Currently taking over the first floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney is Energies, a new (and free) exhibition that brings together the works of Australian artists David Haines and Joyce Hinterding, in what is the first comprehensive survey of their combined works from the last twenty plus years, curated by the MCA’s Anna Davis. These are artists who are interested in kinetic energies, sounds and even smells.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is the brand new work Geology, an interactive virtual world which takes over an entire wall of the museum. The piece, pictured above, sees visitors enter an amplified cinematic experience, projected in 4K, flying over a world created using a computer game engine and using a Kinect to track the player’s movements. The piece was inspired by a visit to Christchurch after the Earthquake and features landscapes that make up over 100kms of virtual space. Also found in the same room is Telepathy, a piece about blocking energy, as three people are placed into an anechoic chamber, hidden inside a yellow room.
A lot of their works involve the idea of interacting with sound and radio waves in a unique way. In the above piece, guests are encouraged to wear headphones and touch the lines of the “painting”, which create unique soundwaves as you interact with them.
As for Aeriology, a Hinterding piece that originated in 1995 and adapts a similar approach, I’ll leave it to the artist to explain the work from their official website:
“Aeriology is a large scale detuned custom built antenna that resonates to the range of radio frequencies related to it’s length, dimensions, and physical qualities. Like a classic transformer, aeriology also transforms electrical and electromagnetic activity in the room and the surrounding atmosphere into electrical activity in the wire. This activity can be translated into sound or image or can be thought about as an alternative power source, gathering energy out of the air. A kind of aerial capacitor that stores enough energy to amplify the signal it resonates to.”
In the context of the MCA exhibition, it took 6 days for the copper wire to be extended around the two poles in the centre of the room. It’s not just impressive aurally, but visually striking, too.
And then there’s a piece which interacts with the sense of smell, Haines’ Slow Fast Mountains (Earth Aroma). In the piece, you smell the aroma of Geosmin, while you look at lumps of coal that had been found on the edge of the Wollemi wilderness, placed onto custom built tables.
And then, as we move back to sound, the piece Earthstar is one of their most striking. The pair collaborated on this one, as you listen to a live sound reading from the sun, produced by a custom VLF antennae. A video beams onto the wall showing the red orb in all its glory. Meanwhile, next to the piece, are perfumes you can smell that are inspired by the surface of the sun. Be warned: they are as strange as they are creative!
Also look out of the Oculus Rift set up, which gives you a unique opportunity to experience some of their video works that couldn’t fit into the room.
This just a taste of the innovative and surprising exhibition comprised of the incredible works of Haines and Hinterding. It’s one not to be missed.
Energies: Haines & Hinterding is happening until 6 September 2015 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney – in The Rocks. Entry is free. For more details head to: http://www.mca.com.au/exhibition/energies-haines-and-hinterding/
Photos by the author.
