Listening to earth

Audiences enter a darkened space and are immersed in the sounds of their intertidal environment with an enveloping spatial experience. Traversing strata of air, water and land, participants are invited to sit or lie on low benches that seemingly float just above the ground. Low frequency seismic vibrations gently pummel the benches to augment the experience and enable listening with the full body. The deep and intricate sound environment is augmented visually by reactive lighting and video projections as well as translucent drums covered in sand that pulse to the low rumble of the ocean.  

The Sustainability Team invites you to immerse yourself in Listening to Earth this Welcome Week at Chau Chak Wing Museum. Escape the crowds and connect with the environment, through a unique sensory experience intended to facilitate audiences hearing the earth in ways that sit beyond their usual modes of perception. The work engages with environmental concerns by positioning the earth as a store of vibrational memory and stories that, via an experience of heightened attentiveness, we may learn to better understand what it has to say. The installation will be open from Tuesday 13th February - Sunday 18th February during museum opening hours, participants are encouraged to attend at any time, for as long as they like. 

Diana Chester

Diana Chester is a sound studies scholar, composer, educator, and artist. Diana's work uses sound to traverse disciplinary boundaries and explore sonic capacities core to the human condition. Current Projects include, ‘Listening to Earth,’ a collaborative research project exploring the development of listening instruments to record memories stored inside Earth, ‘Harmonising with Mountains,’ an exploration of Mongolian traditional musical practices for communicating with the environment, and ‘Sounding the Ice,’ a partnership with the Australia Antarctic Division that uses data sonification to express changes to sea-ice in Antarctica. Chester is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Sydney, editor of Interference Journal, and vice president of the World Listening Project.

Damien Ricketson

Damien Ricketson is a composer and academic at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. Ricketson’s visceral and multisensory works explore the relationship between vibration and the body and listening beyond what is heard by the ears. Ricketson was the founder and Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring (1995-2015), a unique arts company dedicated to adventurous new music, and the Program Leader of Composition and Music Technology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney (2015-2019). Ricketson has received numerous awards including the International Music Theatre Now Prize (2018); ‘Work of the Year’ in both the vocal/choral and instrumental categories in the Art Music Awards (2014 & 2019); and represented ‘Oceania’ in the Tokyo World Festival. 

Fausto Brusamolino

Fausto Brusamolino devises lighting and generative visuals for live performance and art installations. Brusamolino has lit productions in theatres, concert halls and art galleries, alongside less conventional spaces including outdoor installations and abandoned locations. In his work, lighting and video are dynamically manipulated in real time using custom software to create organic and engaging environments. Brusamolino has designed for Sydney Festival, Sydney Opera House, Adelaide Festival, Rising Melbourne Festival, MCA, Biennale of Sydney, Urban Theatre Projects, Teatro Stabile di Torino and more. Brusamolino recently won the APDG 2022 Award for Best Lighting Design for a Live Performance.

Listening to Earth has been developed with the support of the Sydney Environment Institute's 2023 Collaborative Fellowship grant.

Header image: supplied by University of Sydney.