I’ve composed a new three-channel percussion work for a beautiful video piece by Drew Pettifer. The work opens at VCA’s Margaret Lawrence Gallery this Thursday (while I’m performing Speak’s Melbourne Festival project at Federation Square). I’ve written for 3 octaves of quarter tone aluminium tubes, blown bottles and prepared bass drums. I’m quite happy with it. Click here to hear an excerpt of the audio.
Drew Pettifer
Mapping the interior: In search of an inland sea
In collaboration with Marcin Wojcik and Matthias Schack-Arnott
Produced by Antuong Nguyen
Recording and sound engineering: Joe Talia. Sound consultant: Byron Scullin.
Opening celebration: Thursday 17 October, 6-8pm
Exhibition dates: 18 October to 16 November, 2013
Live Performance: Tuesday 22 October, 6pm
Mapping the interior: In search of an inland sea is an immersive 3-channel video installation inspired by colonial explorer Charles Sturt’s championing of the idea of an inland sea in Central Australia. Sturt was so convinced of his theory that he led a major expedition into the interior, taking not one but two whaleboats with him. The incongruous image of men carrying these boats through the harsh Australian landscape forms the central motif of this project. The work revolves around themes of desire, masculinity, vulnerability, futility, and endurance as it contemplates Sturt’s rampant desire to penetrate the interior of the country and reflects the uncanny relationship between the figure and landscape in a postcolonial Australian context.