SIGNAL FIRES / TIMING IS DIVINE
Tim Etchells & Pouya Ehsaei / Vida Vojiċ
A night of sound, electronics, drumming and voice – both tender and searing – comes to Towner with performances by acclaimed artists Vida Vojić and Tim Etchells & Pouya Ehsaei.
A night of sound, electronics, drumming and voice – both tender and searing – comes to Towner with performances by acclaimed artists Vida Vojić and Tim Etchells & Pouya Ehsaei.
Part of Live Editions, a new programme of movement, sound and performance in Eastbourne and the South Downs curated by Nikki Tomlinson.
Signal Fires is an improvised electronics and voice performance in which Etchells and Ehsaei use raw materials gathered in advance to create a flowing, stuttering, overwhelming landscape of narrative fragments, sound loops, rhythms and melodic scraps.
Etchells’ text draws on strategies he has developed in his long career writing for performance (Forced Entertainment), installation, and the printed page. With collage a key reference point he mixes disparate collected and written statements, conjuring images, asking questions, creating absurd or disturbing micro-narratives or stating facts and evident fallacies out of context.
Ehsaei, meanwhile, orchestrates a tangled experiment with compositional and sound synthesis techniques to mix hypnotic industrial beats, intricate sound miniatures, epic soundscapes, fractal rhythms, and pulsating sub frequencies. Working together they make Signal Fires a compelling journey in which voice and music emerge as dynamic equal partners.
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TIMING IS DIVINE is a drumming ritual; a performance of loudness, rhythm and drive. Inspired by sexy stars as rock stars / celestial deities.
This drum / vocal solo recites the gnostic poem “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” (1st - 2nd century AD) as well as Swedish folk music and cheesy love songs.
By playing with the themes of numerology, holy patterns, chaos / order, the aim is to trigger physical sensation, possibly invoking a hypnotic state in the audience.
The work sprung from the desire to tell another story, which ultimately may not be comprehended on top of the ambient chaos - but rather felt. Sh*t is complicated. Let this be an exorcism.
Tim Etchells is an artist and writer based in the UK, whose work shifts between visual art, fiction and performance. Since 1984 he’s led the world-renowned Sheffield-based performance group Forced Entertainment. Away from the group he’s a frequent collaborator with other people - developing projects with a wide range of visual artists, performers and musicians.
Tim’s work has been exhibited and presented in significant institutions all over the world, and his projects have been commissioned by Centre Pompidou (Paris), Basel Ballet, Whitechapel Gallery, Festival D’Avignon, NT Gent, Ruhr Triennale, among others. His visual art works are in numerous private and institutional collections and his large-scale neon projects have been shown in iconic urban locations everywhere from Athens to Gwangju, Berlin and New York. Monographs on Etchells’ work with Forced Entertainment and on his body of work in installation and neon were published in 2023 by Spector Books in Germany. He is represented by Ebensperger (Berlin) and by The Odds Agency (Paris). He is a patron of the Live Art Development Agency.
Pouya Ehsai is a live electronic musician, composer and sound designer working on the intersections of experimental electronic music, live improv and dub techno, characterised by influences from industrial music, breakbeat, jazz, noise, and Iranian folk and classical music. He is co-founder of From the Lips to the Moon, the band-leader of Cuban-Iranian ensemble Ariwo and co-founder of Parasang where he led long-form improvisations in a clubbing context. His latest album People of the Wind is out on Akazib Records (2025).
Vida Vojić is a London-based composer, musician, performance artist and writer from Gothenburg. Working at the intersection of sound, scenography and literature, she creates vibrational performances that explore methods of time bending through themes such as ritual frameworks, lyrical rhythms, corporeal memory and the nature of change. She uses voice, drums and other physical sound sources to amplify input and awaken spatial perception, physical sensation and hypnotic states. This practice is integrated with her research into sacred texts, early music and folk tradition.
Vida also works as a choir leader, creative facilitator and associate lecturer in theatre design at Wimbledon College of Arts. She is the author of the poetry book HOLY BIRTH OF A DRUMMER published by TABLOID Press in 2025. Since 2016, she has been touring her work internationally, at venues including Artists Space (NYC), Eric Ericsonhallen (Stockholm), Röda Sten Konsthall (Gothenburg) and Funkhaus (Berlin).
Live Editions is a new programme of movement, sound and performance in Eastbourne and the South Downs. Between July 2026 and May 2027, 25+ artists from Sussex and beyond are leading residencies, workshops, gatherings and performances in community and cultural spaces and the South Downs National Park.
Live Editions is funded by Arts Council England, with in-kind support from Towner Eastbourne, Devonshire Collective, Leaf Hall Community Arts Centre, Home Live Art, Live Art Development Agency and Bread & Butter PR.