Audio Commission, Art Licks Weekend, 2014

Curated by Eva Rowson 

“My daughter always says my voice changes when I’m speaking on the phone or talking to a room.”  

Taking her starting point from whom and where we learn our assumed roles and how these are passed between generations, Phoebe has constructed a new site-specific sound work for The Pigeon Hole Cafe. The text is drawn from interviews and conversations with the managers’ mothers, investigating the role of female hosts and expected behaviour, leading to parasitic parallels.

Calm Exteriors continues Phoebe’s performative approach to generating work through instruction, discussion and live interaction, which may be initiated by the artist but completed or extended by others.

Written and edited by Phoebe Davies, with contributions from Louise Steidl and Jackie Ellison. The text is read by the artist’s mother, Rosamund Davies.

Calm Exteriors is commissioned as part of the Art Licks Weekend 2014 performance programme, HOST, curated by Eva Rowson and supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation. With thanks to the Pigeon Hole Cafe, Holly Steidl, George Ellison and the Eurythmics.