String Theory

Fields presents “String Theory” — an evening of guitar adventures with Mike Cooper, Inturist, Vukašin Đelić and Feliks Mirenskiy Our main guest is 84-year-old Mike Cooper, a living legend of British experimental music who has evolved from a folk-blues star into a hero of outsider psychedelia. Over six decades, he has made a remarkable journey: from folk-blues clubs and shared bills with John Lee Hooker to free improvisation, electronics and a musical world of his own, where blues meets tropical exotica. Cooper plays lap steel guitar, also known as Hawaiian guitar. The instrument is played horizontally, with the pitch changed by sliding a metal bar along the strings — producing smooth transitions between notes and fluid, lingering tones. In Cooper’s music, these tones mingle with electronic loops, birdsong and swirling pedal effects. His performances evoke psychedelic trips: sounds drift and slip away, while the chirping of crickets takes on a musical quality. Unexpected bursts of folk singing seem to bring time full circle — through the layered sound, the familiar figure of a 1970s folk legend suddenly emerges. — Joining Cooper is one of his Eastern European musical disciples — Zhenya Gorbunov, aka Inturist. A co-founder of Glintshake (ГШ) and one of the most inventive musicians on the Russian independent scene, Gorbunov charts his own routes through guitar loops, tape manipulations, offbeat pop and everyday absurdity. Representing the local scene is Vukašin Đelić, also known as WoO — a Belgrade guitarist and sonic explorer. In his hands, the guitar takes on different roles: leading an entire ensemble through jazz, electronics and psychedelia, locking into a springy dub groove, or becoming a receiver that picks up interference and stray noises. The evening’s special guest is improviser Feliks Mirenskiy, who will present a programme based on his album *Do You Remember?*. On this record, Mirenskiy uses the guitar as a controller: a touch of the pick against a string sets off an electronic whirlwind of synthetic rhythms, vocal fragments and acid glitch. In these spontaneous romances, virtuosity sits alongside humour and a love of sonic oddities. 🎟️ in bio