Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Four new site-specific artworks – by renowned Sydney-based sound artists Chris Caines and Gail Priest, and experimental, multi-disciplinary artists David Haines and Joyce Hinterding – premiere at a secret Sydney WWII site.

Using cutting edge audio technology, the artists created surround soundscapes for a massive decommissioned military fuel tank hidden in Mosman: a unique space with extraordinary acoustics. Built for the Australian Navy at Georges Heights, the T5 Camouflage Tank is one of the most remarkable secret relics of Australia’s WWII infrastructure. Completed in 1942 and designed to deceive Japanese reconnaissance aircraft, the huge fuel oil tank – 35m in diameter and 7m high – was a key link in the military supply chain.

Now restored, the T5 Tank provides artists with a unique canvas and extraordinary acoustic possibilities for a site-specific sound and performance project that immerses the listener in a moving, sometimes overwhelming, sonic response to this extraordinary site, its dark history and its myriad possibilities.

You can experience the T5 Tank Sound Project in two ways either at the ticketed live performance on Sun 20 January, or dropping in from 23–27 January to experience the recorded soundscape in this unique venue.

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (02) 8248 6500 or by email to mail@sydneyfestival.org.au

Featured artists

• Performance/sound art by Gail Priest
• Performance/sound art by Chris Caines