A new 16-speaker sound installation of Amazonian jungle field recordings transplanted into the ecology of an alley way between 168-172a High St, a small thoroughfare that connects High St (entering between the Post office and D'Orsay fashion) to HSP on Lichfield Street and Poplar Lane.
Installation period:
3 weeks - from Tuesday 7th until the end of October.
The 'SONAR REALIDAD INTERIOR - Epiphytes' installation is a work that has resulted from an independent 4-month investigative field recording project exploring sound environments in the Brazilian, Colombian and Peruvian Amazon Jungle in South America.
During the exploration of the phenomenal and infinitely complex aural soundscapes that have evolved amongst one of the most biologically sophisticated ecosystems on the planet, the interrogative interests of the project quickly started to expand past the parameters of its original outline.
Perceiving these acoustic phenomena simply as concrete events only existing within the moment (relating only to what/where they originated from, the physical space it inhabited and the objects it shared with that space) seemed too limiting a perception of what felt could have limitless relations and connections far past their conventional context. The feeling of limitation was equally present when considering the majority of conventional methods used to present sound works, especially when compared to how complex and modular the structure of the Amazonian sound environment is.
The aim: to ambiguously transplant a small portion of reality from one far flung outpost of its vast tentacled existence to another distant corner of it and see whether it can survive.
The work has been installed in a space that is generally perceived as being without significance beyond its utilitarian function as a thoroughfare. This space hopefully allows these recordings to establish a relationship with a reality that is free of hyped-up human sanctioned significance as sometimes fostered in museum and gallery-like spaces.
These sounds are the inhabitants of the outdoors, so that's where they should remain.
SONAR REALIDAD INTERIOR is the biological nerve centre for all the activities, performances, installations and recordings that have sprouted from Sam Hamilton's 4-month Amazon Resounding Project working in the Amazon in 2007/2008.
special thanks to:
HSP, Jonathan Smart Gallery, High St Post office, Christchurch City Council, Elam, Creative New Zealand, Tiger Beer, Ashlin Raymond, Andrew Clifford, Stella Brennan, Josca Arian-Craig, John Radford, Rohan Evans and Dave Marshall.
