The “body without organs” (French: corps sans organes) is a concept used by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. It usually refers to the deeper reality underlying some well-formed whole constructed from fully functioning parts. At the same time, it may also describe a relationship to one’s literal body.
But today we are joined by Wellcome Trust / Clore/ Rijksakademie Fellow & FRSA Poet Astrid Alben who will be reading from her new collection Plainspeak.
Plainspeak is based on an early memory: when aged four or five she decided she wanted to be a boy, The boy she never got to be grew up alongside her as her alter ego, ‘Poet’ in these poems.
AND: Over the course of several months, Áine O’Dwyer was given access to the pipe organ in St Mark’s Church, Islington while the cleaners were at work. Primarily a harpist, this was a rare opportunity to grapple with the “king of instruments” and apply her sense of melodic, structured improvisation in a very different context.
The result being Áine O’Dwyer – Music For Church Cleaners vol. I and II with which we happily assemble today’s program around……
