Peter Blamey is an artist based in Sydney, on Gadigal land. His practice is often sound-focussed and accomplished via an economy of means, and includes performances, videos, recordings and installations. Broadly speaking, his work explores (amongst other things) the interconnected themes of energies and residues, often through reimagining our everyday encounters with mundane materials and technologies and the physical world, and also by considering how they relate to our experiences of energy generation, use and waste.
Selected performances and exhibitions
2026
Solvent: A Fundrasier, Solvent, Annandale, NSW
2025
Stadium Rockdale, NSW
Draw Space, Enmore, NSW
NIME2025 – Entangled NIME, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT
a bell with no tongue, Sydenham International, NSW
2024
Fireworks, China Heights, Surry Hills, NSW
New North 16, Brunswick Mechanics Institute, Brunswick, Vic
Kinetic Vibrations, Verge Gallery, University of Sydney, NSW
Sounds Like, Ethan Frome, Camperdown, NSW
MMINC + SIRC_UIT, Lawson Industrial Area, Lawson, NSW
Tempe Jets, Tempe, NSW
2023
Anthropocene – Dangerous Goods, Firstdraft, Woolloomooloo, NSW
Backscatter, SCALA, Petersham, NSW
Avantwhatever Commissions launch, RMIT Black Box, Melbourne, Vic
Art Week Performance Night, SCA, University of Sydney, NSW
Ultra-Sonic, SCA Gallery, University of Sydney, NSW
Improvisations, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, NSW
2022
Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Performance Art SCA OTC, University of Sydney, NSW
Material Sound touring exhibition, Qld & NSW
Nights at Tempe, Tempe Jets, Tempe
Sounding Out, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Qld
Antoun’s Dreamfest, Red Rattler, Marrickville
2021
Material Sound touring exhibition, NSW & Tas
Material Sound performances, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2020
Arvos at Tempe #1, Tempe Jets, Tempe
Material Sound touring exhibition, NSW & Vic
005, Steep St, Katoomba
Bushfire relief fundraiser, Marrickville Golf Club
2019
Soft Pedal, Blacktown Arts Centre, Blacktown
Alpha House, Newtown
Sonic Moves XII, Halfback Books/Hall’s Books & Records, Dee Why
Energies in the Arts book launch, UNSWAD, Paddington
Radiata, Frontyard, Marrickville
Humming Grotto #1, Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham
Materials, Sounds + Black Mountain College, BMCM+AC, Asheville, USA
Radiophrenia 2019, Glasgow
Forces in Music, School of Arts and Media, UNSW, Kensington
2018
MESS Presents: Signal to Noise, Howler, Brunswick
Garageworks #2, Bankstown Arts Centre, Bankstown
Five Fertile Exchanges CD launch, Frontyard, Marrickville
Private Projects, Moonah, Hobart
Material Sound, Murray Art Museum Albury, NSW
2017
Black Mountain College Museum & Art Center, Asheville, USA
Inside #2, Paddington Town Hall, Paddington
Sounding the Future, UTS Gallery, Ultimo
The Last Bastion, Dark Mofo, SAC, Hobart
Outposts, Dark Mofo, SAC, Hobart
Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham
Ear Have Ears, FBi 94.5FM, Sydney
PHANTASMAGORIA, BCSC, Bogong Alpine Village, Victoria
The Infra, Bus Projects, Collingwood
Avantwhatever, The Alderman, Brunswick East
One Night in Tempe #2, Tempe Jets, Tempe
NOW now festival exhibition, 107 Projects, Redfern
2016
Sun Tone Harvester (with Vicky Browne), Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide
Avantwhatever festival, Triple R, Brunswick
Instrument Builders Project book launch, The Tote, Collingwood
Now Boarding, Merry Crisis, Arncliffe
Nadir LP launch, 107 Projects, Redfern
2015
2015 Finissage, Artspace, Woolloomooloo
The Infra, Firstdraft, Woolloomooloo
In Fields, 55 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville
Transductions: Energies in the Arts, Red Rattler, Marrickville
Ears Have Ears, 107 Projects, Redfern
