Queen Victoria Gardens

A new durational sound performance invites us to expand awareness beyond human perspectives and sink into the surroundings

How might a bird or passer-by perceive sound? How about an insect? Become a vessel for perception for this debut sound performance by Golden Sands—a new electro-acoustic group featuring six female artists: Biddy Connor, Mads Davey, Madeleine Flynn, Sooji Kim, Prudence Rees-Lee and Katerina Stathis, with sound engineer Alex Mras.  

Join the six-piece as they seek to open up space through non-human viewpoints. The ever-evolving performance sends their sound work through a multichannel setup that sits in conversation with its surroundings. The sonics will drift between the pavilion walls and wander the gardens, uniting living things through sound. At times, the work will be quiet and spacious, at others it might rise in an immersive and voluminous swell. Dip in for a stretch or grab a blanket and sprawl out for an uncharted listening experience. 

Collaborators:

Madeleine Flynn creates unusual situations for listening with works presented and commissioned at major festivals including Setouchi Triennale, Busan Biennale, Seoul Festival, Brighton Festival, Sonica Festival, Edinburgh Festival, and Theatre der Welt. Her awards include the Australia Council Award for Experimental Practice, Art Music Awards and an honorary mention at the STARTS Prize, Ars Electronica.

Biddy Connor, Composer & Artistic Director (The Letter String Quartet)
Biddy’s diverse, cross-genre projects include working across film, television, theatre, large-scale community events and games. As director and violist of TLSQ, Biddy pushes the sonic possibilities of the string quartet into new realms.

Prudence Rees-Lee, Composer, Performer & Researcher
Prudence combines cello with experimental techniques to create intricate, multidimensional works such as Crystal Universe and Inner Voices. Her projects range from works of theatre to site-specific installations, and she is currently pursuing a PhD focused on Spatial Sound and Utopian theory.

Katerina Stathis, Composer & Multi-Instrumentalist
Katerina’s current soundscape practice unveils universal visceral themes conveying the gamut of emotions using a blend of analogue synthesisers, found sound and acoustic instruments. Recent highlights include Opus MESS for MESS’s Sonorous VII series and a soundtrack for Lucy Guerin Inc.’s How To Be Us.

Sooji Kim, Violinist & Composer
Sooji creates works that explore adventurous sonic territories through performance, collaboration, composition and spatialised sound installations. Working primarily with synthesisers and acoustic instruments, she embraces the unexpected outcomes that arise through collaboration and improvisation. She has had recent releases through Modulisme (Fr), Shame File and Eternal Music (Melb).

Mads Davey, Composer, Instrumentalist & Vocalist
In her compositional work Mads explores a widened centre of pitch, wonky tunings and couples contrasting timbres to create new sounds. She is currently creating works pairing a 19th century pump organ with 20th century analogue synthesizers. Mads also fronts experimental electronic/rock trio Warplane who released EP ‘Pocket’ in 2023.