The Off Hours, 2023, Clarinet, bird flight calls, speakers; computer; interactive SuperCollider code. Composed for Clarinet by Stuart Bogie; Score by Eric Sluyter, 15 hours
The Off Hours, 2023, Clarinet, bird flight calls, speakers; computer; interactive SuperCollider code. Composed for Clarinet by Stuart Bogie; Score by Eric Sluyter, 15 hours
The Book of Off Hours, 2023, 4 color risoprint on paper, 362 pages, brass hinge pin, A4 @ 362 unique pages
The Book of Off Hours, 2023, 4 color risoprint on paper, 362 pages, brass hinge pin, A4 @ 362 unique pages
The Off Hours, 2023, Clarinet, bird flight calls, speakers; computer; interactive SuperCollider code. Composed for Clarinet by Stuart Bogie; Score by Eric Sluyter, 15 hours

The Off Hours

'The Off Hours' is a 15-hour composition for clarinet inspired by the nocturnal flight calls of migrating birds, presented by M Leuven at St Peter’s Church in Belgium, Oct-April 2023.

Every night, during the church's closing hours (4:30 pm until 7:30 am) The Off Hours emanates from the chapel that usually houses Dieric Bout's triptych The Last Supper (1464-1468), and echoes throughout the church.

Accompanying the sound installation is 'The Book of Off Hours': a visual score of 'The Off Hours', with a volume proportional to the 15 nighttime closing hours.

'The Off Hours' is constructed around the constraint that sound cannot be played during the Church's public hours, and draws a new metaphorical thread to the themes of Jewish diaspora already present in the work. Incorporating the nocturnal flight calls of European migrating birds, the music is composed for clarinet by Stuart Bogie and programmed by Eric Sluyter to develop over the full 15-hour period when the church is closed. The program changes throughout the night mirroring the migratory flow of birds, and peaking, like their flight calls, at dusk and dawn.