On a rainy autumn morning in 2022, Agota Tamelytė and Xico Ribas left their home carrying three umbrellas (for good reason). Seriously looking for something (but nothing special), they wandered the bustling streets of Amsterdam.
A tyre blew, an old man cackled, the church bell struck 12:59.
The water splashed in the canals, cars beeped, clocks ticked.
A lady in high heels came down the pavement.
Someone was arguing about whose turn it was to walk the dog.
Xico offered to flip a coin.
Then the wind snatched one of the umbrellas and carried it back to Vilnius.
Noise under the Umbrella is an audio-visual performance in which Agota Tamelytė and Xico Ribas invite the audience to relive the story of a rainy day in Amsterdam together. With the help of clocks, synthesizers, telephones, webcams, umbrellas, metal shards and other "noisy" objects, and the audience, they perform a 40-minute composition that draws attention to, or even arouses admiration for, the "noises" that surround everyday life.
"Noise under the Umbrella" is the duo of Xico Ribas and Agota Tamelytė. The content of their performances is made meaningful through real-time video and sound interactions, storytelling and listening. Xico and Agota started working together during the Master's programme in Live Electronics at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 2022, the duo was selected for a residency at Windows of Opportunity (Ede, The Netherlands), where the project took shape and the first Noise under the Umbrella performance was born. Between 2023 and 2024, NutU performed at venues such as Splendor Concert Hall and Cavia Cinema in Amsterdam, De Berenkuil Theatre and Utrecht Music House in Utrecht, Koffie & Ambacht in Rotterdam and Ruimsteek in Brussels.
