WAVE is a 12 minute interdisciplinary installation that commences with Gerry Wedd’s ceramic urn spinning like a globe, inviting viewers into a unique ceramic landscape before European invasion, and abundant with life. The second act sees the 'arrival' of a strange new reality, whereby vast urbanisation gives way to bushfires that rage, coastlines that collapse, and waterways that choke. In the final act, a great wave redeems all and renewal begins. Wedd’s motifs come to life through animation, offering a powerful commentary about human impact upon the natural world and are accompanied by an evocative soundscape by composer and performer Gabriella Smart. The cinematic production is directed by Wedd, Smart and filmmaker Mark Patterson, with digital production by Jumpgate.

On the music:

The focus of my Ph.D was the history of the colonial piano in Australia; I employed this instrument into the WAVE soundscape to symbolise colonial invasion. Gerry, Mark and I made a deliberate decision to create the visuals and music in synthesis, and to make the work devoid of humanity; the unintended consequence of this action was for WAVE to take on a neutral, benign stance, even though the theme tackles the overwhelming devastation of colonialism and environmental destruction. The music communicates the wonder and child like viewing of nature, as in Gerry’s ceramics and drawings. Yet there are dark moments, for example the advent of the tsunami and the Japanese noir feel of the city scape, devoid of nature and animals, where deep electronic effects take over. Gerry’s love of the guitar influenced my various, incorporated guitar riffs; and the piano most directly communicates the child like wonder was we walk through the forest, and the weightlessness of the ‘bird thongs’ that fall from the sky.

WAVE attracted 70,769 visitors over three months to the Art Gallery of South Australia, 66% of the total visitors to AGSA, and is planned to be toured to 16 regional galleries in Australia.