THE TENSION BETWEEN US
PERFORMATIVE SOUND-BASED INSTALLATION
MISSION GALLERY, MARCH 2013

A wooden framed cube sits in the centre of the room. Plastic film stretched around its frame. A set of speakers from opposite corners of the room spill words around the space. From one corner a man recites the induction video for a cult, while a woman preaches the gospel from the other. They seem to argue, but their dialogue is not related.

Inside the four foot square cube, two hooded figures with head torches sit amongst a selection of electronic devices. The machines’ small blue and red lights shimmer through the wrapped layers of plastic film. The head torches refracted through the plastic disguise the identity of the occupants. Sitting on the floor inside their cocoon-like structure they begin to respond to the voices that shout across and around them.

The electronic devices emit noise. The figures interact with the machines and each other, touching and moving devices, turning buttons and blowing into electronic instruments. The sounds are hypnotic, melodic, unsettling, confused. Noise fills the room, building for fifteen minutes to a frenzied point of climax. The last remaining pulse of synthesis is silenced and the lights in the cube go off. The voices continue to play across the room, the figures futile attempt at response is over.