Vanessa Tomlinson - The Edge is a Place (2025)

Your hearing shifts, the mind wanders, temporality is inevitable yet changeable. The edge is not only a precipice, it is the juxtaposition of an end and a beginning. Zoom in. The edge gets bigger. It is full of angles, topographies, perspectives, presence. Zoom in even more. Turn your head. Things change. Breathe. Shut your eyes. Balance at the edge. Allow the air to form in new ways, allow your body to speculate.

The Edge is a Place is a series of six compositions made in 2024 using a fixed set of acoustic sound sources. A vibraphone, 8 ceramic bowls, 1 glass bowl with water, 2 metal bowls, 3 planks of wood, shell chimes, 2 cymbals, shakers, hihats, 3 indian bells with no donger, 1 bass drum. Utensils such as knitting needles, bouncy balls, chains, chefs chopsticks, vibraphone mallets, doublebass bows, triangle beaters are all used to conjure sounds out the objects.

Intimacy, proximity, spatiality, resonance, and vibration drive the qualities of sound. Techtonic, layered, density, plurality, and activation/agitation drive the organisation of sound. Exploration, patience, focus, care and relationships drive the aesthetic of sound. The world is full of invisible lines. There are always edges – never quite in sync, and always shimmering with.