Arts House is the centre of creative product in North Melbourne. A home for experimental artmaking, there could be no better place to reveal the kinetic sonic wonder that is ‘Tremor‘.

Inspired by the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, bare form and simple concepts frame this performance. ‘Tremor’ is a cross-disciplinary exercise where art, light, dance, sculpture, and sonic practitioners work to create an aural bath that overwhelms and enlivens.

Based on the principle of vibration creating energy, we witness the extremes of impetus and their effects on metal, timber, and human forms.

The first thing you face on entry is pure sculptural form. Tall shards of silver metal stand upright and monolithic, attached to 15 low-level metre-wide platforms spread across the floor space. It shocks you still. Numbering in their hundreds, these tall pieces of metal stand as sentinels. They appear as if monuments to fields of the dead, yet also stand like swords with the threat of potential carnage.

Two large, rusted two-handed saws sit at far extremes, right and left, and at the rear, are four medium-sized shards of bronze perspex. This is the ‘orchestra’ for the night.

As the performance starts, we watch a dancer begin her steady anatomical, rotating routine. Later, trios emerge, repeating the same circular move, as if at the conical centre of a rotating lawn sprinkler. The mechanics of things are under examination. The stimuli on the wooden platforms that house the metal shards varies — at times minute, resulting in quiet humming; at other times large scale, simulating a tsunami level of sound.

You feel the vibrations entering your space as audience and the waves roll up your body.

The walls of sound created when these pieces of metal are vibrated en masse is affecting. Allowing your eyes and mind to linger across this stunning installation is also another kinetic pleasure. A trance-like stillness emerges after the riot of sound caused by shaking and stimulation, leaving us in a state of calm.

Feel the tremor, then the peace.

– Sarah
Sarah W. is a dance-trained theatre lover with a flair for the bold, and non-traditional performance platforms. On-the-street or in the box seat, she is always looking for quality works that push the envelope.

‘Tremor’ runs 16-20 November, Wednesday- Saturday, 7:30 pm, Sunday 5 pm (50 minutes) at Arts House. Buy tickets now.
The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Disclosure: The Plus Ones were the guests of Starling PR.
Image credit: Bryony Jackson.