Leeds School of Arts

Dr Oliver Bray performs in Venice

Dr Oliver Bray, the Dean of the School of Film, Music and Performing Arts and Head of Performing Arts performed his solo work Ursonate Post-truth in Venice on Friday 10 May.

Oliver performing Ursonate Post-truth

Ursonate Post-truth is a re-performance of Kurt Schwitters’ seminal piece of sound poetry, Ursonate. In this work, the Ursonate is interlaced with contemporary examples of post-truth oratory, including speeches of Trump, May and Putin. Together, these layers of vocal delivery create an intertextual non-sense monologue, which addresses the potential of the perlocutionary speech act when placed beside the impenetrable beauty of verbal noise. The work is engaging, lyrical and funny.

The performance was part of the symposium and exhibition ‘Art and Healing’ at La Scuola Grande di SAN Marco, Campo SAN Zanipolo, Venice, to coincide with the opening of the Venice Biennale. The event was presented by the Richard Demarco Archive and supported by Creative Scotland and the University Dundee. Dr Bray’s performance was supported by Leeds Beckett University.

The Art and Healing exhibition

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