The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra perform works by Ligeti in the Nolan gallery. Photo Credit: MONA/Rémi Chauvin. Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
What happens with you stage a musical feast for the senses inside a gallery space? The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) hopes to find out in their partnership with the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), which brings SYNAETHESIA+ to Hobart this August.
Festival co-Artistic Director Brian Ritchie said the site-specific nature of the immersive event, which explores the phenomenon of synaesthesia through a mash up of aural, physical and visual performances, offers a unique platform for artists to use space creatively to push the boundaries.‘We’re taking people on a trip – it’s like going back to the 60s,’ he said.
Ritchie said presenting the music in ‘highly unorthodox’ gallery spaces was challenging but created opportunities for both curator and audiences.
‘Sometimes the music you would hear in a concert hall without any particular lighting effects and not being able to move around has a different effect to what we will be presenting with the same kinds of music.The TSO are used to presenting classical music in a…concert hall, yet they’re very much interested in giving people a different entry point of experience,’ he said.
Among the gallery spaces to feature music performances includes the famed Nolan Gallery, located in the depths of the museum and featuring a giant snake. ‘The acoustics in there are fantastic, it’s a great place for acoustic music. Although they don’t look like conventional performance spaces, they can work musically, acoustically, theatrically and dramatically.’
Ritchie said the event unites musicians with installation and projection artists in an interplay between light and sound. ‘Richard Tognetti is going to be doing two performances. One is a solo Bach, which will be augmented by the work of Robin Fox and his projections.
‘Robin will be reacting to music in real time. He links the sound into his telescope and creates waveform patterns, which will be projected. We’re linking ‘sense’ directly to the music in actual real time. It’s different to someone playing along to a film or a music video which is pretty organised. It’s more organic,’ he said.
Renowned Australian composer Matthew Hinsdon, who headlines the program with special commission Resonance, adds that the specific alignment of his music to MONA has been very exciting. ‘The actual piece of music depends on the building to be the way that it is. It’s not something that you can just do in a concert hall. It’s a different kind of music.
‘The audience will be able to walk around and experience different parts of the gallery from a sonic perspective, from our point of view that’s really exciting,’ he said.
SYNAESTHESIA+ will be held at the Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, on Saturday 16 August and Sunday 17 August 2014.
For bookings and further information visit the MONA website.
