Tidal Motion - Leah Barclay — Experimenta

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Dr Leah Barclay
Tidal Motion

Lives and works on Kabi Kabi Country
Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia

About

Tidal Motion offers an immersive, embodied listening experience that draws attention to the planet’s ecological interconnectedness. Through sound, vibration, and light, this installation allows audiences to dissolve into the depths of the ocean while highlighting the balance, tension, tides, and temporality of Earth’s ecosystems.

Driven by real-time data from K’gari (Butchulla Country) and the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland, the installation explores our collective responsibility for vulnerable marine species and habitats. The live data is mixed remotely and streamed to the artwork, producing a soundscape that immerses listeners in underwater environments and shifting tides.

In the gallery space, listeners are seated in an immersive listening chair equipped with headphones and tactile transducers. These transducers transmit sound vibrations through the body, enhancing the embodiment of the live binaural sound mix. Projections of tidal changes flow over the listener, allowing them to become part of the artwork itself.

The installation draws on an array of hydrophones (underwater microphones) along Queensland’s coastline, using real-time acoustic data to monitor ocean health. The work explores how weather patterns, shifting tides, and live environmental data can engage communities in ecological interconnectedness through an immersive installation in a gallery environment.

Tidal Motion offers a unique perspective on the sea—the world’s largest yet most abused and misunderstood ecosystem. It presents a non-human perspective, inviting us to see and hear the ocean in a new light. The work encourages temporal and spatial engagement, making sound a tangible material that can be felt through the body.

This installation raises questions about big data and its role in ethical research and artistic practice. The artist proposes a place-based approach to data gathering, emphasising care, responsiveness, and reciprocity in the outcomes. This framework explores new methods for deep listening, aiming to generate awareness that leads audiences to engage in more responsible, sustainable, and regenerative practices.

By transforming tidal data into an experience, Tidal Motion invites audiences to reconsider their relationship with the ocean and inspires a sense of care and connection with the planet’s rapidly changing ecosystems.

Please note: This installation is weather-dependent and responds to real-time tides. Rough seas and wind result in fragility in the audio streams, and the installation will occasionally switch to a pre-recorded composition during network dropouts or extreme weather events.

 

Credits and Acknowledgement

Artist: Dr Leah Barclay
Production Assistant: Janine Fuller
This artwork was produced in K’gari (Butchulla Country) and Kabi Kabi Country.

 

Supported by the University of the Sunshine Coast, K’gari Research Station

 

An Experimenta Commission

Black and white headshot photo of Dr Leah Barclay.

The Artist
Leah Barclay

Leah Barclay is an Australian sound artist, composer and researcher working at the intersection of art, science and technology.