Intermedia Collaboration for The Flood

Hannan, Michael

2006

Contemporary Music Review 25(4): 327-339.

Language: English

In this article, the author examines the collaborative process of creating The Flood (2004) a work combining traditional theatrical elements (in the form of a play script and songs) with experimental elements (soundscapes, experimental instruments, layered image projections, and installations). It includes a moving stage that processes through the streets of Lismore (an Australian regional city famous for its floods) and five sites of performance and installation activities along the way. The genesis of the work is discussed and a number of the sonic intermedia segments of the work are analysed and theorised. The Flood involved an intensely interdisciplinary developmental period particularly amongst the core creative team of writer, composer and director. Other collaborative aspects of the projects with a strong interdisciplinary focus were the creation of the soundscapes, the mixing of experimental musical instruments with conventional ones and the creation of intermedia installations.