DD Day 2021 – 4 new artist commissions producing 2 new audio visual works

We are excited to be able to offer 4 artists commissions this year as part of our Delia Derbyshire Day 2021 project. We – and our funders – felt it was particularly important at this time to provide satisfying opportunities for North West England artists to create new work.

These will be 2 x new electronic music/sound and visual based art commissions to be presented online on DD Day 2021 – 23 November.

This opportunity is funded by Arts Council England (North West) and The Granada Foundation, hence the North West England regional focus.

Artists responded to the theme of imagination as well as Delia’s work and the Delia Derbyshire archive based at John Rylands Library in Manchester, UK.

Follow us on our social media channels or join our mailing list as we countdown to DD Day 2021’s new collaborative art presentations on 23 November! 

Introducing our DD Day 2021 artists

DD Day 2021 audio-visual commission 1: Suzy Mangion & Katie Mason

Suzy Mangion is a singer, music and sound maker, and audio-visual historian.

Suzy was delighted to be collaborating with visual artist Katie Mason, who shares her niche love of outmoded aesthetics and the slightly eerie. They are making a short film called Location: Gilsland inspired by the Cumbrian village where Delia lived for a few years in the 1970s after leaving the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

“As a composer Delia Derbyshire had a rare gift of never imagining the obvious. She was able to take musical sounds in unexpected directions, without fuss or pretension,  imagining whole musical worlds in miniature.”

Katie Mason is a Visual Artist working in Manchester. She is inspired by pop culture as well as the humdrum of daily life.

With Suzy Mangion, many hours have been spent over zoom, sharing a love for teletext, the eerie and odd, vintage educational programmes and advert archives. This shared interest led them to making a short film titled -“Location: Gilsland”, inspired by the Cumbrian village that Delia moved to after leaving the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. 

“Delia Derbyshire’s methods of creating sounds are a constant inspiration to me. She took the ordinary and experimented with its potential to become something extraordinary.

DD Day 2021 audio-visual commission 2: MT Hall & Lacey Liang

MT Hall is an artist, music producer and DJ.  For the DD Day 2021 commission, MT is collaborating with Lacey Liang, a 3D concept artist. 

Lacey and MT have gathered audio and visual material from the real world, using them to create new imagined digital worlds. We have produced two pieces, responding to one another’s process and material.

Delia’s work shows how we can grow and lean into the fullness of our imagination and with that, its power.”

Lacey Liang is a 3D artist based in Liverpool.

DD Day’s 2021 theme of imagination fits perfectly with Lacey’s work, because everything she creates in the digital world is an expression of imagination.

MT Hall and Lacey are gathering materials from the real world and turning them into digital pieces while responding to each others’ work and artform.

“I was particularly inspired by Delia’s working notes from her years working in the BBC. Her collaborating method was very structural, very meticulous.