FIVE SELF-VIBRATING REGIONS
OF INTENSITIES
Five Self-Vibrating Regions of Intensities is a study of sound as energy. Across five installations Gail Priest and Thomas Burless explore the transmission of sonic energy through materials and its visual manifestations as wave-driven geometric patterns (cymatics). It documents the experiments of Gail and Thomas, working together as The Institute of Non-Empirical Results, in which they develop kinetic objects and assemblages that creatively demonstrate sound as vibration. The exhibition is multimodal, in that each room houses the results of a particular experiment, yet together the five installations present an overall composition of audiovisual oscillations.
Drawing on an earlier performance project (A Continuous Self-Vibrating Region of Intensities, Liveworks 2019) in which they explored live voice as the main sonic driver, this exhibition expands and refines these basic principles so that the installation objects are continuously self-playing. Two installations incorporate large-scale video to illustrate micro image detail—the shimmer of a rainbow spectrum on a soap bubble in Membrane; the patterned pulsing of powders and the silvery-shake of sugar granules in Tridophone. In Pond Life Gail and Thomas recreate a marshy, urban ecosystem that ripples and rumbles with sonic energy. In a newly created piece, Calling Wire, they use the parlour trick of a tin-can telephone to explore the phenomenon of sound wave transmission though long wires—an important step in the development of the connective tissue of our all-consuming contemporary communications. Weaving these fibrillating filaments together is the spatialised poetic essay, Vibrant Matters, presented as an assemblage of trembling introductory texts. Through these experiments Gail and Thomas attempt to draw attention to the quivering oscillations, both large and small, that evidence the elemental energy shared by all matter.
For an indepth understanding read Sophie Knezic's commissioned essay:
Oscillation & Pulse: Vibrational Ontology in the Work of Gail Priest and Thomas Burless
Documentation
Pond Life
photo D. Raggatt
Tridophone
photo T. Burless
Membrane
photo D. Raggatt
Calling Wire
photo T. Burless
Vibrant Matters
photo T. Burless
Pond Life
photo D. Raggatt
Tridophone
photo D. Raggatt
Calling Wire
photo D. Raggatt
Pond Life
2023
Speakers, mild steel, stainless steel, plant life, soil, detritus
Nestled amongst neglected urban plant life, ponds of water vibrate with the pulsing oscillation of a multichannel composition. Combining the machinic and botanic, Pond Life explores how vibratory energy is elemental to organic and inorganic matter alike.
Tridophone
2023
Four-channel sound, single-channel video, shellac records, latex, dope paper, mild steel, glass, sugar, activated charcoal
Tridophone is a kinetic sound and light sculpture that allows the vibrations and geometries of sound waves to be manifested in grains and powders, a process known as cymatics. It is based on the Eidophone developed by Margaret Watts Hughes (1885), that comprised a singing tube connected to an amplifying cone over which was stretched a membrane. Certain sung frequencies generate patterns in fine dusts distributed on the surface. In this re-imagined device, there are three such cones, fitted with speakers. The singing tube also houses a speaker. A three-channel soundscape activates each instrument in a syncopated cymatic dance. Captivating close-up footage of the patterns are shown on an accompanying video that can either be projected or displayed on a monitor.
Vibrant Matters
2023
Found and original texts, heat-treated mild steel, pins, fans
A spatialised essay that uses theoretical and poetic fragments to extrapolate on the concerns of the exhibition: sound as vibration and energy transmitted through organic and non-organic matter creating a relational exchange.
Read full text here - PDF
Read full text here - TXT
REFERENCES
Gibson, R. (2020). 14 Breaths [Limited edition Box Set].
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press, p. 37.
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press, p. 20-24.
Le Guin, U. (2004). The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination. Shambhala, p. 195.
Calling Wire
2023
Dope, bakelite and aluminium funnels, wire, mild steel, concrete, tin cans, speakers
Calling Wire is a three-channel audio work that explores the analogue transmission system of the tin can telephone. Three audio streams engage with different aspects of telecommunication and its role in culture and society, with the sounds received through listening horns offering different material effects.
Below is a compilation of the three channels. With special thanks to the interviewees David Priest, Pamela Priest, Alexandra Spence, Amy Flannery and Rose Hartshorne.
Membrane
2023
Two-channel video, two-channel sound
Membrane demonstrates an analogue audiovisual process in which vocal vibrations are manifested as mesmeric swirling patterns on the spectral surface of a soap bubble. It is inspired by experiments by Sedley Taylor using a device he called a Phoneidoscope (circa 1878). The videos documents the results of an improvised vocal performance by Gail Priest with the bubble moving through a range of colours and patterns until its eventual demise.
Credits
Co-creators: Gail Priest & Thomas Burless
Project Assistant: Rose Hartshorne
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank co-commissioners Brad Spolding (formerly The Substation) and Jeff Khan (formerly Performance Space); Michaela Coventry at Sage Arts who produced the Performance Space production and oversaw its development at The Substation; the staff at The Substation, particularly Shae, the installation crew, and Audrey; Alex Earle; previous collaborators Carolyn Connors and Sonya Holowell; Hazel Coventry Burless and Samuel James.
Funding Credits
This project was co-commissioned by The Substation and Performance Space. It has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria; The Keir Foundation; and the NSW Government through Create NSW.
