Reveries in Fracture

The performance lasts one hour, followed by an exhibition of Afshin Naghouni work in Hall Two A multidisciplinary live work by Afshin Naghouni and composer Amir Konjani, combining abstract painting and film with Kraken instruments and contemporary performance, in collaboration with the London Sinfonietta and Trinity Laban, exploring fractured memory and the instability of historical narratives through immersive abstract sound and imagery. This project by artist Afshin Naghouni combines painting, live contemporary music, and film to explore memory and unstable historical narratives. Through abstract reconstructions of Old Master paintings, it questions the relationship between memory and what may never have existed. Rather than reproducing the past, the paintings fracture it, preserving traces of composition and rhythm while dissolving form into abstraction. Familiar images hover on the edge of recognition, where history, myth, and collective memory blur. The project combines an exhibition, live performance, and projected film in collaboration with composer Amir Konjani, whose compositions are inspired by the paintings of Afshin Naghouni. Amir Konjani, the London Sinfonietta — the pioneering ensemble exploring new music since 1968 — and Trinity Laban present a spatially expanded work for Kraken instruments, incorporating bespoke resonators, voice, and ensemble, featuring Gabriella Dall’Olio, Aleksander Szram, vocalist Eleanor Westbrook, conducted by Nazanin Aghakhani. The music unfolds through fractured gestures and stuttering expressionistic forms, merging raw-edged sonic structures with eight double bass players. Blurring the boundaries between contemporary music and unsettling colour fields, including Circle of Concertos, the performance creates an immersive environment of brushstroke gestures, where instruments collide, decay, and reform. The performance lasts one hour, followed by a visit to Hall Two to view the paintings. Afshin Naghouni is an Iranian-born British artist whose work explores memory, identity, and history through expressive painting. Drawing inspiration from both the Old Masters and contemporary abstraction, he creates dynamic compositions that reinterpret familiar narratives in striking new ways. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in public and private collections worldwide. Amir Konjani is a situation-maker who consistently pushes the boundaries of live performance, creating experiences for performers and audience alike that resist capture or reduction. The work unfolds through a carefully constructed spatial presence on stage and can only be fully encountered in performance.