Dorkbot at MCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
MIUC, Bar Open, Fitzroy
Live, Strange Neighbour, Fitzroy
TJ#1, Tempe Jets, Tempe
NOW now festival exhibition, SNO, Marrickville
Recently Historic #2, Gaffa, Sydney
Cementa_15 festival, Kandos, NSW
2014
Das Superpaper 33 launch, Firstdraft, Woolloomooloo
Summer Tragic festival, Real Bad Music, Moorooka, Qld
Friday Night, Metro Arts, Brisbane
Instrument Builders Project, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Liquid Architecture festival 2014, Art & Design, UNSW, Paddington
Pretty Gritty #9, 107 Projects, Redfern
Recently Historic: Australian Electronic Arts in Western Sydney, UWS Art Gallery, Werrington North
Sonic Social, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Instrument Builders Project exhibition, iCAN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Bukan Musik Biasa #39, Surakarta, Indonesia
NOW now festival, Red Rattler, Marrickville
2013
Avantwhatever, The Alderman, Brunswick East
Earth Sound Earth Signal book launch, COFA, UNSW
Tin Shed Spots #4, Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney
1/4 Inch, Yours & Owls, Wollongong
Night Depot#3, ISEA2013, Firstdraft Depot, Woolloomooloo
Cementa_13 festival, Kandos, NSW
NOW now festival, Red Rattler, Marrickville
2012
SNO 89 group show, SNO, Marrickville
Forage CD launch, Monkey, North Fitzroy
Gap Year group show, Artspace, Woolloomooloo
Forage CD launch, AV Union, Leichhardt
Dorkbot Sydney group show, Serial Space, Chippendale
NOW now festival exhibition, Hardware Gallery, Enmore
2011
Sound Series #20, Hardware Gallery, Enmore
What is Music? festival, Cockatoo Island
filet électronique/island, ICAN, Camperdown
High Reflections, Red Rattler, Marrickville
NOW now festival, Red Rattler, Marrickville
2010
Sound Series #8, Hardware Gallery, Enmore
Superdeluxe@Artspace, Bienale of Sydney
2009
Saturated electronics in situ, Serial Space, Chippendale
Residencies
Artist in Residence, School of Creative Arts, University of Tasmania, 2018
Naturestrip residency, Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, Bogong, Vic., 2016
Instrument Builders Project residency, iCAN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2014
Serial Space residency, Serial Space, Chippendale, 2011
Infinite Music Machine residency, West Space, Melbourne, 2009
Citations
Stefania Caliandro, Vibration, Esthétiques et théorie de l’art, Hermann, 2026, 190–191
Monika Lubińska, “Od rozproszenia do materializacji,” Er(r)go 44 (2022), 57–73
Alex Nathanson, A History of Solar Power Art and Design, Routledge, 2021, 134–135
Gail Priest, “Sound Theaters of the 21st Century: Material Functions and Voltaic Performativities,” Sound Stage Screen 1, no. 2 (2021), 129–131
Ann Finegan, “Material Sound,” Artlink, Nov 2020
Douglas Kahn, “Energy Field Performance: Peter Blamey,” in Energies in the Arts, ed. Douglas Kahn, MIT Press, 2019, 397–421
Caleb Kelly, “Materials of Sound: Sound As (More Than) Sound,” Journal of Sonic Studies 16 (2018)
Emily Stewart, “Sounding the Future: Towards New Sound Ecologies,” RealTime, 27 September 2017
Shota Matsumura, “Instigating and Observing,” Harbour, 2017
Jim Denley, “Instruments, Unstruments,” Resonance, Dec 2014
Tully Arnot & Peter Blamey, “Unexplored Functions/Everyday Objects,” Das Superpaper 33, Nov 2014, 56–61
Renne R.A Kawilaran, “Seniman RI-Australia Kerja Sama Ciptakan Alat Musik,” Viva News, Indonesia, 15 April 2014
Douglas Kahn, Earth Sound Earth Signal, University of California Press, 2013, 238–239
Sally Pittman, “Gap Year,” Das Platforms, 15 Oct 2012
Julien Héraud, “Peter Blamey – Forage,” improv sphere, 13 Oct 2012
Lisa Thatcher, “Forage: The Sound of Kafkas Burrow,” Lisa Thatcher, 8 Oct 2012
Dan MacKinlay, “Delicate Detritus,” RealTime #104, Aug–Sept 2011
PETER BLAMEY 