Melbourne artist Sara Retallick invites swimmers to experience sound through their entire body in a nocturnal bathing experience at Melbourne City Baths.
Saturate transforms the historic venue into an immersive sonic environment where participants float and swim through zones of electroacoustic composition specially designed to be experienced underwater. The installation uses specialised underwater loudspeakers to create a multi-zone sound installation that can only be fully appreciated with ears below the water’s surface.
The work builds on Retallick’s previous RISING installation Flow State (2021), which was experienced by just a handful of individual bathers. This new iteration expands the concept into a communal experience where participants can collectively explore the unique tactility of underwater listening.
Saturate
- Sat 14 — 15 June
- Melbourne City Baths
- Each session runs for approx. 45 minutes
- Please allow 60 minutes to dress and undress
- Info here
Check out our gig guide, our arts guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
View this post on Instagram
Participants are invited to arrive at night, don their swimmers, and submerge themselves in what Retallick describes as a “wobbling resonance” where sound is experienced through the entire body. The artist has created an original electroacoustic composition specifically designed to be experienced in this unique aquatic environment.
The installation plays with the physics of sound transmission through water, creating an experience that’s as much about physical sensation as auditory perception. Bass frequencies travel differently underwater, allowing swimmers to physically feel the composition through their bones and tissue as they move weightlessly through the bath.
Saturate offers a rare opportunity to completely reconsider our relationship to sound, demonstrating how our bodies can function as conduits for “raw sonic reception” outside the typical confines of air-based listening. The water becomes an active medium rather than a barrier to sound, changing how we perceive and interact with audio.
By transforming a public swimming facility into a site for experimental art, Retallick continues her exploration of sound, environment and perception that has characterized her practice. The work offers a temporary ritual that blends recreational swimming with profound sensory exploration.
Presented in partnership with Melbourne City Baths, Saturate features multiple sessions over the weekend of June 14-15. Each underwater sound experience runs for approximately 45 minutes, with participants advised to allow 60 minutes total for changing before and after their session.
For more information, head here.
