The Sound of Red Earth at Sydney Park Brickworks

The Sound of Red Earth at Sydney Park Brickworks

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Posted 2010-09-05 by Tracy Jenner-Lawsonfollow

From now until the 12th September, Stephen Vitiello, the American sound artist is hosting an exhibition inside three of the disused kilns at the Sydney Park Brickworks in St Peters. The project is part of the 20th Kaldor Public Art Project. Vitiello's research is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and will be the subject of an ABC documentary.

Currently, a visit to Sydney Park will give you more than its usual offerings of forty-four hectares of vast fields and hills, children's playground, sculptures, cafe, ponds and wetlands in its eclectic inner-city home. Three of the arc-shaped former brick making kilns have been transformed into portals into the sounds of Australian landscapes.

Each kiln offers a different experience: wildlife, water and wind. Sitting in the first one; birds tweet and sing, offering flighty insistent company. In the second, creeks and waterfalls chug, gurgle and swirl over across and over you. In the last component of the trio, winds and breezes whistle and rustle while looking outwards into the park. Speakers omit the ruminating nature sounds while gentle lighting adds to the atmosphere. Red earth was even been brought across from Broome. Ultimately, it's a beautiful, serene experience.

Vitiello used his two-week trip to the Kimberleys as inspiration for the exhibition. His main intention was to highlight and explore themes of isolation, remoteness, distance, nature, environment and 'earth' often experienced in the Australian outback through sound and music. During his two weeks he made over 50 hours of recordings. Vitiello aims for his soundscapes to offer a new way of looking at something familiar: `I think we're all deeply affected by sound, we just don't always know it or talk about it or think about it.' Vitiello says. `We're definitely affected emotionally by sound in a way that's different from the way we are affected by a picture. Sound is much more open. It's very generous in the way it allows different kinds of interpretation.'

Often dismissed as simply being a decrepit eyesore, known and easily recognisable for its dominating chimneys, the former brickworks were more important than many realised. For over a hundred years, the bricks made there were used across Sydney, plus the first batch of machine-made bricks was used for the construction of the Farmers' Building in Market Street, Sydney. It opened in 1893 and continued operating until 1970. During the sixties and seventies, it was used as a tip. After its closure, the area was landscaped and reinvented to form the park as we know it now. For those interested in history and paleontology, a complete, intact skeleton of a Paracyclotosaurus davidi was discovered there in 1910. The remnants were a prehistoric amphibian and the only known species to have lived in Australia.

This is the first art exhibition to be shown in Sydney Park and hopefully we will see more in the future. It gives us a chance to look beyond what is just in front of us. Indeed, Vitiello's vision succeeds in providing us with more than just an ordinary inner-city park experience.

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202947 - 2023-06-16 05:20:15

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