Phil Dadson is an iconic figure in sonic exploration in Aotearoa and was a founding member of legendary performance group From Scratch. His thrillingly ground-breaking work is where fine art, video, DIY instruments and sound intersect. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Dadson perform many times over the years and this AV piece documents his 2002 performance at Brisbane’s REV (Real, Electronic, Virtual) Festival. He’s playing a long-string zitherum, ostifans, Nundrum and gloop - all of which are unique instruments constructed (and named!) by Dadson. There is a stunning physicality here, to what I think of as a dynamic aural sculpture. The writer Geoff Chapple has said of Phil Dadson: “If the planet makes a note, you’d think the first person to hear it might be Phil…” The filmmaker Simon Ogston has made a slew of excellent New Zealand music documentaries and his 2015 film Sonics from Scratch is a compelling documentation of Dadson’s life and work if you’d like to explore further.
You can view the REV performance here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-J8Kw2TBvc
-Kiran Dass, writer and critic, for the May 2021 instalment of the My Choice exhibition series.