The Tao Te Ching Cycle

Violinist Shir Victoria Levy commissions six composers to battle this question using verses from the Tao Te Ching as a common point of departure. The ability to be honest implies sharing what’s within with the outside world. It requires a dialogue with another; an exchange. And yet as a performing artist, being honest is a dialogue we mostly have with and within ourselves; a fascinating contradiction. Along with actor Peter Marinker and painter James John Jolly, Shir explores what it means to be honest on stage. The actor and painter interpret the music in their respective media. Even though these are all different art forms, there is a commonality evident in the respective performances, due to them being dependent on reactive impulses. This dynamic exploration is at the heart of the cycle. Painter James John Jolly is “capturing the transient beauty of nature, through emotive colour and abstract form. I use Abstraction so that all the connotations of form are removed, you can then connect with all races and creeds. Within my paintings I wish to give people spaces to wonder and room to breathe.” James is based in London.