Cosmic Time

Cosmic Time considers time on a cosmological scale. Informed by historic, scientific and musical concepts such as orbital resonance and harmonic sequencing, this collaboratively devised performance work involves alternate, opposing, and intersecting rhythmic and metric schemas. Four percussionists, each appearing as a spirit from the multiverse in costumes made of rustling sheet materials, sound a sequence of eight, interwoven explorations of time and space. Resonant, pitched metallic instruments, sparkling clusters of bells and triangles, low drums, woods and tam-tam are used in combination with electronics to evoke atmospheres, sensations and rhythms scaling from the fall-out of the big bang; the endless circling of planetary forms; the fluttering heartbeats of desert mice; and the dissolve of consciousness into the astral plane.

Funded by Create NSW, Australian Research Council

Creative investigators: Michaela Gleave, Dr Louise Devenish, Amanda Cole, Kaylie Melville, Hamish Upton, Nat Grant, Katie Plummer

Premiere: 24 April 2021, TarraWarra Biennial: Slow Moving Waters

Image credit: Michaela Gleave and Silver Salt Photography