ALTERATIONS FESTIVAL presents activities around the subject of the group Alterations and explores the related fields of Sound Art and Free Improvisation. 

Alterations - David Toop, Peter Cusack, Terry Day and Steve Beresford - is a quartet of key thinkers and pioneers in music and visual arts. They played many concerts in the years 1977 to 1986 and came back together last year for one very successful concert. In the festival they will come together to collaborate in new contexts.

Supported by Arts Council England and Sound and Music and curated by Blanca Regina and Beresford, the project engages artists and audiences in new ways of making and understanding music and art.   

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ALTERATIONS

The group existed from 1977 to 1986 and played often in festivals and clubs throughout the UK and Europe.          

“The great discovery of Alterations was that musical styles and idioms are there to be played with.” – Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen

They made three LPs in that time 

Alterations on Bead in 1978 
Up Your Sleeve on !Quartz in 1980 
My Favourite Animals on nato (France) in 1984

Their work presented new ways of making and understanding music and art.

In addition there were CDs of various live performances - in 2000, Intuitive Records in Denmark issued Alterations Live and in 2002 Atavistic in the US published Voila Enough! 

In 2015, Alterations was put back together for London performances at Cafe OTO (with Max Eastley) and Iklectik. These events were very succesful and attracted new audiences. 

Alterations Festival is unique opportunity to further enjoy this influential and highly experienced group.

THE CURATORS

Blanca Regina and Steve Beresford have been working together curating events and performing since 2011.

In 2013, they created Strange Umbrellas - a platform for music, film and art at various venues in London. In 2015 they created Unpredictable Series - a series about Free Improvisation, featuring films, exhibitions, performances, talks, publications, and workshops. They curated two exhibitions in London: ‘Art of Improvisers’ at Oto Project Space and ‘ The Art of Terry Day’ at Iklectik and other related events. http://www.unpredictable.info