Mark Boyle & Peter Schmidt...

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"Son et Lumiere", performance poster, 1966
(unknown provenance)








Peter Schmidt working the reel to reel
tapes during "Son et Lumiere"
performance, Jeanetta Cochrane
Theatre, London, March 1966
(photo from The Boyle Family Archive)











Joan Hills, Mark Boyle, and Esme,
on stage at the Cochrane Theatre, 1966
(photo from The Boyle Family Archive)













Joan Hills, Mark Boyle, Esme, Peter Schmidt,
rear to front, "Son et Lumiere", 1966
(photo from The Boyle Family Archive)




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While researching for PeterSchmidtWeb, I discovered the association of Peter and Mark Boyle. Aside from being tutors at Watford, they were collaborators and friends. The work of Mark Boyle and his partner/wife Joan Hills, ultimately The Boyle Family(with the inclusion at birth of Sebastian and Georgia)and the thoughts behind it are very much grounded in reality, and all encompassing in it's very nature. Discovering The Boyle Family is one of the richest gifts I recieved in my endeavors. From The Boyle Family website is a description of a situation that arose during one of the performances of "Son et Lumiere" at the Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre in London, 1966:

"The whole performance was accompanied by the sound of heart-beats, soft when used as background for other body sounds and loud as main theme, for instance with the presentation of blood. These heartbeats led to an amusing incident. Because difficulties had been encountered with the contact microphones during the preparations, Boyle had suggested that they make a tape of his heartbeats to keep as a standby in case the mike cut out. At the last moment, he remembered that they hadn't made the tape. Peter Schmidt was in charge of the sound department and he said he had managed to get an LP of heartbeats. The contact mike did break down and the LP was used. During the applause at the end, while the audience was swarming over the stage, a man from the audience said to Boyle: 'I don't wish to alarm you but are you aware that you have every known form of heart disease?"

I met Sebastian Boyle in late 2007, when he was here in New York with one of The Boyle Family works at an exhibition. Many thanks to The Boyle Family for their support, and for sharing these photos. Currently, The Boyle Family is exhibiting the "Barcelona Site", from the generation spanning "World Series", in London. Between August 1968 and summer 1969, 1000 sites were chosen at random by visitors to the artists’ studio and the exhibition, "Journey to the Surface of the Earth", which launched the project at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I recommend checking out their website, and trying to visit this show. http://www.boylefamily.co.uk/
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