At PICA we recognise that we are situated within the unceded lands of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation. We pay our respects and offer our gratitude to Elders past and present, and to those emerging leaders in the community. We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the importance of their care and continued connection to culture, community and Country.

Always was, always will be.

Galleries are open today, 10am–5pm. Our exhibitions are always free.

Everywhen
Matthias Schack-Arnott

Everywhen – Matthias Schack-Arnott

WA Premiere

Everywhen is ‘visually and sonically exquisite.’ — The Guardian

A lone performer sits on the stage surrounded by dozens of objects in perpetual motion. From the tiny to the massive, this whirlpool of floating sounds forms a percussive swarm of gongs and chimes, while concentric circles of organic matter accumulate below. This teeming turbulence gives rise to a dizzying aural experience revealing the power of cyclic motion in sound.

Melbourne-based percussive artist Matthias Schack-Arnott has carved out a unique space in contemporary music-making, developing entirely new instrumental set-ups and collaborating with thinkers from fields as diverse as architecture and engineering. For Everywhen he has worked with designer Keith Tucker of Megafun to create an immersive rotational lighting system and musical collaborator Tilman Robinson to create cyclic patterns in sound. Gongs play themselves as they spin through the space, suspended chimes hum as they ricochet off each other, shells vibrate as they hover through the air and sheets of metal roar as they float in orbital trajectories.

A constantly shifting canopy of sound evoking ritual geometries, subatomic motion and planetary orbits, Everywhen is music from outside of time. Join Matthias Schack-Arnott at PICA for this intricate and mesmerising sonic journey.

Duration: 50 minutes

Everywhen Dates

Tuesday 21 February | 7pm
Wednesday 22 February | 7pm
Thursday 23 February | no sessions
Friday 24 February | 7pm
Saturday 25 February | 2pm & 7pm

Concept, Composer & Performer – Matthias Schack-Arnott
Sound Designer & Collaborator – Tilman Robinson
Robotics, Speaker Construction & Collaborator – Nick Roux
Lighting Designer & Technical Director – Keith Tucker
Producer – Michaela Coventry (Sage Arts) 

Matthias Schack-Arnott

Matthias Schack-Arnott is an Australian artist, composer and percussionist whose works span live performance, public art and installation. Over the last decade he has been building unique kinetic systems to create visceral and visually compelling sound worlds. Described by The Guardian as ‘visually and sonically exquisite’, Matthias’ works have been presented by major festivals and contemporary art spaces including Sydney Festival, Melbourne Festival, Adelaide Festival, RISING Festival (Melbourne), Supersense Festival of the Ecstatic (Melbourne), Dark Mofo, Arts House (Melbourne), The Unconformity (Tasmania), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, La Comete (France), Spor Festival (Denmark), The Substation (Melbourne) and the National Gallery of Victoria.

From 2010–18 Matthias was the Artistic Associate of Australia’s leading percussive arts organisation, Speak Percussion. He continues to have a close affiliation with the organisation. As a collaborator, interpreter and improviser, Matthias has worked with many leading musicians including Steve Reich, Claire Chase, Unsuk Chin, Valerio Tricoli, John Zorn, Liza Lim and Steven Schick. Matthias has also created new works with some of Australia’s most celebrated choreographers. He co-created ‘They Want New Language’ with Antony Hamilton in 2017 for La Comete (France) and recently collaborated with Lucy Guerin to create a large-scale interdisciplinary work commissioned by RISING Festival in association with the National Gallery of Victoria.


Supporters

Presented in association with Perth Festival

 

 

 

Image: Matthias Schack-Arnott, Everywhen, Dark Mofo 2022