T5 Tank Project
19-27 January 2019, Sydney Festival 2019 & Mosman Art Gallery
From August 2018-Jan 2019 Mosman Art Gallery provided commissioned artists Gail Priest, Chris Caines, David Haines, Joyce Hinterding with access to the T5 decomissioned fuel tank in Georges Heights, Sydney to develop site-specifc octophonic compositions. These were then performed live and presented in installation mode during the 2019 Sydney Festival.
Gail Priest, Orbital Suite 1: Corona, photo Tim Conolly
Artist Statement
During the residency I developed 'Orbital Suite 1' that comprises three responses to the T5 fuel tank. The tracks are completely composed in situ so as to consider both the eight-speaker circular surround system and the astounding and elusive acoustic properties of the space. The approaches range from material to speculative: sampling the sounds of the remaining objects within the structure; the natural elements of the outside environment; as well as pursuing the imaginative associations that the circular nature of the structure seemed to dictate to me — no front, no back, no beginning or end, a sense of eternal turning, like celestial bodies.
The tracks vary considerably in tone and style. Part 1, 'Tank War Europa', explores the very industrial and historical weight of the structure using hard-edged synthesised tones, and on a technical level, software patches to mediate the surround sound schema. Part 2, 'Particle Dust', uses a simple palette of white noise and sine tones, similar to the test tones used to gauge the acoustic properties of a space. Each note and noise has been cut into small units, singularly placed piece by piece into the space, the combined patterns forming a melodic and spatial fugue. Part 3, 'Corona', prioritises the acoustic properties of the space, employing the voice, both mediated and acoustically, in an attempt to bend the sounds into an eternal circle. (Little did I know when I chose this name, how the word 'corona' was going to dominate our lives.)
Gail Priest, Orbital Suite 1: Tank War Europa, photo Tim Connolly
Chris Caines, Joyce Hinterding, Gail Priest, T5 residency, photo Tim Connolly