Robert Cervera: Pipework

Join artist Robert Cervera, students from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and members of Ikon Youth Programme for performances that explore breath, shared air, interdependence and negotiation. 

Using a sculptural musical instrument made from transparent plastic tubes, performers experiment with the aural possibilities of this object, guided by the artist.  

This event is organised to coincide with Horror in the Modernist Block. The performers chose to score NT’s work BRUTAL (2022), a film produced in collaboration with Ikon Youth Programme.  

Supported by Freelands Foundation and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

With the support of Freelands Foundation, over three years (2021-24) Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) navigates the waterways on board Slow Boat, a converted narrow boat. IYP are collaborating with creative thinkers and makers to reimagine Slow Boat as a local art school.

From the artist 

My work looks at the leaky ways of formless materials such as air, water and data.
​I’m interested in our efforts to contain them and herd them and turn them into reservoirs, music, breath or code. 
I’m also keenly aware of how this shapeless stuff connects us, despite its invisibility. As a result, my work often foregrounds the infrastructure that holds such assets and points towards some of the materials used, be it concrete, metal armatures or liquid cooling pipes.
As for my output, I make sculptures, musical performances, videos and installations that talk to each other about flow, bodiliness and material interdependence.