WELCOME TO DECEMBER’S CREATIVE WEEKEND
CELEBRATING THE WINTER SOLSTICE…
FRIDAY 19TH – SUNDAY 21ST DECEMBER 2025
NQL HQ ISLINGTON MILL
JAMES STREET, SALFORD M3 5HW
FRIDAY 24th OCTOBER
AN EVENING OF FINE FOOD, GOOD CONVERSATION, PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC.
Join Not Quite Light for another Cosy Friday, with an intimate supper and live performance…
This month we welcome sound and performance artist Fiona Brehony & musician and composer Simon Knighton who will present an atmposheric sound piece.
SUPPER 6.30pm -7.30pm
The evening will begin with a delicious 2 course dinner at the wonderful Deli Lama cafe, situated just across the courtyard from NQL HQ at Islington Mill. The price includes a welcome drink and a main and desert. There are only 12 places available, to keep the evening social, allowing everyone to sit around one big table.
PERFORMANCE 8pm-9.30pm
The studio will open at 7.30pm ready for the performance to begin at 8pm, allowing time for dinner guests to join the audience. Again, places are limited to retain a unique, intimate atmopshere. The evening will begin with artist NQL performing text to projections of newly made work and sound, and then we’ll have an ‘In Conversation’ with a special guest. Each month this section of the evening will feature someone from the arts, either a musician, writer, visual artist or performer, who has a fascinating story to tell.
THE MUSIC / SOUND PERFORMANCE…
Fiona ” Two Worlds was reimagined on the banks of River Irk, in Manchester UK. we stayed at a Travel Lodge beside the A627 Motorway near the source of the river, barely sleeping and waking before dawn to record nocturnal sounds and bird chorus rising with the sun. An eerie silence complemented darkness of branches as we recorded light appearing on water moving over rocks, watching manmade materials gathered in muddy crevices. As we walked on, morning engines stirred sleeping bodies in residential areas. Surprise roosters ran their beaks and local farm generators offered conversation. At some point, still before 6am, we began recording our thoughts, of two lively worlds present in our ears and recorders – the natural world on one hand, and the omnipresent sound of industry on the other. ‘It’s as though two worlds are happening, unaware that the other exists,’ we reflected. Two worlds made up of natural sounds of water, birds, trees moving with wind, and industrial sounds of cars, hums of machines and chattering silver materials.
This early morning inspired us to make a piece that deliberately contrasts these sound-worlds against one another, attempting to build a musical sound collage from the beauty and intrigue of both. We selected moments from the recordings and sculpted the sounds we wanted, making loops and building chords from pitch-shifted material. The sounds are then placed through a computer-based ‘generative’ process, in which the computer decides which snippets of audio to play next, based on probabilities decided by us. The composition therefore gene
And so, you will hear recordings from this day, with Fiona’s voice weaving in and out. Although you might hear the same sound or sentence more than once, they will never be repeated in the exact same way. Could it be, for this moment, that vital energy exists here? Listening together in this space.
Drinks will be available from the Deli Lama bar.
SATURDAY 20th
DAWN PHOTOWALK 6.45am – 8.15am
Join Not Quite Light for a contemplative dawn walk, exploring the quiet streets around Sacred Trinity church in Salford, and the surrounding Blackfriars area as the day begins. This is the weekend of the winter solstice, the shortest day, after which we being our journey to the summer months. The walk will be suitable for all levels. I’ll be on hand to offer tips and inspiration for photographs. The walk is suitable for any level, and you can bring any kind of recording device – smartphone, dslr or film cameras, or even no device at all if you simply want to stroll and absorb the sights and sounds arround you. The walk is about giving ourselves permission to slow down and closely observe the world around us.
SMARTPHONE WORKSHOP 10-1pm
6 PLACES £25.00 ( +£1 booking fee )
DO YOU LOVE TAKING PICTURES ON YOUR PHONE, AND WOULD LIKE TO BE EVEN BETTER?
Taking pictures of that beautiful sunset, but somehow the camera doesn’t quite see it as you do? Want to treasure your memories from trips away, those cute little streets, or that idyllic beach, and you’re not sure how to? And those special family moments, that are so important. Or maybe you simply want to simply capture the place you live?
Join me, with my decades of photographic experience, for a simple, fun and affordable day, to help you take the pictures you want, and get the best out of your phone’s camera.
OPEN STUDIO 2pm -5pm
Visit Not Quite Light in the studio, and see latest work, shown as films and prints, and chat to me, the artist, about the work.
It’s free to attend, but you can book tickets, which will give me
some idea of numbers. Donations are welcome!
The Deli Lama cafe in the courtyard is open until 5pm, and each
guest to the studio will get 10% off their bill for food and
WINTER SOLSTICE SOCIAL 5-10pm
COME DOWN TO THE STUDIO FOR A WINTER SOLSTICE SOCIAL, WITH DRINKS,
PROJECTIONS AND AMBIENT SOUNDS…
SUNDAY 21st
WINTER SOLSTICE PHOTOWALK 2.30PM – 4PM
The solstice this year is 3.03pm, and so we’ll use this walk to celebrate the shortest day, and also the moment from which the days grow longer, and we head towards the summer months.
The walk will begin from the studio, and pass through the local area towards the Bolton / Bury canal. The walk is suitable for any level of photography, and I’ll be on hand to offer tips and discuss the local area, and its history. After the walk we’ll be able to spend sometime back at the studio, chatting about the photos we’ve taken and enjoying a cuppa…
TICKETS