Shock Lines

Shock Lines is an interdisciplinary collaboration between a glass artist, percussionist, and sound designer that works across installation, performance and musical composition. Their self-titled work features suspended glass-sandstone sculptures, live percussive performance, and immersive surround sound. The work is cast in five movements: sandstone, sun gong, dance, seismic shift, and subterranean. Each of these movements can be performed separately (each running from 6 mins - 10 mins) or can be presented as a full 45-minute performance.

Entering the dimmed performance space, audiences are greeted with a gathering of glass objects glowing in the lights. Across half of the performance space, small cymbal forms are suspended in a sweeping arc from the floor to the ceiling. The glass forms twist gently on their axis casting long shadows across the floor. Solid-cast glass objects sit on sturdy basalt tables nearby. Their forms are undefined, free-flowing pools of glass frozen mid-movement. Sitting on another table are a handful of palm-sized objects made of fused glass and sandstone; a selection of experiments directly from the glass studio. At the back of the space hangs a large, deeply textured circle. Its presence is tantalising and unnerving

In performance, Niki strikes, scrapes and rubs a series of these objects to create gritty and resonant sounds of glass and sandstone. Her live sounds are entangled with electronic tracks made by Natasha Dubler that are built on pre-recorded samples of percussing each glass-sandstone object. Musically, the work explores the timbres of grinding sandstone, the resonance of glass, and microtonal pitch shifts revealed through rhythmic, groove based striking. The decay of each mallet strike holds a delicate buzz as loose grains of sandstone rattle gently in the crevices of the glass. The sonic detail of each piece is explored in its widest array across an immersive, shifting sound environment.

Performance Duration: 10 mins - 50 minutes to cater to presentation contexts.

Shock Lines showing - David Li Sound Gallery, 2023

Photo credit: Renata Dominik



Artists