Interview: Kathy Hinde and Ulf Pedersen

Pictured above: Ulf Pedersen: Droplets: Sounding the River

Bristol-based audiovisual artists Kathy Hinde and Ulf Pedersen team up with rising talent Wayne Binitie for Alight!, a magical after-dark trail of light and sound this Christmas at National Trust Prior Park Landscape Garden, Bath.

Kathy and Ulf were recently part of Brighton Festival’s sell out hit For The Birds, and their work will also feature in other high profile events around the country this winter. Alight! is an opportunity for Bristol audiences to see their work nearby.

Aimed at audiences of all ages, Alight! brings Prior Park’s historic landscape to life with atmospheric lights, projections and sounds. Visitors can wander around the paths of the landscape garden to discover work inspired by nature including illuminated birds, mysterious musical boxes, atmospheric ice vapour and a ghostly fish. They can also see the iconic Palladian bridge and Prior Park College in a new light as they are specially illuminated after dark.

Kathy Hinde’s Luminous Birds. Pic: Kathy Hinde

You both show your work around the world. What’s it like presenting Alight! so close to home?
Kathy: It’s wonderful to show some work locally for a change! Bath is a beautiful city, and the Prior Park landscape Garden is such a picturesque setting.
Before moving to Bristol, I studied and lived in Bath for about six years, and I have great memories and friendships from that time. It’s been some time since I have shown work in Bath, so it is a joy to be able to present a series of works in a substantial show, especially alongside artworks by Ulf and Wayne Binitie.
Ulf: Firstly it’s great to be presenting my work close to home. I don’t think I’ve ever shown my work in an outdoor location in or around Bristol.
Secondly, Prior Park really is a unique landscape with sweeping views down to the city of Bath – a stunning location for showing such works.

Ulf Pedersen, For The Birds

Why do you like to create artworks outside, rather than in more traditional arts spaces?
Kathy: I think a different profile of visitor will encounter the works in this setting. I hope families will experience this unique combination of experimental art and sound works, with a walk through a landscape garden at night: and I hope visitors are pleasantly surprised, and perhaps inspired into a new interest in this kind of art.
My work is almost always inspired by nature, and presenting it outdoors means that the setting, landscape, and weather are all part of the experience.
Ulf: It’s far more exciting creating artworks outside of the confines of a white-walled gallery space. Each location is quite different to the next; whether that be in the lush temperate rainforests of New Zealand or the rain- and windswept shores of the Faroe Islands: it doesn’t get much more diverse than that. Of course this brings in the many challenges of making the artworks weatherproof!
Furthermore, being outside of the gallery space does open up the work to a much wider audience who would never normally venture into such spaces.

Kathy Hinde, Piano Migrations

You’re both inspired by nature. Do more man-made elements also play a role in your work?
Kathy: I do use technology, but it is not the driving force behind the work – it is a tool to realise ideas.
I do have a fascination with new and old tech, so experimenting with technology and learning new techniques does play a part in my creative process. Learning more about what is possible and available allows my ideas to expand to incorporate these possibilities.
Ulf: It depends on the piece itself, but it’s fair to say that we use both lo-fi and hi-fi technologies.

How did you select the works to present at Prior Park?
Kathy: There is a connection between the works on show, as they are all inspired by the natural world, and each piece is a fusion between visual and sound elements. Two further themes of water and birds emerged as we discussed the possibilities.
We began by walking around the garden with each other discussing and imagining which pieces would work where. All of our works benefit from different kinds of settings, so we look for specific locations that would complement each artwork. We then consider the order of the pieces, the arc of the walk, and the overall audience experience.
Ulf: There is a certain sympathy between our work and, together with the curator, Sound UK, we selected those works that would fit the aesthetic.

Work by Ulf Pedersen

What inspired some of the pieces you’re presenting?
Kathy: The works I’m presenting at Alight! are all inspired by a fascination and love of birds, especially how they migrate over long distances around the world. I’ve always had a passion for combining visual art and music – and as I love to play the piano, one of my installations features a flock of migrating birds playing a dismantled piano… you’ll have to come and see it to find out what that means!

What kind of experience to you hope audiences will have?
Kathy: Magical, uplifting, enchanting, poetic.
Ulf: Discovering the unexpected.

What’s coming up next for both of you?
Kathy: I’m exhibiting a second version of Piano Migrations in Paris at the NEMO Biennale, and a flock of Luminous Birds is also flying in Vancouver until the new year….   So, my pianos and birds are constantly migrating!.
2018 has many great things in store, however they are not all fully confirmed yet, so watch this space! I’ll definitely be making some new works to show in the autumn, and I’m showing some existing (but still quite new) pieces at Sonica Festival, Kings Place in April, plus an exciting trip to the other side of the world early in the new year.
Ulf: I’m presenting Droplets at Lumiere in London in January, then planning for an event in Perth, Western Australia.

Alight! National Trust Prior Park Landscape Garden, Bath, Dec 15-17. For more info, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/events/dcea9811-bcde-4ab7-89ed-df45b9dd11c2/pages/details

Read more: The photographer capturing 24 hours in Stokes Croft