Annihilation is an immersive sound installation that embodies the anxiety of the present and likely futures of the Great Barrier Reef. It is the second in a trilogy of works which explore an interdisciplinary approach to sound as measure for biodiversity and affective call to action. Hydrophone (underwater) recordings of the reef are played through stringed instruments with transducers and augmented by improvised responses allowing them to amplify and translate the sounds of the reef into a familiar emotive auralities. This installation work connects cultural symbols of powerful but abstracted affect with the reality of destruction, death, and imminent annihilation of global underwater ecosystems.
Commissioned for, and premiered at, Restrung Festival at Metro Arts in Brisbane, Australia (14-16 October 2021).