murmuration # 7 - translate
31st May - 7th June 2026
Glenshee, Scotland
with
JEZ RILEY FRENCH
PHEOBE RILEY LAW
LAURA NAUKKARINEN
ELINA BRY
HANNA TUULIKKI
cost: £899
includes accommodation in shared rooms, with full catering by our private chef & access to all group activities, talks and practical demonstrations.
to pay a deposit and reserve a place on the trip do email us here
The theme for the 2026 trip is translate; drawing on transformative listening and diffusion practises, asking how we can use located sound / listening to inform creative work and explore the role of perception"
Alongside listening sessions and field recording in the locale, we'll explore different approaches to placing sounds within other spaces, re-listening, composing and editing located sound, and translating vibrational materials into new formats inc. graphic / text based scores. We will also explore via extended techniques using contact microphones, ecoutic microphones, hydrophones etc.
The 7th in a series of unique trips curated to ensure both a sharing of diverse experience and knowledge of sound, situation and place, and an atmosphere that is relaxed, inspiring, inclusive and open. Each trip is led by artists working at the forefront of their respective fields, to compliment our always fascinating group of participants.
Our trips build communities of listeners in a flexible week together. Doing this differently we react, individually and as a group, to the ever changing environment at the time. Each invited artist will lead practical sessions alongside talks and multiple additional discussions and skill sharing sessions that develop to fit the needs of the group.
funding: we are aware of course that the cost of trips like this can be a barrier for some and we want to do our best to ensure access for all whilst maintaining the experience, and the ability of such trips to operate outside of dwindling national funding sources for independent organisations. Individual funding applications by artists wishing to attend are encouraged and we are happy to assist with advice and letters of invitation if needed.
Aside from any country specific funders in your own location, such as;
Arts Council England (uk)
Creative Scotland (uk)
Jerwood Arts (uk)
there are cross border organisations who might be able to assist such as;
https://www.transartists.org/article/funding-europe
https://www.transartists.org/article/funding-worldwide
Whilst experience of working with located sound / listening and performance practices / field recording & other areas of experiential site-specific work is useful we of course welcome participants at all stages of their interest in these areas. The format of the week is a field trip / gathering and the lead artists will be on hand throughout to offer guidance, support and deliver talks on various aspects of the act & art of listening. Each of the guest artists joining us will provide additional content (talks, playback, screenings etc).
Our private chef will be on hand to cook our meals, catering for all needs.
Above all the trip will be a chance for us to gather together & spend several days listening, recording, sharing our experience and generally having a great time meeting good folks. So do join us & be part of this murmuration of listeners!
terms of booking can be found below, & do read some of the feedback from previous murmuration trips - they were indeed special .
The location is quite remote, and whilst there is a train station around 45 minutes away, access to a car is an advantage. As always we'll link participants via email ahead of the trip so that lifts, shared car hire / taxi's etc. can be arranged where possible.
about the artists # 1 - Jez riley French
Alongside performances, exhibitions, talks and texts, Jez works as a curator & has developed a range of approaches and specialist microphones are widely used across all areas of sound culture.
Areas of work & research include expanding practices such as micro-listening, durational listening, and architectural, plant, soil horizon, aquatic and infrasound recording as key elements of contemporary located sound practices. Working with photographic scores & scores for listening, discussing the gendering of sound cultures and histories, and perception of environments.
His work has been exhibited / performed in shows alongside Annea Lockwood, Pauline Oliveros, Yoko Ono, Jana Winderen, Bjork, Chris Watson, Signe Liden, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sarah Lucas, Alvin Lucier etc & at galleries including Tate Modern and Tate Britain, Blue Dot festival, Cafe Oto (UK), Paradise Air, Matsudo Science Art Festival, MOT - Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan), Paradise Air (Japan), Spikersuppa (Norway), etc.
Recently Jez has been working on several major projects inc. on the design & detail of spaces between buildings in Japan and further works exploring structures resonated by compositions and their locales. He is also working with his daughter, the artist Pheobe riley Law, on a series of performative collaborations.
Key works are pieces capturing the sound of the dolomites dissolving, ants consuming fallen fruit, buildings vibrating, teleferica’s interacting with locales, the infrasound of domestic spaces around the world, the inner sounds of trees, moss and other plants, of soil horizons, glaciers melting in Iceland and the tonal resonances of natural and human objects in the landscape.
about the artists #2 - Pheobe riley Law.
