A Drone Opera | 14 – 29 March Matthew Sleeth
DATES: SATURDAY 14 March – SUNDAY 29 March 2020
VENUE: Lyon Housemuseum and Housemuseum Galleries 217-219 Cotham Rd, Kew VIC 3101
WEBSITE: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/a-drone-opera-14-29-march-t…
Melbourne, Australia: Lyon Housemuseum Galleries in Kew presents a cinematic installation of A Drone Opera by multi-disciplinary artist Matthew Sleeth. Two monumental 66-panel LED screens will be mounted on trusses and presented as sculptural objects in a dramatic evocation of a rock concert with four speaker stacks to amplify the sound. The multi-channel installation will occupy the entire central gallery of the Lyon Housemuseum Galleries – measuring 26m x 13m – and will be on show for a limited time, from 14 – 29 March. ‘A Drone Opera was always imagined as a sensory experience – for an audience to viscerally encounter often abstracted ideas like total surveillance, military violence or our fear and fetishisation of new technologies.’ Matthew Sleeth.
Exploring a narrative of desire, fear and destruction, the immersive film has been structured around the myth of Icarus as a framework to explore our complex relationship with technology. Featuring opera singers, the choreography of custom-built drones and laser set design, this uniquely seductive world becomes a poetic reflection of our anxiety surrounding surveillance. Live mapping of the space makes visible the idea the we are now all being watched - all the time - and includes excerpts from CIA FLIR footage to draw attention to the violence carried out in our names. A Drone Opera is produced by new-media artist Kate Richards with an original libretto by composer Susan Frykberg. The two week installation of A Drone Opera at Lyon Housemuseum Galleries will be accompanied by a diverse series of thought-provoking, multi-sensory and unique programs and events. Two panel discussions, titled: Surveillance Cities and Expanded Fields of View will explore our contemporary love affair with technology and the new reality of constant surveillance: how facial recognition, autonomous vehicles, and computer-aided design are changing our urban landscapes and the way we interact with one another.
On the final night of the exhibition, drummer/p
ercussionist Nat Grant, performing on two drum kits, and noise guitarist Dave Brown will activate the space with a responsive performance. The Lyon Housemuseum has a longstanding relationship with the artist Matthew Sleeth; founding patrons Corbett Lyon and Yueji Lyon have been collecting the work of Sleeth for more than a decade. This includes commissioned video art, large-scale installations and 3D printed sculptures. A Drone Opera also belongs to the permanent Lyon Collection, a 30-year Collection of contemporary Australian art. Among the other 55 artists represented in the Collection are Howard Arkley, Patricia Piccinini, Kathy Temin, Polly Borland, Brook Andrew and Callum Morton.
A Drone Opera is a co-presentation with Experimenta.
all thanks to our friends at #ArticulatePR Bohemian Rhapsody Social Club / Bohemian Rhapsody Weekly Magazine is proudly covering the 13 March media showcase (media: Andrew J Liu, Stuart Buchanan and Katherine Kelly) please stay tuned for more information