rare earth magnets, string, fishing reel, transistor radios, electromagnetic coils, roof vent, clamp, foot pump, bellows
Rare Earth Orbits is a performance work that grew out of some basic questions as to what the simplest ways to produce an electrical current might be. It explores rotational energies, radio noise, and the performative possibilities of hand-generated electrical activity. As such, it occupies a space between making new signals on the one hand, and interfering with existing signals on the other.
Rare earth magnets are spun in several ways — dangling from a piece of string, attached to either side of a fishing reel, or stuck to the vanes of a roof vent — and moved over and around electromagnetic coils to produce electrical pulses and constant tones, as well as conveying some mechanical sounds by induction. These sounds meet with pulsing noises produced when the magnets are spun near and around AM radios set off station, where they rhythmically block the incoming signal.
Energies in the Arts book launch, Black Box, UNSW A+D, 12 Sept 2019. Photo: Lindsay Kelley.
“Hand/Clamp,” Peter Blamey, Rare Earth Orbits, 2020.
PETER BLAMEY 