Varied noisy | Going Back/Volver |

Varied Noisy

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Varied, noisy. 2008
Record: edition of 180; Woven badges: edition of 300, Field Guide zine: edition of 200; Postcard: edition of 350

Complete sets available for purchase $75.00
Please contact me via email.

Field recording: Geoffrey Robinson and Raquel Ormella
Editing: Geoffrey Robinson and Raquel Ormella
Digital and vinyl mastering: Harry Williamson, Spring Studio
Record Pressing: Zenith Records Melbourne
Album and sleeve design: Marija Katalinic, OD Creative
Letterpress plate setting: Raquel Ormella and Caren Florance, Artist Book Studio, School of Art, ANU
Letterpress printing: Louise Redman, Poppy Letterpress
Production Assistant: Bec Dean

Varied, noisy is a series of multiples that describes the presence and absence within local landscapes of the Indian (Common) Myna, an imported feral bird regarded as one of Australia’s worst environmental threats. While the Indian Myna is ubiquitous within urban environments and central to the subject of this work, it does not concentrate on the direct visual description of the birds. Instead Varied, noisy focuses on the way we recognize and normalize the Indian Myna. Mynas are partly commensal with humans in that they like cleared areas with some trees, such as domestic gardens, and often nest in cavities in buildings. Furthermore, the road and rail network has assisted their dispersal into inland Australia, as they feed off discarded rubbish and spilt produce. Field Naturalist clubs in country areas often state on their websites whether or not Indian Mynas have arrived in their town, because their territorial aggression leads to a direct decline in native bird numbers and diversity.

Central amongst the multiples in Varied, noisy is a “parallel groove” conventional vinyl record, which is a disc that on each side has two tracks that spiral in tandem towards the centre. Viewers are invited to place the stylus on the record to let chance and timing determine which of the tracks is played. The record is made up of four soundscapes recorded in Canberra Nature Park – a group of nature reserves surrounding and within the city of Canberra – abutting or close to domestic housing. In some of these reserves, due to their size or proximity to housing, Mynas have established a firm foothold and can be heard continuously throughout the recording. Side A opposes sound recording from a high conservation valued reserve, Mulligan’s Flat, with sound from a newly built “affordable” housing suburb of Gungahlin. On side B recordings from the edge of the large reserve of Mt Ainslie, are compared with the smaller reserve of Mt Taylor. Mt Taylor however is in a part of Canberra where the volunteer trapping of the Indian Myna Action Group has significantly reduced Myna numbers. The listener becomes aware of the greater diversity of birdcalls by hearing or noticing where the noisy call of the Myna is absent. The juxtaposition of the tracks, with the order of play determined by chance and human interaction, highlights the impact of encroaching urban development on Canberra Nature Park with ensuing decline in bird diversity.

Varied, noisy takes its title from the description of the call of the Indian Myna, Acridotheres tristis, as described in Simpson and Day’s Field Guide to the Birds of Australian Birds (2004). Another of the multiples is a “field guide” exclusively containing descriptions of the Indian Myna. While this at first appears to be a comment on the possibility of the Indian Myna making up the majority of the Australian bird population, as it now does on some Pacific Islands, on closer reading the field guide displays the nationalistic prejudices of some of the writers towards an extremely invasive feral bird. The call is often described as an “ugly raucous sound”. In some guides quoted, the Myna is taken out of the taxonomical order and is placed at the back of field guides with the other pervasive European ferals. Questions of political geography are also highlighted, as one of the only field guides available to its native distribution in Afghanistan is contained within a field guide to the birds of the USSR.

The third multiple is a series of woven cloth badges of Australian native birds that are beginning to return to areas where the Indian Myna populations have been reduced by volunteer trapping. The last multiple is a letterpress postcard that lists the dates of introduction and establishment of the Indian Myna in Australia. All multiples can be purchased directly by viewers at a reasonable price, so their dispersal echoes that of the Myna: the multiples rely on humans to become artworks through their usage and distribution.

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Going Back / Volver

Going Back / Volver

Series of 40 photographs (21 x 27 cm) made for Transversa the exhibition that was part of the South Project Gathering in Santiago Chile.

Transversa, curated by Zara Stanhope and Danae Mossman. The South Project.

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Galería Metropolitana, centro cultural matucana100, Santiago, Chile, September 2006.

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