Pheobe riley Law
we'll also be joined by Pheobe, to assist on day to day logistics and contribute to our exploration of transmit
Pheobe is an installation artist with a focus on sound, three dimensional art, and image. She takes a magpie approach which involves arranging and building relationships between different objects, vessels or devices in order to create a dialogue. Prevailing interests include exploring the life of non-human actors / inanimate objects and thinking about aspects of human activity through the lens of division and borders. She sometimes playfully reverses the roles of humans and non-humans, revealing the object-hood of the human essence, and an animate character of the ‘inanimate’ being. In her latest performance film Machine Equities she explores the sonic landscape of machines as actors and collaborators.
Previous and ongoing explorations focus on: machine technologies as our collaborators (both sonically and physically); the relationship we have to the natural world (including the livestock industry) and the role salt has on aquatic life.
Her work has been exhibited / performed at Apt Gallery, Crossovers collective, FIeld Notes, Humber Street Gallery, The Baltic Gallery, Hatton Gallery, The Hancock Museum, Delaval Hall, Newcastle University, Cafe Oto, Iklectik (UK), Fabrica Research Centre, Stazione di Topolo (Italy), Rainy Days Festival (Luxembourg), Spikersuppa Gallery (Norway), Funen Art Academy (Denmark), LevelOne Gallery (Germany), Paradise Air, Matsudo Science Art Festival, Ftarri, Permian (Japan), Detroit Gallery (Stockholm), for BBC Radio 3 & released on labels such as engraved glass (UK), Breton Cassette (Norway), Making Tracks (UK) & Presque Tout (France)
about the artists #3 - Laura Naukkarinen
Laura Naukkarinen (Lau Nau), is a Finnish composer and sound artist whose music is imbued with an idiosyncratic, finely honed sound world. Her palette often consists of traditional instruments, singing voice, modular synthesisers and field recordings. She works with listening practices and makes collective listening workshops.
To date Lau Nau has released 11 albums on record labels in Europe, USA and Japan and a large number of collaborative releases. Lau Nau is also known for her music to films and multi channel sound installations. In her role as a sound designer she won the Finnish State Prize for the Performing Arts 2021 with the working group of Huoneiden kirja and her original score for Katja Gauriloff’s film Je’vida earned her the Jussi Prize 2024. She has toured abroad for 25 years, playing in venues such as Super Deluxe in Tokyo, the Lab & Castro Theatre in San Francisco and Knitting Factory, Blank Forms, Pioneer Works & Issue Project Room in New York.
about the artists #4 - Elina Bry
Elina Bry is a French-Finnish multidisciplinary artist based in Scotland. Their practice spans film, performance and sound exploring how the body and environment are entangled through memory, language, and listening.
Sound and voice are central to their work. EB creates sound for films and performances as well as standalone pieces, often collaborating with choirs, artists and nature. They approach the voice not through pitch or melody, but as material: a site of breath, resonance, and embodied presence. In their practice, the voice becomes a medium and a form—shaped by inhaling, exhaling, speaking, or singing—and is deeply connected to their experience of working across different languages.
Through attentive listening, collective vocal explorations, and recordings that emerge from walking and dialogue, EB traces the fragile and porous relations between people, places, and ecologies. Their practice opens spaces where sound and voice carry memory, create intimacy, and become tools for connection.
They have performed sound works for Radiophrenia (Glasgow), Goolugatup Sounds (Western Australia), worked with Rhubaba Choir (Edinburgh) and are currently developing a project for a group exhibition in Oulu Museum, part of the European Capital of Culture 2026 programme.
about the artists #5 - Hanna Tuulikki
Hanna Tuulikki is a British-Finnish artist, composer, and performer based in Scotland, whose work explores our connection with the more-than-human world. Working across sound art, music, visual art, and live art, she blends sonic composition with ritual forms and visual elements – including costume, choreography, and graphic scores – to tell ‘stories of re-worlding’ through immersive installation, moving image, and live performance.
