Melbourne Zoo (Fragments)

Sound work, stereo, 11 minutes, 2013

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Listening within a Zoo is an auditory experience complicated and characterised by interactions between architecture, conservation, captivity, entertainment, education and cultural tradition. Animal life under observation is a focal point, but how a visitor listens is mediated by the sonic affects, spectatorships and power dynamics that intersect within this context.

Employing walking as a compositional device and mobilising the listener’s perspective in this work, Melbourne Zoo (Fragments) is a sonic geography tracing the pathways and perimeters of a zoological garden, its ground and enclosures. 

The work was presented in the Now Hear This listening program, as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2013-2014.

I acknowledge the Kaurna People as the traditional owners of the unceded land on which I live and work. I pay my respect to their elders past, present and emerging.

© 2024 Byron Dean

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