Born 1964 in Melbourne, Australia Lives and works in Melbourne

Artist and musician Marco Fusinato employs a multidisciplinary approach in his artistic practice, navigating a variety of mediums and genres. His overall aesthetic project combines allegorical appropriation with an interest in the intensity of a gesture or event. His projects often investigate opposing tensions such as the ones between high and underground culture, noise and silence, Minimalism and Maximalism. As a musician Fusinato explores the idea of noise as music, using the electric guitar and mass amplification to improvise intricate, wide-ranging and physically affecting frequencies.

Alongside his interest in the physicality of sound, Fusinato’s projects regularly incorporate audience participation with a focus on human behaviour as subject. This is demonstrated in artworks that are designed as situations in which the viewer becomes an active participant; their experience and conduct becoming both an integral part of the process of creating the work and its eventual outcome.

At Carriageworks Fusinato presents Constellations, 2015/2018, an installation that exemplifies the duality of his artistic practice, combining noise with an examination of human action and decision-making. A purpose-built, freestanding wall divides the gallery space into two equal sections. The entrance half of the gallery space is completely empty. Venturing to the other side of the wall, visitors encounter a baseball bat attached to the structure with a long steel chain. At this point, the work becomes participatory. If they choose to, visitors may pick up the bat and strike the wall once.

Unbeknownst to the audience, a concert-size public address system, including multiple subwoofers, microphones and related sound equipment, is hidden within the structure. The sound of the impact between bat and wall is amplified by a massive 120 decibels, reverberating throughout the gallery space and the building. Constellations is both an exploration of the physicality of sound and a means to observe the behaviour of those who choose to participate. The title of the installation refers to the residual dents and marks generated with each strike of the bat; the damage to the wall provides a tangible reminder of the expulsion of energy.

This version was created for the Biennale of Sydney with assistance from Anna and Morry Schwartz, UAP and the Australia Council for the Arts