About

About 'push.to.play'

'push.to.play' is a celebration of the creative community at the University of Sussex, curated by student collective PATCH.

In the auditorium, experience an explosive live display of experimental music, visuals and performance from students and alumni, featuring sets from Robinson's Village, the ambient project of James Burns, electronic duo Noise Peddler (Danny Bright and Lee Westwood) and sound artist and producer Furrowed (Dylan Beattie), who will be joined on stage by Cederick Knox for an improvisation involving a grand piano and a live-cut record.

Theatre Maker Emma Bean presents 'Concepts of a Plan', an audience participatory experience. Her breath and vocal work piece brings a sense of “held-ness”, grounding and freedom of movement. This moment (approximately 20 minutes) is about breaking down the usual barriers audiences feel when observing work, and introducing them to a more collaborative environment.

In the Café Bar, we invite you to a DIY open-mixer sandbox where you can play with some of the gear featured in the show.

We aim for this pilot event to provide a platform to meet like-minded people and encourage collaboration with others. We want participants to feel part of a community and experience what can be achieved through curiosity and play.

This inaugural event held at ACCA, a dynamic creative arts space here on the University of Sussex campus, is designed for everyone to engage at some level. University of Sussex students, staff and alumni are encouraged to join us to experiment, try something new and come away feeling inspired and motivated by their own creative potential.

About PATCH

PATCH is a growing collective committed to producing an event that excites and inspires curiously inclined individuals. They are particularly focused on creating a space for students to interact with creative technology and express enthusiasm for how we can push the boundaries of live performance.

About Robinson's Village

Robinson’s Village is the ambient project of Nottingham-born, London-based artist James Burns. Blending reverb-soaked tape loops with layers of warped modular synths, his sound explores the fragile beauty of decay and imperfection. His latest release, By Burning This (2024), was composed using a gently scorched tape loop warmed with a lighter to introduce delicate warping and sonic instability. His influences include Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Grouper, William Basinski, KMRU, Oneohtrix Point Never and Loveliescrushing. Beyond his personal releases, James is expanding into composition for film and games, bringing his distinct textural sensibility to new storytelling mediums. His next EP is expected later this year.'

About Noise Peddler

Noise Peddler is the electronic duo of Brighton-based composers and guitarists Danny Bright and Lee Westwood. A symmetrical duo of no-input pedalboards, walking the line between composition and improvisation, experimental noise and melodic hooks, their music explores the limits of what can be achieved with the guitar pedal as instrument. The result is a performance where pedals are the signal generator, processor and sole interface.

About Furrowed

Furrowed (Dylan Beattie) is a sound artist and producer making weird records and circuit-bending record cutting tools into musical instruments. Often starting with a blank disc, sound is inscribed live as evolving record grooves are performed by multiple pickups. As part of his unique approach, using a handheld device, he ‘tattoos’ sound directly to surfaces creating unexpected sonic outcomes involving locked grooves and sound fragments. His sonic palette ranges from electronic and melodic tones, environmental sounds, to hypnotic and cross-rhythms, analogue surface glitches and other process artefacts. Expect lo-fi looping, clicks, pops and crunch as records are made, celebrated and destroyed.

About Cederick Knox

"...pleasantly unsettling... the room starts spinning and then it dawns on you that this is fantastic" God is in the TV

Cederick Knox is the project of Jason Hazael, sometimes solo, often with collaborators. Offerings have included studio recordings of a semi-fictional jazz band, found-footage VHS mashup AV performances, free improv and recently, music for short film. Jason studied music composition at the University of Southampton and MA in Music and Sonic Media at Sussex. He co-runs Brighton-based experimental music night and occasional label Ceremonial Laptop.

About Emma Bean

Emma Bean is a Theatre Maker and Co-Founder of GreenBean Theatre & Co. a Brighton-based greenhouse of theatre, planting creative beans of collaboration with emerging artists. Their debut production of 'Eigengrau', written by Penelope Skinner, was shown as part of Brighton Fringe. Emma is a University of Sussex alumnus (BA hons Drama, Theatre and Performance) and was awarded the Department of Drama Experience Award: recognising commitment to the community of drama.

More artists to be announced. Tickets also available on DICE.

Image: created using code by PATCH member Emily-Rose Chantrill-Cheyette, President of the Creative Tech Society at the University of Sussex.