Recordings of Poles and Wires

installation and performance at Sydney Non Objective (SNO) contemporary arts space

Garry Bradbury and The WIRED Lab

Opening at Sydney Non Objective (SNO) Contemporary Art space on Saturday 8th May Recordings of Poles and Wires is an installation of new sound works by Garry Bradbury. During the exhibition opening Bradbury and fellow WIRED Lab member Dave Noyze will perform solo and collaborative works, marking the 1st live metropolitan performances of Wire Musics by WIRED Lab members.

Ever the subversive Bradbury’s new works are primarily based on recordings made from the sounds emanating from the wooden support poles, rather than utilising the wires, as many other artists have done to record sounds of the wire installations elsewhere and at The WIRED Lab in regional South West NSW.

The Pole Recordings were created during several residencies Bradbury spent at The WIRED Lab. Rather than the conventional pre-amp and contact mic recording method developed by Alan Lamb and The Wired Lab, Bradbury used a DAT recorder with stereo condenser microphone shielded by an old respirator mask found on The Wired Lab farm. The mask functioned much like a stethoscope which isolated and captured intricate meshes of sound issuing from cracks in the wooden fence posts that support the wire installations.

The installation of Wire instruments at The Wired Lab was established as a means to develop and further investigate aeolian harp phenomena pioneered  by Australian sound art icon and all round polymath Dr Alan Lamb. Lamb has, for many years, been recording wires in the environment, both pre-existing (eg; derelict telegraph wires, fences etc) and constructed. This has resulted in several highly acclaimed releases, perhaps most notably Night Passage and film soundtracks. The WIRED Lab was established to expand and proliferate Lamb’s legacy, and exemplify the possibilities rather than the limitations of regionally based art practices.

Recordings of Poles and Wires

Assembled and Arranged by Garry Bradbury

Automation by Ian Andrews

Recordings made on location @ The WIRED Lab by Alan Lamb, David Burraston, Ian Andrews and Garry Bradbury

Project Curation by Sarah Last

Performance & opening: Saturday 8th May, 3pm – 6pm,
performances start at 4pm

Exhibition dates: Saturday 8th – Sunday 30th May

Where: SNO Space, Level 1, 175 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, Sydney, NSW.

ABOUT GARRY BRADBURY

One of Australia’s electronic pioneers, from 1979 – 1985 Garry was a member of the seminal electronic post-punk band ‘Severed Heads’ and appeared on the albums ‘Since the Accident’, ‘City Slab Horror’, ‘Blubberknife’, ‘Clifford Darling’, ‘Please Don’t Live In The Past’. Garry has also produced works that appeared on labels as diverse as Ink Records, Network and Virgin Australia. In 1988 he released his first solo album, ‘Drug Induced Sex Rituals’. His project with Jason Gee, Size, released the album ‘Actual Size’ in 1997. This was followed by ‘Ruffini Corpuscle’ (2003) and ‘Instant Oblivion’ (2005), released on Dual Plover.  For six years Garry curated E.A.R., the experimental music program of the Big Day Out, Sydney.  Throughout the late 90′s and more recently Garry composed music and sound design for art performance and theatre productions such as Sydney Theatre Company’s ‘King Lear’ (2001), ‘Macbeth’ (2002), ‘The Tempest’ (2003) and ‘The Narrow House’ for

Performance Space (2004). Garry performed at the opening night of the 2009 Liquid Architecture festival in Sydney and recently performed at the Auraltered State series (2010) at Carriage Works in Sydney.

The WIRED Lab and SNO Contemporary Projects gratefully acknowledge assistance from:

- The Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body
- The NSW Government through Arts NSW
- Marrickville Council