2016

In Spill a large cone-shaped pendulum swings through the space, gently spilling out 20 kilos of rice grains. The solo performer humbly offers bowls, temple bells, rice paper and other sounding materials to produce delightfully unexpected rhythms. Created for Vanessa Tomlinson and premiered at Melbourne’s “Big West Festival” (2007), Spill is a work that explores my ongoing interest in percussion and kinetic sculpture. In an earlier example, Strings Attached (1999), six performers use nylon ropes to create massive visual wave patterns.

"...inventive percussionists like Vanessa Tomlinson (see Spill...) signal a regrowth of the experimental impulse within mainstream percussion playing." - Steve Schick, from The Farthest Place:  the music of John Luther Adams.

 

Created with support from Arts Queensland and the Incinerator.

Premiered by Vanessa Tomlinson at the Big West Festival,

1 December 2007.