Superposition - Sydney Biennale Pt2

GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALESThe Gallery of NSW is a classic gallery/museum exhibition space built in 1871 and evolved over time to work with contemporary needs.Vic and I spent lots of time sitting with Samson Young's (2018) "Muted Situations #22: Muted Tchaikovsky's 5th" surround sound installation. Young created "Muted Situations #22" as part of his series of 'muted' works that reveal the unobserved or masked moments in everyday experience. By muting the sounds of their instruments, the orchestra reveal the underlying susurrus of their movement. Sitting within the installation you can hear the orchestra around you while watching them 'play' on a visual recording of the event. There were many times during the performance where the music can almost be heard through the movement of the players.

Jacob Kirkegaard (2013) "Through the Wall"This is one of those works that you sometimes pass by mistake in a large art show because it can become almost a part of the environs. Luckily I'd been reading the map and knew the work to expect in the space because accidentally missing this would have been a real shame. This work needs time spent because it's not something that can be sensed immediately, but give it the time and the viewer is transported. This giant concrete monolith is a replica of the Israeli West Bank Barrier, it is inset with speakers projecting field recordings collected by Kirkegaard on site in Israel/Palestine. The recordings not only represent the ambient sounds around the wall, but also the resonances and reverberations of the wall itself. Sitting with the work - listening to the wall - encourages questioning without imposing any political weight on the listener. I particularly appreciate the fact that the artist refrained from expressing his personal political opinion in the work and allowed it to be open to the viewer's experience. This is especially refreshing considering how so much of the media we currently consume is heavily politicised and our interpretation considered a fait accompli.