MEDIA RELEASE
19 September 2006

5 4 3 2 1: Auckland Artist Projects

Auckland Art Gallery comes alive this Sunday as two percussionists perform improvised music on an installation by artist Sam Morrison.

Morrison’s An Activation creates a musical instrument out of the gallery, transforming its walls and recesses into resonating acoustic chambers.

Percussionist Chris O’Connor is a legend in the improvised music scene who has performed with Don McGlashan, Trinity Roots, Surfing USSR, and Cloudboy.

James Pinker has a long and diverse history in electronic and multicultural music, ranging from recordings with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Holiwater Project, to playing in local post-punk groups The Superettes, The Features and Fetus Productions before joining SPK and then Dead Can Dance.

This performance – their first together - is part of a series of sound projects curated by Andrew Clifford for the exhibition 5 4 3 2 1: Auckland Artist Projects.

Clifford says Morrison’s installation recalls the work of artist Alvin Lucier, whose seminal Music on a Long Thin Wire was shown at Auckland Art Gallery in 1984.

Lucier’s work will be discussed by composer James Gardner - a Concert FM broadcaster and director of Auckland’s only professional contemporary music ensemble 175 East, in a public talk at 1pm before the performance at 3pm.

ENDS