Artist Statement
In On the Precipice of Forgetting II and Go with the Flow, Robyn Backen continues her exploration of acoustic architectures, reimagining the SA 1920s parabolic concrete dam wall across two sister artworks. Transformed through 3D modelling, the dam wall remains a site for transmission and listening. This structure evolves beyond architecture, becoming a conduit for fragmented conversations. One takes the form of a poetic reverie, while the other is reinterpreted through an AI-generated translation. Both works invite close listening at the surface, within, and beside the wall space. In a time of destabilisation, the works reflect on how everyday speech can serve as a cipher for disempowered voices, emphasising the poetics of fractured perception and the politics of forgetting.
