Susan Hawkins' cathedral of sound

Working between Sydney and Brisbane, Susan Hawkins’ practice spans sculpture, object and sound-based practice. She uses reclaimed industrial and domestic objects and incorporates motors and sound to create sculptures and installations for both art galleries and the public realm. She is interested in how these objects reference forgotten symbolic power while playfully altering them to highlight the symbolic bias of our personal and public surroundings.

Originally from Gunnedah, NSW, Hawkins completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Queensland College of Art in 2014 with a double major in Sculpture, Jewellery and Small Objects. She has presented four major solo exhibitions: Make of Me, Blindside, Melbourne, 2016; The Remainder, Metro Arts Residency Program, Brisbane, 2017; The Speaker, Outer Space Artist Run Initiative, Brisbane, 2019; and Considering Space, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, 2019. Hawkins has also presented work through Brisbane’s people+artist+place at Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane, 2019, for Metro Arts as part of  Brisbane City Council’s Temporary Public Art program.

In 2020, Hawkins received funding from Arts Queensland and was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW Moya Dyring Studio Residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.

This conversation took place in March 2021 on the occasion of Susan’s Firstdraft exhibition The Perceiving of Sound.

Interview by Hannah Jenkins, Co-Director, Firstdraft, 2020–21.

Susan Hawkins.

Hannah Jenkins: I am fascinated by this épinette des Vosges – an instrument I had never heard of! How did you learn about this? And what in particular drew you to it?

Susan Hawkins: When I was thinking about applying for the Art Gallery of NSW Moya Dyring Studio at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, I started to research instruments made in France. I became aware of Mirecourt, a commune in the Vosges department in the country’s northeastern region, where instrument makers there make it their life's work to uphold the tradition of making the épinette des Vosges. While there I spent a couple of days recording the life in a day of the instrument makers of Mirecourt – they were very generous in allowing me to spend that time in their studio.

Susan Hawkins, The Remainder, 2017, installation view, Metro Arts, Brisbane. Photo: Llewellyn Millhouse. Courtesy the artist

“I became aware of Mirecourt, a commune in the Vosges department in the country’s northeastern region, where instrument makers there make it their life’s work to uphold the tradition of making the épinette des Vosges”

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

HJ: How would you describe the sound mark of Paris, where you spent your residency, as opposed to the sound mark of Sydney, where this show is being held?

SH: Well, coincidentally there are some very significant similarities. In Paris I spent time in Cathedrals, recording bells and the church organs. On arriving at Firstdraft I couldn’t believe the sound of the bells coming from St Mary’s Cathedral (you can view the top of the cathedral from the doorway of my installation), especially on a Sunday. In Paris, the sounds of protest and sirens were plentiful.

HJ: Tell us more about how this assemblage of objects and sound came together for this particular installation.

SH: Following on from my visit to the instrument makers Condi Jean-Claude in Mirecourt, I also visited the Musée de la musique | Philharmonie de Paris – there I was drawn to the volume of their collection of timber instruments, the building that housed them, and the soundscape of Paris around my studio. I was also intrigued by the restrained colour palette of the buildings undergoing restoration in the inner city.

“ In Paris, the sounds of protest and sirens were plentiful.”

Instruments in the Cite de la Musique, Paris,lle-de-France. Courtesy the artist.

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

HJ: The Perceiving of Sound really succeeds in creating a bubble in which the materiality of generated sound transports you to a surreal place. What is your hope for visitors to sense/hear/feel in the space? 

SH: I hope visitors will have their own personal experience of the space. I hope if inclined to do so they will lay on the chaise longue to take rest and close their eyes for a moment and listen.

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

“On arriving at Firstdraft I couldn’t believe the sound of the bells coming from St Mary’s Cathedral ”

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

“I hope visitors will have their own personal experience of the space.”

HJ: With the gallery so filled with abstract objects interacting in a complex web/machine, is there a specific item or place that you think may be overlooked by visitors? Or a particular favourite moment within that you’d like to draw attention to?

SH: The Perceiving of Sound is to be experienced in your own way, there is no right or wrong way to read the room. Personally, I think the chaise purposely built for the épinette really grounds the room, but I am not attached to how the audience will perceive it.

Susan Hawkins, The Perceiving of Sound, 2021, dimensions variable, timber, copper, brass, stirrup, leather, kempul gongs, DC motors, sensors, cable sleeve, heatshrink, recycled dropsheet, crystal, sound, 3 minutes, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy the artist.

HJ: It sounds like you were very lucky to complete your Paris residency at the beginning of last year! How has the last 12 months been for you? How has your lifestyle and artmaking been affected by 2020?

SH: I was incredibly lucky to complete my residency in Paris. On returning to Australia, like most artists I have taken the opportunity to spend more time in the studio. I have enjoyed the quiet to go to ground. Also I have been given some wonderful support through opportunities to be part of Making Art Work at the Institute of Modern Art; and New for Old, curated by Kyle Weiss and Katherine Hattams at Metro Arts, in Brisbane. I’m also in a group show called I AM HERE, curated by Katherine Hattam, at Arthouse Gallery, which is concurrent to The Perceiving of Sound at Firstdraft.

“there is no right or wrong way to read the room”

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