Sculpture in the Vineyards - Opening Night

Photographer: Vinessa Trikeriotis

Photographer: Vinessa Trikeriotis

Sculpture in the Vineyards Opening, Lantern Parade, Wollombi, Hunter Valley, NSW.

The Sculpture in the Vineyards exhibition officially opened on Saturday 7 November in Wollombi, Hunter Valley, NSW. Antinode has been installed as part of this exhibition at the Undercliff Winery in Wollombi and will be exhibited until January 26, 2010. The exhibition is directed by Tara Morelos and curated by Cassandra Hard-Lawrie. It was supported by the Country Arts Support Program of Regional Arts NSW, Cessnock Regional Gallery, Cessnock City Council and various Wollombi Vineyards, including Undercliff Winery.

The official opening was announced during the Wollombi Community Festival on Saturday after a grand lantern parade led by a local piper, Michael Young, throughout the town streets. It was a great celebration of the local community and it was great to be a part of the celebrations. Some images of the exhibition launch weekend including the festival parade can be found here. However, I will post more detailed video and audio of the launch soon. Images of the installation process of Antinode carried out on 24 October can be found here.

This marks one of the final posts that I will be making to The Process Journal for this phase of Antinode. Although the work is finally installed and on exhibition to the public, the process will continue for Antinode as the resonator continues to change and develop in the space in which it is installed. I will continue to post further developments including future installation sites for Antinode. I am currently seeking an installation space for the work for after the end of the Sculpture in the Vineyards exhibition.

It has been a wonderful experience to be involved in such a vibrant regional community arts event. The director and curator have been very helpful and welcoming to myself and my work Antinode. The work has been well received by those who I have met so far and it seems to intrigue those who experience it and invoke a sense of play for those who approach it. For me this marks the success of the work. Of the responses I have received so far, people's active engagement with the work has affected an intimate awareness of the sounds in the environment around them, and the sounds that they themselves are creating. People have been intrigued as to how the object is working to resonate only certain frequencies of the source sound.

It was great to spend some time meeting people as they experienced the work and receive their responses first hand. The installation day and the weekend of the exhibition opening have given me a chance to consider visitor responses, and afforded the opportunity to come to some sort of personal resolution about the whole process of making Antinode. A year in the making, from concept to installation, Antinode was an ambitious project that fell outside of my core skill area of digital audio production. I feel that although my naivety in undertaking this project without all of the requisite experience has perhaps led to inefficiencies in the production of the work, I have gained a whole range of skills and uncovered personal strengths that were previously unrecognised.

In spite of, and perhaps also because of, the hurdles that I encountered along the way, I believe that Antinode has been a success from a personal, creative and professional perspective. During the process of the making of Antinode I was challenged to engage with other artists and arts communities and seek out opportunities to further develop my practice and to exhibit my work. These challenges have proven very fruitful and as a consequence I will begin the new year with an emerging artist residency and exhibition at First Draft Gallery in Redfern. I am excited about the opportunities for creativity that will spring from this venture into installation based sound art practice.


I am thankful to all of those who have helped in the making, research and installation process for Antinode:

Vinessa Trikeriotis, Shannon O’Neill, Professor Joe Wolfe (UNSW School of Physics), Steve and Glenn (Splicing and Cutting Services), Geoff Nune (Nunes Building Supplies), John Hopkins, Mark Riordan, Brendan Lloyd, Tara Morelos, Cassandra Hard-Lawrie, Peter and Jane Hamshere (Undercliff Winery), Alyssa Taylor (Taylor Ceramic Engineering), Cathy Macdouall, Sara Bock, Dee Taylor-Graham, Tracy Miles.

The Installation

The installation at Wollombi on Saturday was very successful. We completed the install in one day and also had a chance to meet some of the first visitors to the work. It was a satisfying, if trying, experience. I have posted some images below. I will post some more soon along with video and audio captured on the day. I also aim to attend the opening on 7 November. I have suggested to the curator that a visitors book be placed at the vineyard so that I can receive some responses to the work. She will get back to me as to this will be possible.

