Space-Shifter

Sonia Leber and David Chesworth

Space-Shifter encounter with the voice as an object in itself, where it has become detached from the unseen soundmakers. It is as if the voices have an excess of energy, an unfettered ‘self-enjoying’ jouissance, which can be uncanny and unnerving, but also thrilling and liberating. The elusive entity of the trickster is evoked. In this installation it is imagined as a noisy, mischievous interloper, an agent-provocateur, able to change and move about without restraint. The trickster’s voice twists and turns: hatching, splitting and multiplying, delighting in its own excess, making mock, creating damage and disorder. 

With Space-Shifter, Sonia Leber and David Chesworth created a psychogeography of voice and space at Detached, using sound, vibration and metallic constructions. Human voices resonate throughout the space: babbling and uttering absurdities. This featured the extended vocal techniques of Maria Lurighi, along with Deborah Kayser, Jerzy Kozlowski and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir. Each singer was selected for a willingness to use and explore a range of extended-voice techniques, including unusual timbral qualities, breath-sounds and expressive mouth-sounds. The installation also included fragments of idiosyncratic voices that the artists recorded in the real world, selected for their familiar and unfamiliar qualities.

Dates: January 13 to March 29, 2012

Location: Detached, 7 Campbell St.