last year - 2022

It went gently. It was very comfortable and soft. J wasn't in the space as usual as he had a lot of work to do, T was with me for a lot of the time and no one else came. There were no knotty times of thinking too much about what to "do". 

I listened to the sound and the birds outside for 6 hours and think only once did my mind wander very briefly. T thought my movement was more fluid than he had seen. There was a little "play" with him as he walked around the space on a couple of occasions. 

During one on my own time I found myself moving in a very ballet way - lots of arm and sternum - that rather a Qigong way, it is a feeling that comes when doing some ballet but perhaps more people might understand the Qigong similarity!

Contentment was a feeling that came to me afterwards, and had a really good night's sleep. So a fulfilling, regenerative time. I've often thought I might find it difficult being on my own for a lot of the time and not being disciplined enough or something, but it wasn't the case. Perhaps not having done it since 2019 it was useful to not have other people. 

untitled holy hiatus 12

May 22 Mai 2019
4pm – 10.15pm
Maura Hazelden & Jacob Whittaker

Small World Theatre | Theatr Byd Bychan
Bath House Road | Heol Clôs y Bath,

Cardigan | Aberteifi, SA43 IJY

This six-hour, performative event explores how liminal space is created, experienced and shared, using repetitions of a phrase of movement and a 13th century song developed by Lou Laurens. Untitled 12 will use 11 years of layered recordings giving a unique soundscape. Come to observe, to be present within the space created. Use the space for mediation, prayer, contemplation. People who use movement as contemplation or prayer may wish to move rather than sit.

We are tentatively continuing as we have done: Lou’s experiment with sound and space continues. There are distortions, curious new sounds and feedback, but being in the space and listening fully – to the space and to the self - the strangeness does not shock.

Mae’r digwyddiad perfformiadol chwe awr o hyd hwn yn darganfod sut mae gofod trothwyol yn cael ei greu, ei brofi a’i rannu, trwy ail-adrodd cymal o symudiad a chân o’r 13eg ganrif, a ddyfeisiwyd gan Lou Laurens. Bydd di-deitl 12 yn defnyddio 11 mlynedd o haenau o recordiadau i greu sainlun unigryw. Dewch i wylio, i fod yn bresennol yn y gofod sy’n cael ei greu. Defnyddiwch y gofod ar gyfer meddwl, gweddïo, myfyrio. Efallai bydd pobl sy’n defnyddio symud fel ffordd o fyfyrio neu weddïo yn dymuno symud yn hytrach nag eistedd.

Ry’n ni’n bwrw ‘mlaen yn betrusgar, fel ag erioed: mae arbrawf Lou gyda sain a gofod yn parhau. Mae yna ystumiadau, seiniau newydd rhyfedd ac ôl-dafliad sain, ond wrth fod yn y gofod a gwrando’n astud – ar y gofod a’r hunan – ‘does dim sioc yn y dieithrwch.

Entry by donation | Mynediad trwy rodd

LINK to further notes to explain the event and your participation

small world theatre | theatr byd bychan

untitled: holy hiatus 9

Sunday 22nd May 2016 at 4:00pm

Sunday | dydd Sul
May 22 Mai
4pm/yp – 10.15pm/yp

There will be a break 6.50pm – 7.05pm

movement practitioner | ymarferydd symud: Maura Hazelden
artist filmmaker| artist wneuthurwr ffilm: Jacob Whittaker

This six hour, performative event explores how liminal space is created, experienced and shared, using repetitions of a phrase of movement, and a 13th century song developed by Lou Laurens and Maura Hazelden. Untitled 9 will use 8 years of time layered recordings and add to the evolving soundscape by recording this year’s acoustics. Come to observe, to be present within the space created. Use the space for mediation, prayer, contemplation, movement.

