When Bertha Sings

When Bertha Sings
Christine White and Jason Wright

We are the music makers... and we are the dreamers of dreams." - Willy Wonka

Bertha and her buddies are the true music-makers at Kapiti's 'Most Amazing Chocolate Factory' - but sonic artists Christine White and Jason Wright will be there for a week in February to give them a bit of a hand.

Bertha, Twiggy, One Shot,Tank One and Tank Two, Tom, Shirley and R2D2 are just some of the family of machines responsible for storing, heating, mixing, pouring and wrapping the chocolate treats you will love to love. Christine White, a self-confessed chocolate addict and a big fan of the Factory's products, first came to know of these machines in 2008.

'I started to ask questions about what happened behind the scenes. I was imagining the sound world behind the shopfront. I wanted to know more about the Factory from a sonic point of view, not just from tasting their delicious wares!' Through many visits 'out the back', she recorded the clack and ring of stainless steel, the rattling of a mixing cup at high speed, the sticky slurp of foil being stretched into place, and the whirr of fridges and stirring blades. She also heard snippets of human conversation: someone talking about the horses she wanted to own; someone else offering help to lay a pavement; stories of moving to the Kapiti Coast from a faraway homeland, Romania.The resulting sound work, which blended all these audio snippets against the solid industrial backdrop of the machines themselves, was called 'Dark'.

This time around, Christine and Jason take the sonic experimentation to another level. The sounds of the machines will be broadcast live into and around the venue and the shopfront, rather than being captured and composed later.

'The whole factory will become a sound installation for the machines it houses, and the stories of the people who work with them. In a way, we're unwrapping not just the chocolate, but everything that goes into the making of it, using live sound and pre-recorded materials as a medium.' And yes, Christine says, audiences will also be able to taste the delicious results of all the machines' hard work. There will be chocolate available to sample and buy!

Saturday 23rd February - Sunday 3rd March 12 - 2 pm (not including Friday 1st March)
The Most Amazing Chocolate Factory, cnr State Highway 1 and Raumati Road, Paraparaumu (parking at the end of Lorien Court)
Koha / Donation
Chocolates for sale - EFTPOS available

ENDS

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