room overlay/5 weeks /thursdays 6-7pm/accumulation takes sound recordings made within indoor public sites in Melbourne and sequentially overlays them onto Gallery one, the Front and Back Space of West Space over the duration of the exhibition.
The recordings are performed in collaboration with musicians. Using spatial markers (coloured wooden blocks), Geoff Robinson traces and highlights the architecture of the sites. The placement and contact/sounding of the spatial markers emphasise its form and material texture whilst each musician uses their instrument to sound out the acoustics of the room.
The overlay onto West Space consists of the playback of the recordings of each site and the re-iterating of the collaborative performance of marking and sounding out the gallery. Each site will be overlaid one week at a time on Thursdays between 6-7pm. As the sound recordings are added to the gallery over the 5 weeks, the spatial markers will also accumulate creating a spatial diagram of the performances in relation to the architecture of West Space.
live overlay events at West Space:
overlay 1 Thursday 28 May 6-7pm (opening) West Space / Westpac Centre-former Olympic Swimming Stadium and Melbourne Sports & Entertainment Centre (concrete steel glass timber) / Michael McNab (percussion)
overlay 2 Thursday 4 June 6-7pm West Space / South Lawn Underground Car Park, University of Melbourne (concrete) / Benjamin Woods (double bass)
overlay 3 Thursday 11 June 6-7pm West Space / Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre (concrete glass water timber) / Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (voice)
overlay 4 Thursday 18 June 6-7pm West Space / Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne (timber glass linoleum marble) / Alexander Garsden (pipe organ)
overlay 5 Thursday 25 June 6-7pm West Space / Sidney Myer Music Bowl (aluminium steel concrete) / Aviva Endean (clarinet)
Documentation of the spatial diagrams generated at the 5 sites will be uploaded each Thursday at http://roomoverlay.tumblr.com
performers: Aviva Endean, Alexander Garsden, Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, Michael McNab & Benjamin Woods
sound recording and mix: Martin Kay
documentation assistance: Michael Bojkowski & Charlie Sofo
Geoff Robinson’s room overlay/5 weeks /thursdays 6-7pm/accumulation and Helen Grogan’s THREE ADJOINING SPACES WITH MANIFOLD EDGES will run concurrently across Gallery 1, the Front and Back Space.
Geoff Robinson is a Melbourne based artist working with sound and site. Recent projects include 15 locations/15 minutes/15 days at Federation Square, 2014; and Site Overlay/Acoustic Survey across three public sites in Melbourne, 2013. Robinson has exhibited at Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne, 2012; Sound Effects: Sound Specific Seoul South Korea, 2010; Gertrude Contemporary Melbourne, 2009; and Heide Museum of Modern Art (with Jennie Lang) Melbourne, 2007. Robinson has undertaken projects and artist residencies at MoKS Mooste Estonia, 2014; Helsinki International Artists Program Suomenlinna Finland, 2012/13; Seoul Arts Space Guemcheon South Korea, 2009/10; the Australia Council Greene St studio New York U.S.A, 2008; and Osaka Arts Aporia Japan, 2007. He received a City of Melbourne Laneway Commission, 2009; a Gertrude Contemporary studio residency, 2004-06; and was awarded the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture, 2014, for the project 15 locations/15 minutes/15 days. Robinson is currently undertaking a PhD in Fine Art at Monash University, Melbourne.