Hidden Door Live S02, E01 – Iterations

Musician and sound artist Dave House, aka The Reverse Engineer, kicked off Season 2 of Hidden Door Live on 14 October with Iterations, inviting six different kinds of artists to explore how Covid-19 restrictions have affected their creative process, output and mental health. They each had two days to respond to the previous artist’s work, documenting the process on Hidden Door’s social channels.

The project culminated in a live online show on Tuesday 27 October where Dave and the artists presented and discussed their work.

The artists

In no particular order…

Dave House

Dave House is a musician, sound artist and graphic designer based in Edinburgh. He makes music and installations from algorithms, field recordings and synthesis, performing and exhibiting at venues and festivals across the country. He regularly collaborates with people from other creative fields including dancers and visual artists.

In 2015 Dave founded The Noisefloor – an affordable, versatile, DIY sound studio in Leith. He is a tutor at Edinburgh College of Art and teaches production and sound design from his studio.

Photo: Greg Ryan


Esther Swift

Harpist, composer and singer Esther Swift is internationally recognised for her contribution to the pedal harp and her distinct compositions and songwriting style.

Esther has travelled the world extensively with her music-making and embraces many different influences in her virtuosic harp playing, composing and songwriting.

She writes songs about her homeland of Scotland, drawing on her folk roots and her love of jazz and classical, and taking inspiration from nature and the people she meets along the way.


Charlie Knox

Charlie is a Glasgow based music maker, DJ and-once-upon-a-time party organiser.  He leads the Semispecific Ensemble and has a monthly radio show on Subcity called Practice Good Practice.

He makes weird audio visual installations and performances that sometimes sound like techno and sometimes sound like jazz.  He really misses dancing.


Mara Menzies

Mara is a narrative artist, drawing on her rich, dual Kenyan/Scottish cultural heritage, to create worlds that explore contemporary issues through legend, myth and fantasy.

With her own vision of the beauty, history and aspirations of people of African heritage, she fuses ancient and modern in an intoxicating experience where the audience takes centre stage. She has performed and run workshops in over 20 countries around the world.

Her latest show ‘Blood and Gold’ was part of the Made in Scotland showcase and explored the legacy of colonialism and slavery through myth and fantasy. She is delighted to be part of Hidden Door.

Photo: Kay Gollock


Ceylan Hay

Ceylan, AKA Bell Lungs is a Scottish/Turkish multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow just before lockdown after 18 months mostly spent touring across Europe.

She is especially interested in sensory immersive practice, and is inherently both cross-disciplinary collaboration and community-focused.

Photo: Greg Ryan


Stephen Paterson

Stephen Paterson is a mixed-media artist whose practice focuses on 2D works on paper, video and sound design.

They sometimes go by the name Heavy Pelvis due to an accident where the rotational force of their pelvis managed to break their femur into three pieces. They made noises with gameboys in a band called FuelDIVA, of which there is only one piece of documentary evidence.

The rock and roll fantasy was never really for them and they gave that up years ago to live in nature painting watercolours. Currently, they live in a tent in their friend’s garden on an upland hill farm somewhere in the UK.