Winner of the Yering Sculpture Award 2023
A site specific multi-channel sound installation
By working with children from locations at which Bird Child Spirit is installed, the artist has been building up a large bank of sounds from which soundscapes are generated. Children are guided by the artist to make imitations of birds that he records and edits for use in the installation, amplifying naive creativity into a highly developed work. Drawing on process driven compositional techniques, the artist has developed software that selects sounds based on various characteristics (mood, texture, melodic shape, etc) and plays them in a distributed fashion across the array of speakers in the site. This software runs autonomously creating an ongoing sonic composition.
Through the allusion, children's voices with bird sound, a variety of listening responses are prompted. While presenting a benign surface, closer audition summons many associations; from modern concerns about our relationship to the natural world to mythology that associates the voices of both children and birds with angels and bush spirits. Providing a context for today and the future, the transfigured voices sing from a place outside the everyday.
Small child-like illustrations by the artist are positioned to delineate the installation site and provide little surprises and points of intrigue. Delightful, strange and encompassing depth, Bird Child Spirit invites the ear in a uniquely beautiful way.
The installation has been located at Selby, Mt Evelyn and Yering Station. It will be at ECOSS in Wesburn during December 2023 and Frankston in April 2024.
The project is proudly supported by the Yarra Ranges Council
Frankston South Side Plans
BCS has been selected for next years SouthSide Festival in Frankston. Planning, including site selection, is about to begin but here are some images from the submission.
installation equipment 19" rack in weatherproof housing
preferred site
proposed installation plan
installation housing with lid
