PERFORMANCE: Alessandra Novaga / Simon Fisher Turner with Sebastian Sharples

5 April, 2025 - 19:30
MINARD
TICKETS

“I spent almost two years immersed in his world, I read everything he wrote, I saw everything he shot, and slowly the idea of translating all this into music sprouted within me. It was a very slow process, many ideas were sacrificed because I felt the need for a clean, stripped, meaningful and above all evocative result. I eliminated all the parts that felt too descriptive. I visited Prospect Cottage, walked around his house and recorded my steps — and I hear those steps, I feel I am there walking; I feel his presence.” (Alessandra Novaga)

---

“Derek’s role in my life was like a teacher without teaching. He’s constantly on my mind. He was wise and curious, instilling in me a sort of bravery. He used to talk about things I’d never heard of: Yves Klein, Caravaggio. I had no idea who these people were. He was capable of so much and made incredible images. He could do a narrative film like Edward II and then do The Last of England (1987) or The Garden (1990), which don’t have a normal structure. And then you have Blue, which is not so much a story, but observations about life and death and love in this frame, this void, of Yves Klein Blue: nothing and everything.” (Simon Fisher Turner)

 

Simon Fisher Turner performs an extra solo concert following the screening of The Garden on Thursday April 3, 22h00 at ARCA.

PERFORMANCE

Alessandra Novaga

Classically trained at the Musik-Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, over the last decade, Alessandra Novaga has emerged as one of the leading figures within northern Italy’s thriving new, experimental music scene, rendering striking solo efforts, in addition to collaborations with Loren Connors, Stefano Pilia, Paula Matthusen, and others. Remarkably ambitious and forward thinking, her approach to the guitar embarks upon a relentless deconstruction and rethinking of her instrument’s unique properties through distinct applications of structure, resonance, space, and tone, creating in a deeply personal and emotive music, seeking narrative and meaning within the abstractions of sound. With the LP Fassbinder Wunderkammer (2017), Novaga embarked upon the exploration of her love of film. Having begun with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this was followed in 2020 by the release of the utterly fantastic I Should Have Been a Gardener (Die Schachtel), a deeply intimate mediation on the life and work of Derek Jarman. At the Courtisane festival, Alessandra Novaga will perform a live reiteration of this sonic homage. 

PERFORMANCE

Simon Fisher Turner with Sebastian Sharples

From child actor to teenage pop idol, self-confessed “extreme sound freak” to acclaimed solo recording artist, Simon Fisher Turner’s career has been nothing if not varied. After releasing his first solo album in 1969, Turner followed an often eccentric, sometimes outlandish musical path. He operated on the fringes of punk, performed briefly with The The and released two albums as one half of a fictional duo known as Deux Filles. But through all this, Turner was developing a deep and abiding interest in the stuff of sound, accumulating a vast library of collected sounds from daily life. It is this interest which forms the basis of his improvisatory, eclectic approach to music making, manifest on his most recent solo albums (on labels such as Mego Editions, Mute and A Colourful Storm). Turner cites Derek Jarman, for whom he composed the soundtracks for Caravaggio, The Last of England, Edward II, The Garden and Blue, as a continuing influence on his life and work.

Sebastian Sharples is a documentary film maker and photographer. He has worked collaboratively with Juergen Teller and Billy Childish and has made more than thirty films with Tracey Emin including her feature film Top Spot. Sebastian has contributed visual backdrops for Simon’s live performances for over twenty-five years and made the accompanying film for his album Lana Lara Lata (Mute, 2005). For the performance at the festival, Sebastian has created a moving collage of photographic images inspired by Simon’s music.