,Denmark and Egypt present.
Audience Engagment
Our aim was to engage the local public in an experimental music programme, offering an eclectic mix of acts which would appeal to a diverse audience. By collaborating with John Grant, we were able to provide the audience with an access point to the festival, allowing them to experience lesser known and more experimental acts. The festival received overwhelming positive feedback from the audience, many saying that they had experienced performances the like of which they had never seen before and had thoroughly enjoyed.
Heritage engagment & participation
We engaged with local vocalists in order to form a newly found choir to perform in Reflections Over Versimilitude by Dutch Composer Jobina Tinnemmans. Members of the choir connected very quickly despite many never having met before. The feedback that we received from the vocalists was largely positive and they were delighted to be given an opportunity to perform, with many of the vocalists intending to continue singing together. Poet Adelle Stripe engaged the local fishing community to gather stories from the wives and female relatives of fishermen. These stories inspired her poem The Humber Star set to a score by Iceland’s Halldor Smarason performed by local ensemble, Sinfonia UKCollective at the festival.
Results
Exposure of the festival was excellent, with BBC 6 Music picking upon the event and announcing it earlier in November 2016. In the months leading up to the festival, 6 Music invited John to talk about his involvement in the project, and how the festival would reflect the music of both Hull and Reykjavik. As well as being featured, BBCRadio 3’s Late Junction also recorded the programme live from the festival on Saturday 29th April. The programme featured one-off live collaboration sessions from 17 performers from the festival, these included Pinquins (NO), Steve Cobby & Russ Litten (UK), RollerBassoon (UK), Nordic Affect (IS), and Icelandic icon Ragga Gisla. Stellar reviews came from both national and local press, with the festival being described as ‘a kind of mini-Meltdown celebrating EastYorkshire’s deep-rooted Nordic connections with a rich smorgasbord of eclectic sounds and eccentric characters’ (The Times, StephenDalton). Curated Place achieved multiple wins at The Drum UK Event Awards 2017.
“An education in bold, unusual music”
- The Guardian, Dave Simpson
