Only Above: Jules Reidy and Ivan Chang Explore Sound & Space at Art Gallery of NSW

“As we move, feel free to move with us. As you listen, feel free to look away.” Author/performer Ivan Chang gave these instructions on the afternoon of January 7th like a yoga instructor welcoming a class to their studio. And beside him, with a twelve-string guitar strapped over their shoulder and laptop held open at the ready, Jules Reidy prepared to perform.

A small congregation of audience members huddled before this duo on the periphery of the exhibition space in the Art Gallery of NSW’s Naala Badu building. Behind us, on coloured walls floating through the large room were artworks of startling contrast. A statue of a clown lay on its back staring at the sky. A cove of outrageous abstract paintings shouted with glee.

A row of elegant wooden boxes stuck quietly to a wall.

Alongside other artworks from the donated Kaldor collection, arranged in a space designed by renowned German architect Thomas Demand, this collection composed the Kaldor Public Art Project 38: Object Lesson. And this afternoon, Berlin-based musician/composer Jules Reidy – collaborating with old friend Ivan Chang – was to perform an interpretation of their composition inspired by this exhibition: Only Above.

The key to this performance – like the artwork through the exhibition – lay in its audacious diversity. As processed guitar progressions and field recordings began to cycle through the amp at Reidy’s feet, and the musician in turn began to weave their fingers through the frets of their acoustic guitar, Chang took centre stage, and with a comical sternness, launched into a monologue of wild absurdity.

At first – as is the case with any spoken word performance – audience members were drawn to Chang’s words. And for a while, we attempted to hold onto their meaning. Yet, as intended and as previously instructed, while topic drifted into topic we began to look away. We looked out the floor-to ceiling window to the wilting summer afternoon. We watched a beam of light shoot from the large spotlight projector in the corner, lighting up the body of Reidy’s guitar as they slowly moved toward it. Or we studied the extravagant colourful artwork hanging behind the duo.

Then, breaking us from this trance, Chang paused. Reidy momentarily surrendered their guitar. In the silence, the musician fished a harmonica from their pocket and playing short notes on the instrument slowly left the stage and disappeared into the exhibition.

The sharp notes were as if a beacon for the audience to follow. And hesitantly, with murmurs of confusion we gradually left our seats and obliged – until the beacon stopped and we were left drifting, lost through the space.

From then on, the performers moved freely around the exhibition. At times Chang would redirect the spotlight, focusing on a different section where the two would remain for a while.

Other times they drifted apart, both moving untethered through different parts of the room.

Sparkling electronic arrangements spilled from Reidy’s amp, which – on a small cart – Chang eventually began to theatrically roll through the space.

Meanwhile, the guitarist would swap between connecting their instrument to the amp or to a transmitter projecting their gentle plucking through overhead speakers throughout the room. The movement of sound gave the music an almost spectral quality, enhanced by the continuous ethereal monologue from Chang.

As we became increasingly comfortable with moving through the exhibition and not so fixated on watching the performers, the genius of the act began to shine. Like the exhibition itself, there was no specific focus to the performance beyond its interaction with the space. The freedom and fluidity meant that as an audience we were allowed to explore it and interact with it on our own terms – the final product changed based on the intent and perspective of each audience member.

In a room full of such diverse artwork, Reidy and Chang had perfectly interpreted the essence of the exhibition with a unique and enlightened collaboration between words, visual art, design, and sound.

Reidy and Chang will perform Only Above twice more on the 10th and 11th of January.