Ross Manning Is Bringing Light To Tasmania's Old Convict Cells

Light and sound are the mediums of arguably the best senses. With their role in the perception process, they're fundamental tools for not only survival but also for expression. But our interaction with light and sound has become rather convoluted, hidden away in sleek modern technology. One man who’s looking to expose the truth of these elements is Brisbane based artist Ross Manning. Through his work, which includes light installations and automated custom instruments, Ross immerses audiences in to sensory rhythms of purity. Ahead of his appearance at this June’s iconic Dark Mofo, Vice sat down with Ross to discuss the evolution of his work, exposing the raw side of technology, and planning light installations for old convict cells.

Vice: You didn’t start with light installations did you, in the beginning it was more sound focused?

Ross Manning: Well I’ve always made stuff. I’ve always been seriously into music and made music, and into making my own instruments and my own electronics—since before high school actually. I got out of school and started making things that interested me at the time. One of those things was making instruments and making them automated, where they’d be self-playing and I could improvise with them in live contexts. Those instruments grew into more sculptural pieces. From there I started accentuating the movements and making things that move.

How did you then transition to light movements?

There’s such an easy transition from music to light, they’re both frequencies, have that omnidirectional thing, and can fill a room. They share a lot of the same vocabulary, so I started making light works. All of the work comes from ideas of sound and movement, even if they don’t contain sound or movement. Going back to the sound idea, I like rhythms in movement and repetitions, and oscillations, and repeating patterns. A lot of that finds it way in to how things operate and how things move.

What’s it like explaining your work to people who haven’t seen it?

I have a lot of trouble describing stuff that people have seen. The work is always activating the sensory, it’s not just through your eyes. I always have trouble trying explain it to people who haven’t seen it before. You’ve really got to be there, even photographs and video aren’t great. The works designed to are so you’re immersed in this sensory environment. So an extension of that is it’s hard to put in to words well.

There are some pieces out of everyday technology used in your work, like projectors, what role does that play in the meaning of your work?

A lot of technology is hidden, you hide your data projector up in the ceiling and it’s all about the image, but I’m kind of interested in how images are created and the technology behind them. So a lot of the time I kind of expose, and the work is about the generation of the image itself, or light, or sound. Then you get to see everything laid bare and exposed instead of hiding it and covering it up. I suppose it’s almost got a political element to it, the realness of objects and the truth of materials is something that I’m interested in. I get a bit suspicious when things are all covered up, I like to have it all out in the open.

So that way you understand the means to the end, not just the end?

Yeah that’s a big part of what I do.

With that idea, would most of your work continue to be created physically? Would you consider doing a piece that existed digitally, like an online project?

I must admit that doesn’t interest me as much, something that’s a data code that lives inside some server somewhere. I’m much more interested in objects and presence and being able to be in the same room as something. That way you can have a physical relationship as opposed to a virtual one. The screen is your only portal with that other stuff. I mean there’s amazing stuff on the internet, and video is amazing absolutely, I appreciate it but the way you experience it is always sitting down, in a dark space with a square screen and I like to break that down a bit.

Tell us about the pieces you’re showing at Dark Mofo.

There’s been two kind of decided. Just looking at the spaces, I did have two in mind before I visited, but I think that’s going to change a bit. The spaces aren’t in the gallery, they’re two spaces that haven’t been used before for anything. One is underneath a town hall, which was the old convict holding cell before they got kicked off. It’s totally freaky—subterranean cells, chiseled sandstone, really old, dank, and dirty. I wanted to put something really pure in there. So we’re going to put some coloured light stuff in there, one being the dichroic filter piece. I think to really foreground the artwork from the building I want to make these really pure, joyous light installations. The other space is like an armoury tunnel under a park, there used to be a satanic cult that worshipped there, so I was thinking of juxtaposing the dark, spooky vibe with something really light and pure.

Are you enjoying the opportunity Dark Mofo provides to use strange spaces like that?

When you’re making the work I guess you’re always thinking this will be laid in a white box, with clean walls and everything, but to work with a space that suits it and fits is actually really nice. The Tasmanian organisation that owns these spaces are thrilled to have them accessed by the public. People who live here don’t even really know that they exist, so that adds to the experience; getting to go on a mission and find these spaces and seeing something out of the ordinary.

This article originally appeared on Vice's Australian site

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Dark Mofo 2012 is on June 12 – 22 and features a whole bunch of art, music, and film events you'll want to be involved with.