When hearing the terms “sound artist” and “experimental music” ideas of standing in dark rooms with computer geeks listening to recorded street traffic and discomforting beeps are quickly conjured, however, Replay: Christian Marclay is an exhibition where sound and screen art are merged into intriguing works. Entering the show with the silent screen piece featuring rythmic signing actions from deaf actor Jonathan Hall alludes to the fact that the renowned experimental DJ won’t have visitors listening to headphones for the entire exhibition.

Born in California in 1955, raised in Switzerland and now based in New York, Marclay has performed as a DJ for over 25 years creating artwork in the subversive realms of punk and performance art with pop culture references and an expressive hand in screen production. His exhibition in the dark underground platform galleries of ACMI has been curated by Emma Lavigne from the Cite de la Musique in Paris and features works from 1982-2004. Early works explore the history of the turntable becoming an instrument as well as the limits and potentials of the timeless vinyl record and player while other rooms take viewers/listeners on orchestrated journies through multi-screen edited Hollywood movie scenes playing against each other in a kind of call and response symphony.

Marclay takes everyday items, readymade art objects, famous actors wielding their iconic weapons, and other musicians and manipulates them on the screen while investigating their sounds and the way they can be moulded into a spectrum of musical genres. Anyone interested in film, screen art, sound production or the boundaries of music will no doubt get caught up in Marclay’s creations and experiments.

“Music is Material”.

Replay: Christian Marclay is now showing at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Federation Square until 3rd February 2008.