Bring in 2016 with lip plopping and tongue clocking

Bring in 2016 with a lip plopping and tongue clocking exhibition

From 16 January to 28 February the Ashburton Art Gallery will become a human instrument archive with Bodytok Quintet: The Human Instrument Archive project. The exhibition is based around the idea of the human instrument, a collection of recordings of the unique sounds people can produce using only their bodies. The results range from surprising and comical to quirky, enlightening and entertaining.

Bodytok Quintet began in 2005 when Auckland artist and musician Phil Dadson started documenting the body as an instrument and continues to do so as an ongoing project. Now with about 50 participants the project includes a diverse range of performers, rhythms and styles of noisemaking. Dadson says these sounds include “lip plopping, tongue clocking, whistle warbling, finger crackling, hip clicking, skin slapping and throat gurgling.” The sounds reflect "the endless invention of the human instrument", he said.

The show's interactive software design was undertaken by a collaborating artist, James Charlton, who is senior lecturer at Auckland University of Technology. This technology allows the audience to activate the five large monitors included in the exhibition creating a dialogue between on-screen performers and viewers. This dialogue provides explanation for the title of the project with the word ‘bodytok’ being derived from a Melanesian pidgin term, toktok, meaning ‘to have a conversation’.

Bodytok Quintet opens to the public on Saturday 16 January at 12pm. As part of the opening formalities there will be a light lunch followed by an artist talk by Phil Dadson. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this interactive orchestra.

Bodytok Quintet runs from 16th January 2016 to 28th February 2016.

ENDS

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