It was great to meet the curator, Cassandra Hard, and receive feedback from her about the work. Overall, the response on the day to the work was very positive. Visitors were intrigued to hear and see the work and were pleased to have met the creator and asked lots of questions.

It feels strange to have to let the work go and let people make of it what they will. I hope that the response that others have is as positive as those that I met on the day.

Packing Antinode for transport to Wollombi

Arriving safe and sound.

Meeting the curator Cassandra Hard on site.



Attaching ropes to boughs for suspension.


Splicing ropes to attach to resonator.

Success.

The crew, Vinessa Trikeriotis (Camera Operator, Photographer, Advisor, Assistant Rope Splicer) and Cathy Macdouall (Photographer, Adviser, Rope Puller, Consultant Genius) enjoy a satisfied break.

Some of the first visitors to Antinode.

The completed installation.

A turn and two half hitches.

I have been busy finalising the rope weaving for the installation of Antinode this coming weekend. The weaving around the object will be complete by Wednesday 21 October. Below are two images of the rope work in progress. I will post more of the rope weaving process images soon.



The rope weaving has been coming along at a slow pace. I sourced the final required rope on the 9th of October. I initially underestimated the length of rope required and I was unable to begin until I had all of the rope. I met two great people, Glenn and Steve, at Sydney Splicing and Cutting Services who have given me valuable guidance in terms of rope choice and various splicing techniques for the installation. They are a father and son team who run Australia's largest rope wholesalers. They were willing to take time out to give me advice and were a little curious as to what the project was. I purchased the rope for the weaving and for suspension and some shackles from them, and they kindly offered me a splicing tool free of charge. They also gave me a splicing demonstration for the suspension ropes and an instruction sheet to follow on the day. They said goodbye with a knowing chuckle. But I really appreciated the time that they took and their patience in the face of my lack of knowledge regarding splicing.

This experience is one of many happy interactions that I have had with various professionals, academics and tradespeople throughout the making of Antinode. I have been surprised at people's patience and willingness to help when faced with an artist who perhaps naively thought that they could pick up the necessary know how to pull off such a project. Nevertheless, I have benefited from the decades of experience that these people have shared with me, and I greatly appreciate their assistance. I have appreciated the opportunity to delve, if only slightly, into so many varied areas of knowledge during the making of Antinode. More personally the process has marked an opening up to engaging with people from all walks of life and finding value in every one of these interactions.

In terms of the final structure there has been one major issue that is weighing on me at the moment. A few weeks ago I rendered over the basic structure to make the surface smooth. This render has proven to be too strong and started showing a hairline fracture about one week and a half ago. Over the past week the weather has been very windy and dry. This has affected the curing process and these hairline fractures have started appearing over half of the surface. I doubt that this will affect the structural soundness of the work. However, it is very worrying, particularly in terms of transporting the work. I have kept the object as damp as possible and tried to make the studio as humid as I can. However, this has marked yet another way in which outside influences are shaping the process for the work. I had planned to transport Antinode to the UTS sound studios this past weekend to do some recordings. However, due to concerns about theses fractures I have decided to move the object as little as possible before Saturday when I will transport it to Wollombi. I have instead booked some field recording equipment which I will use to record Antinode in my studio before installation.

Hairline fractures on the surface of Antinode.

I have purchased masses of padding for transportation and will take all of Thursday afternoon and Friday packing and loading it for transport. The surface of Antinode will definitely change over the three month period that it will be installed. With the varying weather conditions it will certainly wear and the surface will take take on a distressed appearance. I will visit the work several times over this three month period to document this process. This is a departure from the smooth minimal surface that I had envisaged, but again it is reflecting the original concept of various interactions determining the outcome and experience of the object.

I have also had confirmation from the vineyard owners that I can install the work from the willow tree. Which is great news. I will work with them on the day to ensure that no damage is caused to the tree. Of course things may change during the installation process and I may have to rework my plans. However I have taken pains to ensure I will be able to spread the load of the object over four or more boughs to ensure no damage is done and that the installation is successful.