Never At Sea

Never at Sea is a work by Kate McMillan with music and sound design by Cat Hope. The music has two iterations: A stand alone a work for bass orchestra and solo electric bass composed by Cat Hope. Premiered at the Brunel Tunnel, in London, December 2022 with Ruthless Jabiru and Decibel ensemble, conducted by Kelly Lovelady, and bass soloist Cat Hope. A performance - installation, featuring two components: a new composition by Cat Hope for soprano and percussion, and a a two channel fixed media video instalation created by visual artist Kate McMillan with sound by Cat Hope. The performance at the installation also featured dance. Premiered in London in 2023 at St Mary's of the Sea Church, the Strand, with Louise Devenish (percussion), Marcia Lemke Kerne (soprano) and Lydia Walker (dance). Concept, video and installation components by Kate McMillan. The orchestral work explores the notation of being in water, when the eye line moves between the surface and the beneath. It was composed to and influenced by a video by Kate McMillan of young women experiencing a similar effect (that became the central video in the installation).The performance-installation work led by visual artist Kate McMillan and composer Cat Hope. McMillan and Hope both prioritise artistic activism and social injustice as a key impetus in their creative practice, and work with collaborators to develop and realise large-scale works, in this case choreographer Sivan Rubinstein, dancer Lydia Walker, percussionist Louise Devenish, soprano Marcia Lemke-Kern, and a group of UK migrant women. The project aimed to provide a creative, collective and experientially-rooted response to the politicisation of people seeking refuge in the UK. In the creative development phase of the project, three months before the premiere, a group of recent migrant women were invited to work with the creative team in a series of workshops where they were welcomed to share and express their experience and memories of home via a series of tasks devised by the artists, such as guided meditations, object sharing and embodied walking stories. Their input helped shape Never at Sea Providing an alternative voice for these issues via the artwork and the processes engaged to complete it, makes a contribution to discourse around socially engaged artistic practice, and its role in providing pathways for communities to engage with global issues of our time as a step towards affecting change. The work was featured as an impact study at Kings College London (see attached report). DOCUMENTARY LINKS Orchestral composition and performance Video of live performance premiere, featuring Cat Hope on bass guitar, with Ruthless Jabiru Orchestra and Decibel, conducted by Kelly Lovelady Installation with performance Video of main installation film (Kate McMillan) with music by Cat Hope, Video of secondary installation film (Kate McMillan) with music by Cat Hope Documentation video of live performance during installation. Featuring composition by Cat Hope, performers Louise Devenish (percussion), Marcia Lemke Kerne (soprano) and Lydia Walker (dance). Scores for both works are attached above. Please note there are study scores and performance scores; the latter requiring video or the Decibel ScorePlayer to read. REVIEWS Review of premiere orchestral performance in I Care If You Listen (UK): https://icareifyoulisten.com/2022/12/deep-low-australian-ensembles-meet-london-tunnel-shaft Review of installation performance in Resonate (AUS): https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/never-at-sea-artists-abroad-confront-the-migration-crisis “ We are moved by this music, towards urgency and away from home” ASSOCIATED PUBLICATIONS McMIllan, K., Hope, C and Devenish, L. (2025)' Never at Sea An Examination of Collaboration and Translation in a Creative Project About Women’s Experiences of Forced Migration in Vidal, R., & Campbell, M. (Eds.). "The Translation of Experience: Cultural Artefacts in Experiential Translation" (1st ed.). Routledge pp 209- 228 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003462569. Available at: https://research.monash.edu/files/673791669/620087758-oa.pdf McMillan, Kate and Cat Hope (June 2025). Never at Sea in ‘Screenworks’ Vol. 15.1 ISSN 2514-3123 https://www.screenworks.org.uk/archive/volume-15-1/never-at-sea OTHER PERFORMANCES/INSTALLATIONS June. September 2025: Installation only - Sailsbury Catherdral, Wiltshire, UK as part of 'Living Water' exhibit