PACT Presents… Sydney Fringe 2014
Image: Bodyscapes by Mary Mainsbridge. Photo: Melanie Russell, Unicorn Studios
The final week of Sydney Fringe will host an array of local artists from across the country. PACT Centre for Emerging Artists has announced a line-up of talent that includes interactive music, fire-based circus performances, live poetics and a ‘drag-tastic’ fashionista theatre.
The centre provides artistic programs to support upcoming artists working in experimental and interdisciplinary forms. Musician Mary Mainsbridge will experiment with motion-controlled music in Bodyscapes: “I’ll be using a sensor to pick up motions, which will control physical modelling instruments,” she says, “It’s a type of synthesis that models real world sounds. We’re choosing to model string sounds with apex joints on a skeleton controlling virtual strings so the body essentially becomes an instrument.”
Mainsbridge has been exploring this theme as part of her PhD at UTS: “I’ve always been involved in live experimental music, as a vocalist and a keyboardist I felt I needed to be able to unite those two, the physical nature of performing vocals doesn’t always fit in with laptop performance so I’ve looked for ways to bridge that.”
The space provided by PACT will work well with her performance, she says: “I’m so happy that they’ve embraced the experimental aspect of the work. It’s hard to find places to perform, PACT embraces experimental media and provide the support for you to put a production on and go into the space and rehearse.” (GF)
Bodyscapes, Sep 24-27, PACT Theatre, 107 Railway Pde, Erskineville, $15-27 (PACT Fringe multipass), pact.net.au