Digwyddiad perfformiol dros gyfnod o chwe awr, sy’n archwilio sut mae gofod trothwyol yn cael ei greu, ei brofi a’i rannu, gan ddefnyddio cymal o symudiad, a chân o’r 13eg ganrif, a ddatblygwyd gyda Lou Laurens. Bydd dideitl 9 yn defnyddio haenau lluosog o recordiadau o gyfnod amser o 8 mlynedd, ac yn ychwanegu at esblygiad y sainlun hwn trwy recordio acwsteg eleni. Dewch i wylio, i fod yn bresennol o fewn y gofod gaiff ei greu, a defnyddio’r gofod ar gyfer meddwl dwys, gweddi a myfyrdod.

entry by donation
mynediad trwy rodd wirfoddol

loss

This is a very personal entry.
For anyone reaching this blog from afar, who does not know Lou and me, I have to tell the sad news that Lou died in September 2014. She can be seen at times in the face of Rupert, her son, who will be two years old by the time Untitled Holy Hiatus 8 arrives.
Yes there will be an eighth event. I am not sure of the form it will take. But Jacob Whittaker has booked the venue.
I will be talking with people to find a way through.

Maura



Louise Lauren in 2007 at Capeli: Capel Crannog, a Gwrando project

after 7

We achieved what we set out to achieve. Lou was not sure she would be able to stay for the duration, but she did.
We were alone for the first half hour. This proved beneficial to re-establishing the event as two of us - Lou had been unable to be there in 2013.
From then on in there was always someone in the room with us - right until the end. This has never happened before.
Quiet support was given to me during a difficult hour. If I had left the room I thought I might never return.

Maura

Untitled Holy Hiatus 6

Come to observe, to be within the space created, or to use the space for quiet meditation, for a contemplative or devotional act. You may stay for any length of time. There are limits to how many people might be in the space at any one time - you will find light refreshments in the kitchen.

There are some chairs, but you might wish to bring a cushion and/or blanket.

Dydd Mercher Mai 22

4 – 10.15 y.p
Canolfan Byd Bychan

Aberteifi

Wednesday May 22
4 – 10.15 p.m
Small World Centre
Cardigan

 

LINK to Canolfan Byd Bychan map, address etc

 

there is a 15 minute break 6.50pm - 7.05pm

 

see previous blog posts for more information

mid May 2013 update

Holy Hiatus: untitled is an annual event created by artists Maura Hazelden and Lou Laurens and will be showing on May 22^nd, from 4pm to 10.15, in Small World Theatre. Maura was originally commissioned by Ruth Jones to make a work for ‘Holy Hiatus: Ritual and Community in Public Art’, a symposium and series of commissioned works, including work by Alastair McLennan and Simon Whitehead, shown in Cardigan in 2008.

Maura invited Lou to work with her on a piece which explored repetition. In that first year, they had many discussions about the kind of rituals we all engage in, ranging from quotidian activities such as making and serving a meal, to events which mark the passing of the year, and religious festivals. Maura and Lou both had an interest in how simple acts might become devotional through intention and also how rituals develop over long periods of time, when circumstances change how they are celebrated. They created a durational event in Small World Theatre and have continued it as an annual event, now independently of the commission. Holy Hiatus: untitled is in its sixth year, each time having been different and yet the same, always on the same date: May 22^nd.

This year there are particular challenges. Lou has recently given birth to her first child and Maura has photosensitivity and difficulty working bare foot.  Their physical ability to perform in the event is likely to be limited and changed. Both artists feel that this in itself raises interesting questions about performance and ritual, questions which were inevitable in mounting such an ambitious project, such as: are we participants in the event or performers? Are the audience participants in this ritual? When we celebrate our daily and annual rituals what remains the same and what changes, and how much are the changes the way we remember? ‘Oh that was the Christmas that we had to…. because of such and such…’

Although, or perhaps because, this is an intense and deeply vulnerable time for both artists, the event promises to be a moving and wonderful experience for attendees. The event will include performance, video projection and an extraordinary evolving soundscape created by the process of recording the playback of each previous year’s performance, so that the layers are transformed by the acoustic response of the building itself.

There is an accompanying exhibition at Small World Theatre, open until the 24^th of May

Whatever the Weather website you can find link to a map and details of venue

the exhibition will continue until the end of May 24th