The Sound of Place; Environmental Artworks at Bundanon.

This essay by Nigel Helyer and John Potts listens to the sound of place: of Bundanon, a three thousand acre property in the Shoalhaven river valley in rural NSW, Australia. Bundanon is today an artists’ colony and education centre, following the gift to the Australian people in 1993 of the entire property—including homestead, artist studio and extensive collection of art works—by its previous owner, the Modernist painter Arthur Boyd. Every year, 300 artists take advantage of the artist residency program, living in rustic isolation at Bundanon while working on art projects in all forms and media. This essay considers four artworks made at Bundanon by the artist Nigel Helyer: Milk and Honey, Biopod versions 1 and 2, and Heavy Metal. Each of these installation works was first exhibited onsite at Bundanon, before their inclusion in an exhibition in 2017 entitled Landscape/Portrait: An exploration of the Shoalhaven River Valley. Each work has an audio component; the essay focuses on the role of sound in evoking aspects of place in these artworks.

Read the full paper here: The Sound of Place- Environmental Artworks at Bundanon (Soundscape)