The sound of silence

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Tags: Arts, environment, Q150, winter-2009

Kubo Yoshinobu with the water harp

Visitors to Brisbane’s Roma Street Parkland can now participate in a unique cross-cultural experience, but only if they are prepared to listen.

A purpose-built Japanese water harp, known as a suikinkutsu, was officially opened on January 30 by Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Keniger, and is now a permanent part of the parkland.

The harp is the centrepiece for a “sound garden” designed by UQ’s Dr Kumi Kato, local architect Will Marcus and Mr Kubo Yoshinobu, a specialist suikinkutsu builder from Japan who travelled to Brisbane specially for the construction.

The harp consists of a buried earthenware pot, which is tipped upside down and has a hole drilled at the top. When drops of water fall through onto a permanent layer of water at the base it creates a subtle musical effect which differs depending on the weather.

Mr Kubo also assisted Dr Kato with a similar installation in a Tasmanian forest in 2005 – believed to the first of its kind in Australia.

Dr Kato said the Australian harps were unique, as they weren’t built as part of a traditional Japanese garden, but instead were created to encourage conservation and the importance of dialogue across cultures.

“The Tasmanian water harp was built to celebrate the natural beauty of the region and the people’s dedication to forest conservation,” she said.

“The Queensland water harp is designed to address the importance of listening – not only to our changing environment but also to each other.”

The sound garden’s design also draws on Indigenous knowledge, and will in time incorporate a design of the Rainbow Serpent in honour of the local traditional owners, the Turrbal People. Indigenous elder Joe Kirk performed a traditional smoking ceremony as part of the opening proceedings.

Dr Kato thanked Roma Street Parkland staff and members of the Brisbane community who pitched in to make the project possible, with Mizu Japanese restaurant providing a traditional lunch to workers throughout the construction process, and artists Ken Kikkawa and Kat Leehy contributing to the design.

In a related project, Dr Kato is gathering an archive of the “sounds of Queensland” for Q150 celebrations.

Queenslanders can nominate their favourite sound at www.ecco.org.au/150sound/, with 150 to be chosen and then professionally recorded as a unique record of the state’s cultural history.

Story by Cameron Pegg, video by Jeremy Patten with footage courtesy Simon Wearne

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