Phoenix Alloy

Phoenix Alloy is a sonic exploration of the life cycle for reclaimable resources. In JG Ballard’s short story, Venus Smiles, a piece of sonic art has been imbued with the ability to grow, adapt, and change, both physically and sonically, much to the dismay of the commissioning body. Beneath the tale of public art gone awry, Ballard’s 1957 short story describes a metal object that is for all intents and purposes alive: growing, changing, and responding to external stimuli and struggling to self actualize. Therefore rather than creating a narrative around the human characters, Phoenix Alloy is a narrative about the sculpture itself: more specifically it is a series of audio events that describe the state of the material from which the sculpture is made: as the statue evolves over the course of the story, the primary material used to generate the sounds changes: starting with strong and versatile metals like steel and brass, then to softer and weaker materials like bronze and aluminum, and finally towards brittle and harsh cupronickel and glass; only to return at the end of the cycle to the familiar steel.

Phoenix Alloy was mixed to be listened to on headphones for ease of listening, but that is by no means the only way of enjoying it. It is best heard in a room full of soft things, with a settled mind, and a single piece of polished metal held in the palm of your hand.