At the heart of her practice, Tuulikki works with the voice, using singing and extended vocalisation to explore how the body communicates beyond language. Her sonic compositions weave composed and improvised vocal textures with field recordings and electronics. Often site-specific, her work engages directly with place, activating natural acoustics and adopting processes of experimental translation to create hybrid ‘human-and-more-than-human’ soundscapes. Her work with choreography, costume, and visual scores expands this inquiry, examining how movement and image can embody a kinaesthetic form of listening that deepens our sensory connection to place and ecology, while her drawn notations map relationships between voices, bodies, and landscapes.
Ecological research underpins Tuulikki’s practice, particularly around multispecies kinship. She draws on embodied vernacular knowledge, especially sonic and bio-mimesis – imitating the sounds and movements of other creatures – to ask how we might learn from animals and birds to sense, move, and live well on our shared planet in times of ecological crisis.
Recent projects have addressed the emotional impact of the climate crisis and the role of art in navigating care for a rapidly changing world. Her work has been presented at Folkestone Triennial, British Art Show 9, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, IMA Brisbane, Biennale of Sydney, Helsinki Biennial, Take Me Somewhere, Kochi-Muziris Biennale and Edinburgh Art Festival. She recently received a Henry Moore Artist Award, an Oram Award and was shortlisted for an Ivor Novello Award in sound art.
accommodation;
terms & conditions
- booking terms & conditions: you will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit of £100 within 5 days of booking a place, with the balance due by February 28th 2026, paid either in one payment or 2, the first in January. In the event that you are no longer able to attend please let us know as soon as possible. If this is after you have paid the full amount we will try to find someone to fill your place. If this is possible we will then issue a refund minus the deposit. If you cancel less than 8 weeks from the start of the trip or don’t inform us that you can’t attend we will be unable to return your payment as the costs have been carefully calculated per space on the trip. Of course in the event of unforeseen circumstances we will do whatever we can to assist & try to ensure the best outcome for all.
If you are booking a place offered to the waiting list and after January 31st you will be required to pay in full for the place and from then the same t&c's will apply. - cancellation by you: In the event that you are no longer able to attend please let us know as soon as possible. If this is after you have paid the full amount we will try to find someone to fill your place. If this is possible we will then issue a refund minus the deposit. If you cancel less than 8 weeks from the start of the trip or don’t inform us that you can’t attend we will be unable to return your payment as the costs have been carefully calculated per space on the trip. Of course in the event of unforeseen circumstances we will do whatever we can to assist & try to ensure the best outcome for all. We strongly advise that you take out travel insurance.
- cancellation by us: In the unlikely event that we have to cancel the course, or the accommodation themselves cancel it, we will refund you in full minus the deposit. We are not liable for any additional costs incurred such as flights, car hire or purchase of items for the trip so we suggest you book any travel with changeable dates. If the course cannot go ahead for any reason outside of our control (natural disasters, strikes etc) we cannot offer refunds but you should be covered for such eventualities by travel insurance, which we strongly suggest you get before the trip. The ability to run the trip does depend on a certain number of places being booked. In the unlikely event that we have to cancel the trip for that reason the above terms apply.
- on location: Participants are fully responsible for the their own safety on the trip inc. insurance for any equipment you bring with you. The organisers are not responsible for any injury or loss whilst on location. Participants are expected to conduct themselves in a manner which does not infringe on the enjoyment of others on the trip. The cost of any damage to the property itself or any equipment you borrow from the trip leaders or assistants will need to be reimbursed.
- Course fees, inc. the deposit are calculated carefully to cover costs and so must be received in full. Therefore any bank transfer or currency exchange fees must be met by those booking places. For UK participants, a bank transfer is the easiest & for those from elsewhere we recommend wise.com as it has better exchange rates and lower fees than other payment platforms. For payment by paypal there will be a charge of between 4-6% (depending on your country of residence) added to the total to cover their fees.
- There is an age restriction of 18 for those attending the course, and all participants must be fully vaccinated, including any booster jabs available by the time of the trip.
- We are not responsible for any issues with visas for overseas participants. Those coming to the UK from outside of the EU should apply in plenty of time for a tourist visa, not a student visa. We are happy to supply a letter by email confirming your place on the trip if needed.
- We will document certain aspects of the trip and reserve the right to share any images on social media. Your consent is assumed unless you inform us during the course that you do not wish to be featured in such images.
- We reserve the right to cancel the trip at our discretion (don't worry, this is a standard legally type clause in things like this and doesn't indicate out intention to do so).