Sharing the Bad as Well as the Good

After having enjoyed some recent successes I thought a dose of honesty would be good to share with you all.

Currently, in between everything else going down, I have been getting around to editing up all the videos of the work I have completed. Attached is what basically was a minor disaster.

In 2010 I was asked by a good friend, Eva Muller, to collaborate on her PhD graduation show at Cockatoo Island. The Sounds of the Sun was a brilliant series of installations scattered through the old industrial landscape on the island. I was asked to provide my Rubens Tubes to perform with a text piece read by two guest actors as part of the opening. At practice, all was good - looked and sounded great. But ...

Literally 30 seconds before the start the heavens opened up and a massive deluge pounded on the tin roof. The sound you hear on the video is not static - it is the sound of the rain drowning out everything. All the subtlety of the performance was lost, and with one of the actors moving the mic slightly way, all the flame variation effect was lost on one side.

8 minutes of dialogue was just rain noise.

Visually it looked great, but as a performance, I considered a disaster for my friend. Lessons were learnt, and next time they are publicly used a different set up will be constructed.

Positive progression is never made without some wobbles, and this was one of mine. I hope you enjoy the future performances that will be even more refined than their current level as a result of in-the-field development such as this installation.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkLl-bLGhQM&feature=player_embedded]