Published: 14 Dec 2023
Apollo 2 collage. Credit Ela Orleans and NASA Archive.
Glasgow’s internationally renowned home of audiovisual art and experimentation celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024 with a year of commissions, festivals and tours taking place at home and across Europe. This year-long celebration showcases one of the UK’s most innovative producers as they mark three decades of ravishing the senses. Since 1994, Cryptic has programmed more than 2020 artists whose work has been experienced by more than 1.28m people in 32 countries.
On 11th January, Cryptic’s Founder and Artistic Director, Cathie Boyd, will be awarded the prestigious International Citation of Merit from the International Society for The Performing Arts (ISPA) in a ceremony in New York. The Award will celebrate her distinguished international work within the profession.
Cryptic’s anniversary year will culminate in the seventh edition of Sonica Glasgow, Cryptic’s award-winning biennial festival of world-class audiovisual work, running across Glasgow for 11 days from 19 to 29 September.
This month, Cryptic, in partnership with Construction festival, launched an Open Call for a female Ukrainian digital artist/musician to join their annual creative residency at Cove Park in Argyll & Bute, joining Laura Mannelli (LX), No Plexus (NL), Harry Gorski-Brown (UK) and Cryptic Artist Sonia Killmann. The chosen artist will also return in September to perform at Sonica Glasgow. This new opportunity marks Cryptic’s long-standing artistic partnership with Construction Festival in Dnipro.
In February 2024, Cryptic will launch an Open Call inviting Scottish based musicians to create a commission that responds to Glasgow’s Lamp of Remembrance, erected in memory of the nurses who died in the Great Wars. The work will encourage visitors to quietly reflect on its important history and mark the centenary of the city’s Cenotaph. as well as our current experiences of war. The work will premiere at Sonica Glasgow in September.
Other live events happening across the year include:
Night Voyager, Cryptic Artist Ela Orleans’ journey through the NASA archives featuring a live score of theremin, synthesiser and violin, at Korso Theatre in The Hague (Musical Utopia Festival) on 11 January and Perth Theatre and Concert Hall (Perth Film Festival) in Scotland on 18 January followed by performances at Kings Place, London, SARC, Belfast and National Concert Hall, Dublin.
The return of Cryptic Nights, Cryptic’s annual open call platform giving development time and performance opportunities to the next generation of Scottish based artists and musicians. The 2024 programme will support 12 artists across five live events between March and November. These will include Sean Logan (who appeared on Channel 4’s The Piano earlier this year), Georgina Penkskart and Adam Strachan.
Cryptic returns to Kings Place London with a double bill of Ela Orleans’ Night Voyager and artist-composers Lucy Duncome & Feronia Wennborg’s assembling.air as part of the venue’s year-long Scotland Unwrapped season on 16 March. Cryptic has been a Kings Place Associate Artist since 2018.
Following a series of residencies with Station Mir in Caen, Scottish artist and composer Alex Smoke and artist Paul Duncombe will premiere Tapemoana at St Julien Church, Caen, as part of festival ]interstice[ followed by its UK premiere at Sonica Glasgow in September. The work is part of British Council’s Spotlight on Culture UK-France 2024 Fund. (4 July).
Glasgow electro-acoustic musician Harry Gorski-Brown will premiere Elephant, you shake your sheep, a new collaboration between French artist-composer Annabelle Playe and lighting designer Rima Ben Brahim at GMEM on 17 September in Marseille before coming to Sonica Glasgow.
Cryptic’s founding Artistic Director Cathie Boyd said:
“As Cryptic celebrates a monumental 30th anniversary throughout 2024, it’s a chance for me to reflect on the last three decades and look to the future with excitement. From Bonjour Tristesse, our first production in 1994 at Tramway to a 2024 programme that reflects everything Cryptic has grown to represent; supporting ground breaking Scottish artists to take their work across the world, whilst providing a stage for international artists to bring unforgettable events to audiences in Scotland and across the UK. Thanks to our many partners, we have always strived to present memorable spectacles - from Sound To Sea, a flotilla of over 140 performers on the River Clyde as part of Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games to Aquasonic, an underwater concert ten years in the making- alongside sound art at its most intimate and meditative. Cryptic remains passionate about supporting pioneering artists to take creative risks. Throughout 2024, we can’t wait for audiences, new and old, to have their senses ravished”.
Head of Music at Creative Scotland, Alan Morrison said:
“For 30 years, Cryptic has shone a spotlight on Scotland’s most exhilarating artists, raising the bar higher and higher while gaining an unrivalled reputation for daring and excellence. Driven by the unique vision of Cathie Boyd, Cryptic connects Scotland to the world, provoking audiences at home and abroad with bold, beautiful work that defies the rules. This anniversary year offers an opportunity to celebrate past achievements but, more importantly, looks to the future with exciting new commissions, international collaborations and a special edition of flagship festival Sonica. Creative Scotland is proud to support an organisation that continues to take us all on such a thrilling artistic adventure.”
Established in 1994, Cryptic is Scotland’s internationally renowned home of audiovisual performances and experimentation. Based in Glasgow but with a global reach, Cryptic presents and promotes the most dynamic talents of today and tomorrow as they explore new dimensions in live music, visual and sonic arts and performance, transforming existing spaces, dazzling the senses, stimulating thought and provoking conversation.
Three strands are key to Cryptic’s mission. Cryptic Artists nurtures new talents. Cryptic Nights supports the artistic development of Scottish-based performers. And the biennale Sonica Glasgow festival presents an 11-day programme of international audiovisual art and performance featuring new and established artists.
To date Cryptic has programmed 2,000 + artists, whose work has been seen by over 1.2 million people in 32 countries.
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot
Find out more about the ISPA Awards
Full programme details for Sonica will be launched in Spring / Summer 2024
For interviews, press tickets and images contact Ruth Marsh on ruth.marshpr@gmail.com / 07824468396
