Late Works is a sporadic series of live intermedia events and permutable collective of artists, musicians, writers, designers, filmmakers and dancers, with a monthly radio show on Resonance Extra.
Each manifestation of Late Works is governed by a set of pre-determined rules and instructions, aimed to encourage discourse, collaboration and exchange between the artists taking part. The heavily process-based experimental shows are united by an ethos of indeterminate intermedia improvisation.
Late Works was founded in September 2018 by artist Joseph Bradley Hill, after a conversation with composer/musician Billy Leach about his jazz evenings Impromptu. The majority of the events are conceptualised by Joe and refined with other artists. Late Works is a process and collaborators are encouraged to critique and develop the concept when participating in the events.
View the directory of all our collaborators here.
• There should be no extraneous or pre-exisiting material (e.g. a painting made before the artist was approached for the event), everything must be purposefully created for (or within) the show.
• Events should take place over one day/night only.
• Performances should occur in intervals of 15 minutes.
• Where possible, choose the most sustainable option (e.g. reclaimed clay in SLIP, recycled paper for the By Ear postcards etc.)
• Recordings should be made and released as soon as possible from the date of the event.
• New artists should always try to be found first. Certain artists will however lend their work perfectly to a specific concept and take part in multiple iterations of the same event.
• Each event should have a distinct numbering system for its iterations (e.g. Paperweight II, By Ear #2, at first sight No.3)
• Many events are initiated through homographs, umbrella terms that span different creative disciplines, (e.g. the homograph slip = movement = slip = garment = slip = clay = slip = paper used for the show of the same title).
LATE /leɪt/
• near or at the end of day or well into the night.
• belonging to the time just before the present moment; most recent.
WORKS /wɜːks/
• something created as a result of effort, especially a painting, book, or piece of music.
• everything that you might want or expect to find in a particular situation.
• the parts of a machine, esp. the parts that move.
• an industrial building, especially one where a lot of people are employed. ---> (hopefully in the future)
Indeterminate /ˌɪndɪˈtɜː(r)mɪnət/
• not definitely or precisely determined or fixed / not known in advance / not leading to a definite end or result / having an infinite number of solutions.
Intermedia /ɪntərˈmɛdɪə/
• using or involving several media, such as music, film, dance and painting, simultaneously; coined/popularised by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins in the 60s.
Improvisation /ˌɪm.prə.vaɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
• a performance that an actor, musician, etc. has not practiced or planned.
• the act of making or doing something with whatever is available at the time.
Homograph /ˈhɒməɡrɑːf,/
• each of two or more words spelled the same but not necessarily pronounced the same and having different meanings and origins.
Creative Boom - "Late Works merges graphic design, conceptual art, sound and bold new modes of collaborating – and it's brilliant" (interview)
Electronic Sound - "fascinating [...] eclectic & experimental [...] with boundless innovation" (print review & interview - Issues 73 & 75)
Loud and Quiet - "pushes even the most resourceful thinkers to their limit" (review)
+ BBC Radio 6 Freak Zone, Black Midi Variety Hour (NTS), Dig That Treasure (Resonance FM), FAD Magazine, DATEAGLE ART, Fistbumps (Balamii), Juno Daily, Trevor Jackson (NTS), Young Turks w/Waxse (NTS), Avant Music News, TQ Zine
Recordstore.co.uk - Compilation of the Year 2020
Big Love Records - Album of the Week August 2021