Working On: Iridescence
“It’s something that could be so easily overlooked, but I think that process of trying to recontextualize your own history to see what has changed and what is still relevant is really interesting.”
Iridescence is a binaural sound work by artist Julian Wessels that was commissioned for Earfest, an online audio festival. The work was inspired by a glass negative from the Powerhouse Museum’s archive of Pearl Bay, taken in 1920. One hundred years on, in the same location, using the same techniques, an exact replica was commissioned to draw a link between these two moments in time. The materiality of the glass negative mirrors the ephemeral beauty of the landscape while simultaneously acknowledging its fragility.
Iridescence features sound recordings gathered from the natural soundscape in Pearl Bay that were layered, deconstructed, and transformed in an attempt to embody the enduring landscape.Careful consideration was taken to highlight the natural rhythms and tones belonging to the land, as these provided the foundation for the musical component of the soundscape. The shifting perspectives in the audio oscillate between micro and macro, real and surreal, in a journey that moves through various interpretations of this rich and complex environment.
