Previous Events
Our previous events
The Engine Room 2022: Reboot
6 – 17 June 2022
After a three year pause due to pandemic closures and Morley Gallery renovations, The Engine Room is back with a new sound art exhibition: The Engine Room – Reboot, featuring works from the Sound Art students at Morley (past and present) plus a very special work by Tim Murray-Brown commissioned and premiered by The Engine Room.
Morley College students will present works originating from their class exercises, now expanded into more developed concepts and artworks. The exhibition will showcase a variety of approaches to Sound Art including audio visual works, sound sculptures, graphic scores, sound installations and more.
The Engine Room 2019 – Taking The Engine Room to IKLECTIK
5-24 October 2019
For this edition, we collaborated with IKLECTIK, in their fifth anniversary, in a celebration of all things experimental. This year 18 finalists were selected from of over 160 submissions by a panel of judges including Scanner, Kate Carr and Eduard Sol
For The Engine Room 2019 instead of commissioning a work IKLECTIK helped us curate a series of performances and workshops including notable ones by Scanner, Kate Carr and HOWLROUND.
Commissioned Artist: Scanner
Prize Winner: BIID Elisea – Njordzitrone [electronic duo: Andrej Cebski + Davide Baldazzi] (ITALY)
The Engine Room 2017
4 May – 1 June 2017
This year’s competition attracted over 130 works from 33 countries from around the world, including France, Mexico, Portugal, South Korea, Finland, and the United States, as well as several UK artists. 20 finalists were selected by a panel of judges The Wire publisher Tony Herrington, sound artist and composer Dr Annie Mahtani, and sound artist Janek Schaefer.
The works selected included sounds sampled from news reports and archived footage, installations that generate sound through resonance, and even some that can be described as “silent sound art”.
Commissioned Artist: Tim Murray-Browne & Aphra Shemza
Prize Winner: Shadowland – Laura Daly (UK)
The Engine Room 2015 – Our First International Sound Art Competition
12 May – 12 June 2015
‘The Engine Room – International Sound Art Competition & Exhibition’ was our first international competition, open to emerging sound artists regardless of country of residence, nationality or age and focused on new works in the broad field of Sound Art. The jury panel included Professor Simon Emmerson, Ray Lee, and Mira Calix.
This competition and exhibition was part of Morley College’s 125th anniversary celebrations.
Commissioned Work: Aerial Aria – Janek Schaefer
Prize Winner: Twinkle – Andrea Byrne (UK)
The Engine Room 2011 – Cardew Festival
24 November – 17 December 2011
In 2011, Morley College marked the 75th anniversary of the birth, and 30th of the death, of one of its more influential former tutors, Cornelius Cardew, considered by many as the founder of British experimental music, with a series of courses, events, and exhibitions. As part of this series of events the first Engine Room International Sound Art Exhibition was launched and exhibited at Morley College Gallery during November and December 2011.
the engine room 2011 exhibition included a selection of sound art works by established and emerging artists from across the globe. The works share a common ground in that they have all been inspired in some way by Cornelius Cardew’s music and/or ideologies.
The works programmed in this exhibition were selected from an international call for works which attracted over 50 submissions from over 15 countries and showcased the far-reaching influence that Cardew continues to have on artists working across a diverse range of disciplines and media today.