Archie Barry




 

 

Short Spells

I’m going to spell aloud for you each day this week. To spell something out is to explain, to sequence correctly, but I want to spell away from meaning and slip into the frustration and pleasure of sounds. A spell can be a magical charm said aloud, thought of as a raw nonsensical language of creation bound up in power. A spell can also be a short period of time or a seizure; a specific physical, psychological or geographic chamber of experience.

I think about surveillance a lot because it’s ubiquitous, especially now that language-based communications travel almost wholly through the internet. I like singing and spelling aloud because most algorithmic listening technologies can’t reconstruct the words, which means I can tell you things that won’t fragment into personal data as easily as speech or text do. The visual accompaniments are selfie videos abstracted through a variety of post-production colour and time mapping filters, edited to breathe with each letter.

Each of the seven spellings are lyrics pulled from unpublished songs and diary entries I’ve written during the pandemic lockdowns in Melbourne. These spells are things I care about and are troubled by, that I want to push around with my voice. 

Since the pandemic began, I’ve mostly given up on representational image making. Looking and being seen became overwhelming as work life, social life and political protest all siphoned into video platforms that constitute and are subject to surveillance culture. I have spent a lot of time listening, writing music and talking to friends. I read over the phone in structured ways: paired readings and group readings that happen at particular times each week.

I hope that these spells can help you feel differently about voice and communication. It doesn’t matter if you can’t follow along. 

Artist bio

 

Archie Barry is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice spans performance, video, music production and writing modalities. Their work takes form as autobiographical, somatic and process-led, exploring themes of personhood, embodiment and mortality. Moments of intense affective connec-tion with audiences are created through disquieting and uncanny bodily gestures, de-formed and re-formed language. They have exhibited and performed at The Australian Centre for Contempo-rary Art; Melbourne, The Museum of Contemporary Art; Sydney, The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Contemporary Art Tasmania; Artspace, Sydney; Buxton Contemporary; Melbourne and ALASKA Projects; Sydney, amongst other spaces. Barry completed a Masters of Contemprary Art at Victorian College of the Arts in 2017 and now lives in Naarm/Birraranga (Melbourne), Australia.

07.09.2020

 


Audio: my soprano and whispering voices spelling a diary entry from 13 June 2020
Visual: lying in a bed in Bed Stuy, New York City, USA, February 2020


08.09.2020

 


Audio: my tenor and bass voices spelling lyrics (with grammatical error) from a song written May 2020 as part of a larger project titled 'Multiply', to be published via @acca_melbourne ACCA Open Digital Commission on 30 September 2020 ⠀
Visual: walking in a park in Fawkner, Naarm/Birraranga (Melbourne), Australia, May 2020⠀

 


09.09.2020

 


Audio: three soprano voices spelling a diary entry from 2 June 2020
Visual: legs dancing in bed, Brunswick East, Naarm/Birraranga (Melbourne), Australia, June 2020

 


10.09.2020

 


Audio: my speaking voice reading a diary entry from January 2020
Visual: performance rehearsal for an unfinished residency with @fd13residency at @yeah___maybe Minneapolis, USA, February 2020

 


11.09.2020

 


Audio: my soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices spelling lyrics from a song written May 2020 as part of a larger project titled 'Multiply', to be published via @acca_melbourne ACCA Open Digital Commission on 30 September 2020
Visual: having a bath, Fitzroy, Naarm/Birraranga (Melbourne), Australia, August 2020

 


12.09.2020

 


Audio: my soprano, alto and bass voices spelling a diary entry from May 2020
Visual: on a train at sunset to Beacon, New York, USA, February 2020

 


13.09.2020

 


Audio: my soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices spelling a phrase a house-mate said in September 2020
Visual: waving goodbye, Saint Paul, USA, March 2020

 



Past Actions

07 Jun - 13 Jun 2021

Unbound Collective

31 May - 06 Jun 2021

OLC Art Collective

24 May - 30 May 2021

Naomi Hobson

17 May - 23 May 2021

Adrft Lab

10 May - 16 May 2021

Pat Brassington

03 May - 09 May 2021

Eddie Abd

26 Apr - 02 May 2021

Loren Kronemyer

19 Apr - 25 Apr 2021

Guo Jian

12 Apr - 18 Apr 2021

Kenny Pittock

05 Apr - 11 Apr 2021

Jannawi Dance Clan

29 Mar - 04 Apr 2021

Gillian Kayrooz

22 Mar - 28 Mar 2021

Nathan Beard

15 Mar - 21 Mar 2021

Pilar Mata Dupont

08 Mar - 14 Mar 2021

Michael Cook

01 Mar - 07 Mar 2021

Seini F Taumoepeau

22 Feb - 28 Feb 2021

Dani Marti

15 Feb - 21 Feb 2021

Lill Colgan & Sab D'Souza

08 Feb - 14 Feb 2021

Chris Yee

01 Feb - 07 Feb 2021

Rochelle Haley

25 Jan - 31 Jan 2021

Karrabing Film Collective

18 Jan - 24 Jan 2021

Nici Cumpston

11 Jan - 17 Jan 2021

Johnathon World Peace Bush

07 Dec - 13 Dec 2020

Aphids

30 Nov - 06 Dec 2020

Raquel Ormella

23 Nov - 29 Nov 2020

Léuli Eshrāghi

16 Nov - 22 Nov 2020

Rolande Souliere

09 Nov - 15 Nov 2020

TV Moore

02 Nov - 08 Nov 2020

Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu

26 Oct - 01 Nov 2020

Ivey Wawn

19 Oct - 25 Oct 2020

Naomi Blacklock

12 Oct - 18 Oct 2020

Sancintya Mohini Simpson

05 Oct - 11 Oct 2020

Yhonnie Scarce

28 Sep - 04 Oct 2020

Ruha Fifita

21 Sep - 27 Sep 2020

Kaylene Whiskey

14 Sep - 20 Sep 2020

Adam Linder

07 Sep - 13 Sep 2020

Archie Barry

31 Aug - 06 Sep 2020

Min Wong

24 Aug - 30 Aug 2020

Hayley Millar-Baker

17 Aug - 23 Aug 2020

Erin Coates

10 Aug - 16 Aug 2020

Diego Bonetto

03 Aug - 09 Aug 2020

Tyza Hart

27 Jul - 02 Aug 2020

Larissa Hjorth

20 Jul - 26 Jul 2020

Louise Zhang

13 Jul - 19 Jul 2020

Henri Papin (Meijers & Walsh)

06 Jul - 12 Jul 2020

Stelarc

29 Jun - 05 Jul 2020

Rainbow Chan

22 Jun - 28 Jun 2020

Jason Phu

15 Jun - 21 Jun 2020

Abdul Abdullah

08 Jun - 14 Jun 2020

Patricia Piccinini

01 Jun - 07 Jun 2020

Brook Andrew

25 May - 31 May 2020

Radha

18 May - 24 May 2020

James Tylor