Son et lumiere (sound and light) shows have become a popular form of entertainment in Sydney in recent years, largely through the influence of successive mid winter Vivid Festivals curated by Brian Eno, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Vivid's primary creative medium is light and the program has seen projections on the Opera House, buildings along Macquarie Street, lightworks on the harbour waters, recreations of burning ships and many other permutations of the dramatic use of light and sound. Following this family friendly trend in programming, Sydney Festival is currently presenting its own son et lumiere, Power Plant, located in the Chinese Garden of Friendship, Darling Harbour.
UK Producer Simon Chatterton has adapted Power Plant to the Sydney site following a successful run at last year's Edinburgh Festival. The project assembles the work of artists Mark Anderson, Anne Bean, Jony Easterby, Kirsten Reynolds and Ulf Pedersen in the evocative nocturnal setting of the Chinese Gardens, a place of meandering paths, impressive pagodas, water features and exotic plants all imbued with Chinese symbolism and iconography. The formal design of the garden provides the ideal location for a journey through the beautiful, strange and intriguing world of Power Plant. There are no actors or interpretive staff, no explanatory signage other than a hand held map that can't be read in the low light conditions, so the audience is left to wander and puzzle over the technical ingenuity of the artists.
The experience is reminiscent of a museum meander in which the means of producing the effects of light and sound are as enthralling as the effects themselves. Trees hung with with exquisite glass bell 'flowers' chime in mechanised unison, each tree set to a slightly different pitch to the next and set to sound in sequence as the audience progresses along the path.
Early phonographs scratching over inhospitable surfaces create sounds that are then filtered, treated and dispersed across the garden. Water dripping into bowls. A vivid display of mini LED wheels set against a rockery, spinning in an array of fluorescent colours. A ghostly setting of illuminated floral dresses set in a thicket. A bowl filled with flowers and snails is carefully rotated by the artist under the eye of a video camera that projects a kind of slomo, molluscan ballet. Every 'exhibit' is expertly rendered and endlessly fascinating.
Power Plant is an experience for people of all ages but care should be taken when negotiating the low light levels and uneven surfaces that are part of the journey. It's great fun, great value, aesthetically beautiful and wondrously puzzling, and as it is held in Chintatown so you can go for dinner afterwards. Thoroughly recommended.
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