Notable Serenity Chris Hargreaves

In this new sculptural sound installation by Auckland-based artist Chris Hargreaves, Notable Serenity, participants are invited to visually and audibly contemplate an experimental composition that describes our geographic home in the South Pacific. Consisting of a quartet of speakers surrounding a central “conductor”. Each speaker plays a discrete channel of the audio as individual parts combined together to complete the ensemble. Viewers are confronted by the discordant narration of the audio which conveys descriptive aspects of geography. These narratives, borrowed from scientific texts, are defined in musical terms as: Soprano (Clouds), Alto (Resource Management Act), Tenor (Geology) and Bass (Tectonics). While Notable Serenity may be intended as a tool for considering our physical environment, it also serves as a reminder that it is beneficial to get lost occasionally in contemplation.

Click to download the exhibition text (PDF)

Click to view video documentation (Vimeo)

Chris Hargreaves was born in 1981. In 2003 he graduated from UNITEC with a Bachelor of Design (Sculpture) (Hons). He lives and works in Auckland and regularly exhibits throughout New Zealand. Additional text from Matt Blomeley.

Presented alongside Caroline McQuarrie Artifact and Karl Chitham and Dr Jack Ross Fallen Empire: the Museum of True History