In late summer 2016, USURP ARTS organised a pop-up residency at their gallery space in West Harrow, London. As opposed to the gallery offering a blank space and the works presented therein being physical or aural objects / modes of representation, this project began as an enquiry and exploration of the actual space; the mundane and extraordinary activities; everyday objects and facilities, and disruptions contained within.
USURP founders, Poulomi Desai and Simon Underwood, subsequently invited long-time collaborator Jonas Gustafsson to interact with them and respond to the gallery space and its surroundings.
Through interactions and reactions – listening in the space, gestures, speech, field-recordings and found sounds, the trio created, (both individually and together) a soundscape based on the hidden, forgotten, disregarded, live spaces and places that breathe life into the peripheries of London. This culminated in a live performance based on chance, collaboration, action and interaction in a public space, where the trio brought in instrumentation such as sitar, bass, electronics and percussion to interpret and translate their findings.
The recordings made from the day produced a limited edition cassette & digital download titled “The Usurp Tapes Vol 1 – Species of Spaces” released on the IMPEKA imprint.