Trans(port)(l)ation began in 2006 and has been presented across Europe, Asia and the United States. The project takes timetables of public transport and transposes them onto paper scores for music boxes.
For this exhibition, van Horrik and Dubach turned their attention to the public transport of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Three music boxes are installed in the gallery space, each corresponding to a different set of routes. Visitors are invited to play them by hand at their own pace; when played together, the simultaneous performances realise the aleatoric intentions of the work.
The first score draws on 12 tracks formed by bus lines 32, 66, 74, 298 and 782, and the Sylvia Park train station – routes that converge near where van Horrik’s sister lives. The second score comprises 20 tracks across lines 11T+W, 18, 105, 195, 209, 252/253, 30, 295, 966 and 866, all stopping near Poynton Terrace. Together, these two scores map a journey – in real time, imaginatively and in sound – between Sylvia Park and the Audio Foundation. The third score transposes ferry timetables.
Alongside the music box scores, each timetable has been transposed onto paper with coloured dots, overlaid in multiple configurations to make audible the inaudible: a visualisation of sound as movement through the city.
That Trans(port)(l)ation arrives at this moment feels apt as the largest public transport infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history nears completion. After decades of planning, false starts and delay, the CRL promises to transform the way the city moves. The scale and effect of its integration into the way Auckland feels and moves remains to be seen. In a city long built around the car one hopes this belated reorientation will align with values which the Trans(port)(l)ation project has always understood – public transport not merely as utility but as social choreography, a score already being played, waiting to be heard.
Previous presentations have included Sanat Limanı, Istanbul (2010); the AC Institute, New York (2011); and the Museum of Modern Art, Olomouc (2023).
Opens: Wednesday 5 August, 5.30pm, with refreshments by Liberty Breweries
Hours: 12 – 4pm, Wednesday – Saturday
Closes: Saturday 19 September
Related events: 1. Friday 7 August, 8pm Concert Mario van Horrik & Petra Dubach: Table Piece Neil Feather: Invented instruments Kristian Larsen & Adam Ben-Dror: Improvised electronic music
More info: here
2.
Saturday 8 August, 4pm
Saturday Winter series #10
Johnny Chang (violin), Alexander Pilchen (violin) and Mario van Horrik (electric guitar) perform graphic scores derived from Public Transportation timetables.
More info: here
3.
Sunday 9 August, 2pm
Music For 106
Dutch artists Mario van Horrik and Petra Dubach present a subtle, site-specific performance for music box aboard Auckland Transport’s 106 bus. Departing the city and looping through Freeman’s Bay before returning to its starting point, the performance unfolds quietly amid the everyday motion of the route.
RSVP essential — email sam@audiofoundation.org.nz with the names of all attending.
More info: here