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
2024
Tempe Jets, Tempe, NSW.
MMINC + SIRC_UIT, Lawson Industrial Area, Lawson, NSW.
2023
Anthropocene – Dangerous Good, 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.
2020
Arvos at Tempe #1, Tempe Jets, Tempe.
Material Sound touring exhibition, NSW & Vic.
005, Steep St, Katoomba.
Fire 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, NC, 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, NC, 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.
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, The 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, The 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, The Red Rattler, Marrickville.
NOW now festival, The 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
Gail Priest, “Sound Theaters of the 21st Century: Material Functions and Voltaic Performativities,” Sound Stage Screen 1, no. 2 (2021), 129–31.
Alex Nathanson, A History of Solar Power Art and Design, Routledge, 2021, 134–5.
Ann Finegan, “Material Sound,” Artlink, Nov 2020.
Douglas Kahn, “Energy Field Performance: Peter Blamey,” in Douglas Kahn (ed.), Energies in the Arts, 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, 238–39.
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, 08 Oct 2012.
Dan MacKinlay, “Delicate Detritus”, RealTime #104, Aug-Sept 2011.
PETER BLAMEY 