Dominic Kavanagh Edens Hollow

thanks to Anna Pappas gallery for this interview 

 

How did the idea of the installation come about?

 

The idea behind Eden's Hollow is connected to an expanding body of work that investigates the notion of urban/industrial ruin as a sculptural phenomenon. Eden's Hollow like my previous installations is site specific, thus it responds to the gallery space on a variety of levels.  

 

It seems to talk about decay as well as rejuvenation. 

 

Certainly, I'm am interested in the tensions and the paradoxes between decay and rejuvenation and how they can be interpreted sculpturally. Similarly my work is inspired by ambiguous structures encountered in the urban landscape that can be read as both unfinished an dilapidated.

 

The dripping of the water in the gallery adds a different dimension.  Did you think about how the water would sound?

 

Engineering running water activates the installation by adding movement and sound to the experience and in turn augments the overall aesthetic. The sound also references the elements we take for granted in our experience of the exterior landscape.   

 

The piece reminds me of the outskirts of Melbourne where some things are being demolished and rebuilt, did you have a particular place in mind when you did the piece?

 

I'm never thinking of one particular place when creating these installations. Each material/object in the work carries an imprint of the place from which it was sourced. Although subliminal, this 'imprint of place' does inform to some extent how I compose the installation. Thus, the end result is often an interpreted or imagined location inspired by a variety of landscapes. 

 

You did a sound performance for the piece.  What did it involve and what was the final performance like?

 

I wanted to explore the sonic potential of the installation. I brought a variety of musical electronic equipment into the space for the performance which included transducer pickups, microphones, looping and effects pedals. This equipment allowed me to capture and build a textural cacophony of groaning, scratching, grinding sounds. The water also played a part in this soundscape. I like to imagine I was awakening or conjuring an abhorrent ruinous creature lain dormant until now.  https://youtu.be/S2ASOCTElaw