Matthias Schack-Arnott is a Melbourne-based percussionist working in the realms of contemporary classical performance, hybrid art and experimental improvisation. Following his acclaimed 2012 Next Wave Festival project, Chrysalis, Matthias returns to the festival to present a new solo work for a large-scale kinetic percussion instrument.

A horizon of quivering metals, glass and stone are used to create a work of shimmering textural extremes, exploring tidal movement, erosion and alchemical transformation. Found objects are suspended en masse from the ceiling to create dense kinetic systems. Suspended glass bottles quiver and collide. Overlapping metal tubes create glistening harmonic swells and 21 wind chimes create a sonic haze as they hover and sway above the instrument. Fluvial renders the percussive instrument into a teeming fluid mass, moving between the ecstatic and the absurd. 

“Theatrically stunning, aurally stimulating, Fluvial is an unmissable experience at this year’s Next Wave festival.” Partial Durations