Artists

• Five commissioned artworks, an exhibition and residency by Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano, working in collaboration with cinematographer Tim Metherall and composer James Brown.

The five videos in Hidden Spaces, Ready Stages depict the artists enacting simple, repetitive gestures and using objects to perform in place of their bodies.

In one film, a hand-held spotlight traces the cavernous contours of a machine room, and in another, a square of cardboard is effortlessly choreographed by an updraft.

With cinematographer Tim Metherall, the Manganos shot their works using only available light. Tracking the artists’ movement within each space, the camera tilted and rotated, disrupting our point of view to convey the vertigo induced by the proportions and aural density of the setting.

With composer James Brown, the artists created a sonic composition orchestrated from recordings of the machinic din, which built and subsided, synced and dispersed alongside the five video channels.

From a sonic, filmic and choreographic perspective, the arts centre itself emerged as a protagonist. The pulse and hum of generators and air-conditioning units, the movement of liquids and gases pumping through the veins of the complex were life forces that mingled with the physical intervention of the artists. Pipes, ducts and passageways became scenography and sculpture, as the camera zoomed through a maze of utile forms.

The exhibition mirrored the experience of inhabiting the arts centre’s subterranean cavities. The impromptu space occupied by the exhibition shared the same aesthetic. The functional infrastructure and darkened volumes of the filmed habitat determined the design.

Sound and vision were used to construct a powerfully visceral portrait of the building’s inner workings. The architecture was inverted and animated.

The rhythmic pulse and oscillating drones of the soundtrack enveloped the exhibition to bind all five works into an immersive whole.

For two months, the artists occupied various locations deep within the core of this iconic performing arts complex: plant and control rooms, light wells and tunnels. Unlike the theatrical venues and public meeting places above ground, these utilitarian spaces were designed to remain unseen.

Drawn to the sensory overload of this hidden world, the artists selected four locations in which to record intuitive, site-specific performances that responded to the particular qualities of each environment. They tuned into the rhythm and myriad forces of the site.

Throughout the residency period, audiences were invited to engage with the creative process by following online posts containing photographs and audio recordings, which the artists gathered as they explored and determined their approach.

Examining the elements of light, air, sound, concrete and colour, this evolving archive of audio-visual material informed the nature and aesthetic of the commissioned works and exhibition.