In April 2018 I was fortunate to have time at an artist in residency program in the musician’s cottage at Bundanon, on Wodi Wodi and Yuin country, near Nowra on the south coast of New South Wales. Bundanon is a large property on the Shoalhaven River, part farmland, part bushland, which was the home and studio of Australian artist Arthur Boyd. He and his wife Yvonne gifted the property to the nation in 1993 as a cultural trust for the development of artists and arts education. The residency program is an important part of this continuing work.
The musicians cottage is one of the old farm houses converted to include a music studio with grand piano and living quarters. I shared the residency with friend and artist colleague Barbara Campbell who was developing her own new work involving tree rubbings onto copper sheet.
I spent the time constructing various of my aleatoric ensemble assemblages - analogue sonic-kinetic devices basded on small turntables fitted with boxes, tins and containers with marbles, superballs and other objects inside - and recording the unique chaotically looping musicality of various combinations. The grand piano offered an opportunity for some Cageian explorations of chance, mostly dropping superballs onto the inner harp of the grand piano and recording the stochastic results.
A more structured project was recording many individual chords from the sheet music of Erik Satie. Sort of searching for the harmonic DNA of Satie’s perhaps too well-known and carelessly used music.
Other strands of activity were making abstract drawings and watercolours during the day, and making field recordings around the property at any time of day or night.
For this episode of sonic sketchbooks I’ve created a series of new compositions from the recordings made during that 2018 residency.
Bundanon supports new work, research and collaborations by artists and researchers from around the world.
You can find links to the Bundanon Trust website and find out more about the podcast at the sonic sketchbooks episode guide - sonicsketchbooks.net
