'Whisper Pitch' Performance Space, Carriageworks -19th April 2012.

19 April 2012

Robyn Backen’s Whisper Pitch is a site-specific installation for the foyer of Carriageworks. Drawing on her architectural research into resonant structures and whispering walls, Whisper Pitch makes reference to visual, structural and material elements within the environment and draws them into conversation with parabolic forms, of the kind found in churches, cathedrals mosques and other places of worship and contemplation.

Amid the ambient noise and bustle of public buildings, whispering walls offered the possibility for discretion and secrecy in the open. The spoken word of one person reflects and travels in a straight line to the opposite side of the parabola or elliptoid, so it is as if the words are spoken directly into the ear of another. Backen’s gently performative installation invites public activation and, as with much of her work, is infused with current technological apparatus and the possibility for mass communication within the boundaries of a private act. Bec Dean

Performance Space - Carriageworks

Construction in progress - Wed 11 April

John and Robbie - two joyous men

'Eye for an Eye' Kindness - March/April 2012

16 March 2012

16th March - 3rd April 2012 Exhibition: Kindness/Udarta India Habitat Centre, New Dehli, India Robyn Backen will participate in Kindness/Udarta, an exhibition to mark the Australia-India Year of Friendship in 2012. Curated by Dr Alka Pande and Suzanne Davies, the exhibition will open at the India Habitat Centre in New Dehli and subsequently travel to Melbourne, where it will be hosted by RMIT Gallery. + India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

Habitat Centre, New Delhi

Eye for an Eye

australia - india cultural exchange

Whispering architecture, India - Jan 2012

15 January 2012

My 2 year Austalia Council Fellowship began this January. The fellowship will allow for travel to historical whispering architecture throughout the world with a number of artworks to evolve from this research.

Gol Gumbaz - the first research site in India. This picture was taken from under the main dome in January this year. Three days of audio, video and still recording were made of this fantastic example of acoustic architecture. Gol Gumbaz is situated in Central India in the town of Bijapur. Photo Ian Hobbs.

Akbar’s Tomb - Agra is another site where the marvels of telephonic communication via the walls of a magnificent building can be experienced.

The remnant rubbings of bodies that have listened into the walls and communicated back to ‘another’ located on the diagonal corner of the room.

Sookmyung Women’s University Gallery, South Korea. November 2011

01 November 2011

SCA hosted an exhibition of work by professors from Sookmyung in July 2011

Sydney College of the Arts is embarking on a new partnership with the Sookmyung Women’s University in South Korea. To mark the official year of friendship between South Korea and Australia, SCA hosted an exhibition of work by professors from Sookmyung in July 2011. In November, SCA will hold an exhibition of work by our senior female “professors” at the Sookmyung Women’s University.

“It’s me…I’m here…Where’re are you?”

‘Backspace’ Book Launch - 12 October 2011!

12 October 2011

Book launch at Art Gallery of NSW. Selling at many bookstores: AGNSW, ARIEL, GLEEBOOKS, Kinokuniya, LAMELLA -NSW, Perimeter Books -VIC, Queensland Art Gallery - QLD or you can buy from this WEBSITE

Distribution enquiries MODERN JOURNAL Robyn Ralton 03 94848101

Designed and published by Suzanne BOCCALATTE and written by Susan Best

The book cover

'Last Word 2011' - Siteworks, Bundanon. September 2011

25 September 2011

Siteworks is an ongoing series of interactive projects focusing on the unique Bundanon properties overlooking the Shoalhaven River. It invites selected arts practitioners, scientists and scholars to meet and stay at Bundanon, responding to the site through the lens of their specific disciplines and areas of interest.

In partnership with the University Wollongong and with the support of the Arts NSW and Australia Council, Bundanon has hosted residencies and extensive site based research. The conversation this year included presentations by several of the Siteworks Associates – a group involved in ongoing Siteworks conversation.

As well as presenting at the Sunday forum the ‘Last Word 2011’ team performed by the river’s edge at dusk on Saturday 25 September 2011.

‘Last Word 2011’ In 1880 Thomas Biddulph of Eeree (Earie Park) wrote in his diary, and each day he started with a simple weather report. His observations are the basis of this work. ‘Last Word 2011’ takes the form of what could be called a river fugue or simply a collage of voices transmitted then received— beside, around and across the Shoalhaven tidal zone.

This year’s ‘Last Word’ was a collaboration with; Michelle Xen, Ian Hobbs, Neil Mackenzie, Terry Hayes, Annemaree Dalziel, Nick Keys, Richard Manner and Richard Montgomery.

Siteworks

Last Word 2011 - movie

Siteworks 2011

On the river bank