REVELATIONS “It all started with Casper [Clausen] from Efterklang. The last performance I saw, the last anything that involved being around people, was Efterklang at London’s Barbican. It was such an electric moment. We are living in a time of society being pulled apart, even before Covid-19, and it was the most united I’ve felt with a group of people for so long. That moment of unity was punctured by lockdown immediately afterwards. So that made me think about Casper and the way he works, how Efterklang are so collaborative. At the same time, I was also talking to the director of a film I was supposed to be doing at the 90 time – and am currently working on – about collaborating with her and the team. Collaboration and being among people is such an important part of being an artist, even just being on the streets Three conversations and observing. Then, suddenly, we were stripped of that. I was interested in asking these people to talk to each other – curated by conversations between artists who have a real appreciation of human connection. I also wanted these artists to take their own portraits, with no brief apart from to show themselves as they want to be seen. JOSH O’CONNOR I chose Alasdair [McLellan] because I always felt you could recognise one of his images immediately, it feels like there’s a narrative through-line in his work. His representation, often of the North, but also the countryside... the boyish nature of it, has always appealed to me. When I researched for God’s Own Country, I used a lot of Alasdair’s early imagery in my scrapbooks. I knew that Francis [Lee, director] was a great fan, and I thought it would With self portraits from lockdown be really interesting to hear a conversation between them. Alvaro [Barrington] has been on my radar for a long time. I saw his work in an exhibition and loved it, and then very early in lockdown I heard a Talk Art podcast with him and enjoyed him speaking about how he visualises and draws. What attracted me to him is how committed he is to the craft of being an artist. During lockdown, we had to take a step back from materialistic things Actor Artist Photographer and rely on craft: gardening, cooking, stuff that we have lost touch Josh O’Connor Alvaro Barrington Alasdair McLellan with over a long time. Similarly to Alvaro, June [Ambrose] paves + + + the way in her own field, changing culture and ideas through Musician Costume Designer Filmmaker the act of physically making things, which I believe is incredibly Casper Clausen June Ambrose Francis Lee powerful.” — Josh Josh + Casper CURATED BY JOSH Josh O’Connor: Hey, Casper. Where are you in the Josh: Not really. I’ve had this flat for about a year, be you meet up and you have the text and you start world right now? and before that I grew up in the countryside in the west bouncing ideas back and forth? Casper Clausen: I’m in Copenhagen, where are you? of England. I came to London like ten, eleven years ago. Josh: It depends on the director. Ours, Simon Josh: I’m in London, in my flat. I’ve moved all over London and spent time in America Godwin, is magic, he’s really clever and a very non- Casper: Thank you for inviting me to do this. and New York – I’m never here. traditional, modern theatre maker. But his first two Josh: Oh, I’m so pleased you could. Interestingly, the Casper: Gotcha. It’s where your things are I suppose, weeks of rehearsal are without dialogue, it’s all about last show I saw before lockdown was Efterklang at the like I see you have a little painting up there, I guess you touch and how we engage physically with each other, so Barbican and it was magic, such a special evening. store your things there. That’s how I felt when I started it’s the extreme opposite. But ultimately that’s on pause. Casper: For us as well. thinking a lot about the things, the stuff... Another one of my themes was this idea of audience and Josh: I think it’s a special space. I’ve done a play there Josh: Objects, right? I suppose theatre really has no coming back right now and it’s amazing acoustically but then the architecture of Casper: Objects, yeah. in that sense. the building is kind of... Josh: Have you ever read Candide by Voltaire? Casper: No, I mean I suppose we could compare Casper: Incredible. I love brutalism, so when you walk Casper: Never, no. theatre to live music and film to recordings in some in there and you start seeing how the plants fall over Josh: I always loved it because the main character, way... if you take music and acting. the concrete, there’s something kind of magic. I really Candide, learns about optimism and there’s a very Josh: What do you think about live music? like that clash of human structure and then this organic famous quote from it which is, “All’s for the best in all Casper: First of all, I’m a little bit worried for a lot nature that’s creeping out of there. It’s such a specific the best possible worlds.” It’s satirical so he like, loses of places at the moment. I think a lot of venues have and very compressed area. When you stand inside that an arm at one point and he’s like, “All’s for the best, it been surviving but I also think it will take much longer yard, you know where the restaurant [in the Barbican] is will be better.” The conclusion is that Voltaire basically before we can actually start using them. Now I follow the all you can see? I’m actually living in Lisbon so I’m just suggests that all we can really do in the end is tend to discussion a little bit in Denmark and the theatre will here by chance for the first time to work on new music our garden. I really love this line that’s like, whatever we start opening up for an audience but the problem is that with Efterklang. explore, whatever we challenge or discuss, ultimately we the structure of these places is not really made for half Josh: Have you lived in Lisbon for a long time? have our patch and be that your soul. capacity. As soon as they open the doors they might lose Casper: I’ve been there like three years or something Casper: Yeah it can be many things I suppose, it’s money, so it will be a struggling time. The best I saw was and obviously I’ve been back and forth here with the somewhere you put your hands into something and a news piece on The Guardian where Barcelona is opening band and so on, so my mind’s been a little bit split. I’ve you kind of feel... Like I’d never had a massive physical their Royal Theatre and streaming concerts for a plant been outside of Denmark for ten years, I lived in Berlin space but I guess I’ve been growing it in different ways, audience, so they’re putting one in each seat [laughs]. and I spent the whole of lockdown in Lisbon, so for me, whatever that would be. I think existential thinking has It’s incredible and they will give all these plants to the talking about lockdown, that’s been my setting. been happening much more these three months and I’m health workers of Spain afterwards as a sort of gratitude. Josh: That’s really interesting, I was discussing with sure we’re not the only ones in that sense. All this stuff Josh: That’s great. the guys at HERO about the things that feel relevant in starts catching up on you. It feels like running from Casper: These sort of things would never have lockdown and something that has felt really strange for something for a long time and suddenly somebody just happened – I’m very excited about that rethinking of me has been the idea of home and what feels like home. pauses you, so now you think about it all for a minute. space. But it is spaces right, so what do we do with these? So it’s interesting that you have lived away and have gone Josh: I think there’s a difference between choosing With screening concerts, I was positively surprised. We back to Copenhagen, has this brought up any questions to isolate and being forced into it. It’s interesting with streamed a concert from last year, where we played of where home is? someone like you – and my work as well – where it’s so our opening show of our latest album, Altid Sammen, Casper: It’s really relevant. I think ‘home’ as a collaborative… I watched An Island [an abstract music alongside a live-chat, and it was just so incredible to see phenomenon has sort of gotten to me. I don’t remember documentary on Efterklang created by French filmmaker these people together. You know, we’d met them around the exact words but someone was making a little cartoon Vincent Moon in 2011] many years ago and I loved it so the world over the years but suddenly they were in the strip where they had this person and their home was much.