Ben Pyne is interested in forming work where the label ‘viewer’ becomes obsolete and is replaced by the term ‘participant’. The idea that one no longer simply views a work, but experiences it through multiple senses and modes of perception — from physical to conceptual, are activated in his immersive installation. His practice is concerned with the physicality of sound — the haptic qualities that sound and noise possess. Sound is created by physical contact between two surfaces — it is a synesthetic combination of radiance and contact. In his work, sound is amplified and abstracted, converted into unperceivable digital information and then re-converted into some other form of perceivable phenomena — how a sound feels rather that what it represents.

Concurrent with Ben Pyne’s exhibition ‘Axis’ we present video works by Sam Hamilton in the screening room.

Sam Hamilton is a New Zealand born inter-disciplinary artist who, when not working on projects abroad, lives in the beloved sovereign state of K’rd, Auckland, New Zealand. Sam is mostly known for his music. His background in sound art, experimental music, performance and composition have led to a practice that now borders the spheres of ‘popular’ music. His recent work has indulged in the simpler, intrinsically enjoyable magic of making fun.
Sam is also known for his work using experimental film and video. He has presented with the on-going expanded cinema project The Parasitic Fantasy Band, which has presented live film works throughout Australia, USA and Germany. Sam has also produced stand-alone films and video works both with the Parasitic Fantasy Band as well as under his own name.

The Works:

“The Sovereignty of our Rebellious Love”
– This film is a tribute to the position altruism has played in the development of human cultural evolution.
– filmed 2011 in Puget Sound, Olympia, Washington, USA.
“The Dark Side of Pop Magic”
– An hour long Hollywood conspiracy black magic styled minuture adaptation of the mirror experiments conducted by Bryon Gyson and William S Burroughs in the Parisian Beat Hotel in the 1950’s replacing the conventional mirror with my beloved jacket covered in disco-ball mirror bits in an attempt to see beyond the walls of base reality, connect with my pop-disco-shaman alter-ego and steal the essence of Whitney Houston’s spirit to take control of the global pop psyche with.