2020 WINNERS
LOULA YORKE
Loula Yorke is a composer and performer who uses sound, video and participation to create artworks. Dancing in the spaces where the personal meets the political, her varied and noisy electronic music practice conjours moments of revolt as well as revealing hidden systems of control. Yorke runs femme-centred synth-building workshops Atari Punk Girls, and co-founded the SonitusLIVE curated livestreams.
“I will be able to access mentorship for the first time, and I hope to take my instruments on a mini tour, creating connections and performing to new audiences in other regions of the UK.”
NIKNAK (NICOLE RAYMOND)
NikNak (Nicole Raymond) is a Leeds based music creative; an artist, performer, presenter, producer and turntablist. She makes experimental music that mingles with other genres. Her debut album "Bashi" is a sonic exploration and retelling of her time spent in Turkey, due for release November 2020. As a turntablist and sound artist, she has worked with artists like Shiva Feshareki and Anna Meredith, in creating soundscape-based live improvised performances.
“I believe that Turntablism has not yet been represented in the New BBC Radiophonic workshop and so to be the first Turntablist to be in the cohort is a true honour.”
POULOMI DESAI
Poulomi Desai is a multidisciplinary artist and curator. Her work interrogates the politics of identity, listening and perception, inspired by her activist background and DIY post punk. She subverts broken sitars into new electronic instruments and melds circuit bent toys, optikinetic instruments, kitchen knives, and massage tools.
Under Covid restrictions, she has been exploring the mini-oramics instrument (made by Tom Richards) using data from pandemics, migration and financial markets.
“It's great to be part of this award with so many amazing creatives and I am looking forward to creating a solo release and the mentoring.”
UNA LEE
Una Lee is a South Korean, UK based artist working with sounds, stories and sensations. She sings, narrates, improvises, collects field recordings and makes graphic artworks. She creates immersive compositions, and designs performances and intervention scenarios. She is currently exploring, rethinking and contemplating the notion of ‘song’ through ‘Songs to Stay Awake to’, a spoken song project in collaboration with Poetry Jukebox.
“The bursary of the award will help me realise my project ‘Songs to Stay Awake to’ by supporting the involved musicians for their time and work. It will be a vital contribution to the production process.”
VICKY CLARKE
Vicky Clarke is a sound and electronic media artist from Manchester. Working with sound sculpture, DIY electronics and human-machine systems, she explores our relationship to technology through sonic materiality, live audiovisual and browser-based artwork. She is currently working on her debut album SleepStates which explores ideas around machine addiction, broken transmissions and algorithmic sleep territories.
“It’s a privilege to join the Oram awardees community. My obsession with electronics and machines and all those noisy hours spent experimenting in my studio with materials and solder have been worthwhile!”
YIFEAT ZIV
Yifeat Ziv is a London based vocalist, composer, sound artist and free improviser. She combines voice, electronics, field recordings and text to create interdisciplinary sound works that derive from her research of the human voice, technology, acoustic ecology and listening practices. In her performances and installations, she aspires to create situations where an active listening experience can emerge; an invitation to critically engage with sound.
“Especially in our current reality, I believe in the necessity of forming a network of creative women and gender minorities who have a mutual interest in innovation in sound and electronic music”
photo credit Murperphoto
2019 WINNERS
AIN BAILEY
Ain Bailey is a sound artist and DJ. Her practice involves an exploration of sonic autobiographies, architectural acoustics, performance, as well as collaborations with performance and visual artists, such as Sonia Boyce and Jimmy Robert.
photo by Cacau Fernandes
ANDIE BROWN
Andie Brown began performing and recording as a solo artist in 2007 under the name These Feathers Have Plumes. Experimenting with glass and electronics, Andie has created what she terms an “augmented glass harp” and in recent years her work has focused on sound installation.
CEE HAINES AKA CHAINES
Cee Haines is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who writes surreal and fantastical electro-acoustic music under the moniker CHAINES. Their album, ‘The King’, was met with critical acclaim (The Wire Magazine, FACT Magazine), and their works for the London Contemporary Orchestra have been premiered at major venues including The Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms, 2018).
NWANDO EBIZIE AKA LADY VENDREDI
Nwando Ebizie has been carving out her own particular strand of Afrofuturism as Lady Vendredi.
She is a multidisciplinary artist with an international focus whose work converges around performance art personas, experimental theatre, neuroscience, music and African diasporic ritualistic dance.
credit Dimitri Djuric
NATALIE SHARP AKA LONE TAXIDERMIST
Natalie Sharp is a 360 artist from Cumbria at the forefront of what The Quietus described as 'New Weird Britain’. As Lone Taxidermist, her practice focuses on presenting live music in non-conventional settings, challenging existing frameworks and expectations. Exploring issues around gender and sexuality, her practice pushes at the parameters of the live environment.
STEPH HORAK AKA SHEISREVOLTING
Steph Horak is a sound and video artist. She designs systems for voice and composition, and performs on the improvisation circuit. She produces experimental pop music under the name SheIsRevolting. She focuses on error, malfunction and bad programming to create polyrhythmic sonic washes against a backdrop of homemade videos.