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Join All the Whistlers in this workshop by Aliaskar Abarkas, and guest artist Hannah Catherine Jones to explore a vision of a contemporary sonic myth and compose an anthem for whistling. Participate in sonic and somatic activities as we delve into the possibilities of developing our musical language. This workshop aims to create new compositions that respond to the architecture and unique characteristics of The Mosaic Rooms.

This workshop marks the launch of a new series of collaborations, where Aliaskar will work with seven organisations and their programmes on a series of sound workshops. Creating a nomadic space for experimentation and learning, these workshops aim to explore the social power of collective whistling, fostering community connections, and peer building. Each session is followed by a composer responding to the project with a song for collective whistling.

All the Whistlers are welcome to join. No former skills are required. Each session stands alone; however, there will be a correlation between the gatherings. As the project progresses, we will also incorporate recently commissioned music as the foundation for our workshops, ultimately leading towards the publication of an LP.

Collaborating organisations for this project include Barbican Centre, Cubitt, ICA, Sadler’s Wells, Swiss Church, TACO!, and The Mosaic Rooms.

This project is funded by Arts Council England and Rose Choreographic School.

Aliaskar Abarkas is a London-based artist and writer. Committed to alternative and communal art education, he employs a choreographic and sonic approach to facilitate the dynamic interplay between individuals, guiding a transition from isolated experiences to collective expressions. Through strategic engagement with institutional infrastructures, he proposes and tests methodologies that reimagine open contexts within which his practice evolves and circulates, resulting in contingent shifts in the dimensions of ideas and material forms. In the project All The Whistlers, Aliaskar collaborates with diverse creative networks and participants, documenting the process leading to musical compositions, visuals, and performances. Aliaskar holds a fellowship at Sadler’s Wells/Rose Choreographic School (London, 2024-26). He was an associate artist at Castro (Italy), Open School East (UK), the Institute of Postnatural Studies (Spain), Rupert (Lithuania), and Syllabus V (UK). Aliaskar holds a BFA and MA in Fine Arts and Theory of Art from the University of Tehran and Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a recipient of an Arts Council England Project Grant. Most recently, his work has been presented at CAPC Bordeaux, LOCALES Rome, The Barbican Centre, among others.

Dr. Hannah Catherine Jones (aka Foxy Moron) is a London-based artist, scholar, multi-instrumentalist, broadcaster and DJ (BBC Radio/TV, NTS – The Opera Show), composer, conductor, founder of Peckham Chamber Orchestra – a community project established in 2013 and founder of Chiron Choir – a queer diasporic choir established in 2022. Jones completed her AHRC DPhil scholarship at Oxford University for which the ongoing body of work The Oweds was presented as a series of live and recorded, broadcast, audio-visual episode-compositions, using disruptive sound as a methodology of institutional decolonisation and was awarded with no corrections in 2021. Jones was a recipient of the BBC Radiophonic Oram Award for innovation in music (2018) and was nominated for the Paul Hamlyn Award composer award (2014).

Image: Courtesy of the artist.