YOU ARE WELCOME AT HERRING ISLAND FROM 8.15 PM FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF tongleN (conversazione with les estrellas) Sunset to Sunrise, Thursday 23 December 1999
The most memorable summer of our lifetime
HERRING ISLAND
Environmental Sculpture Park
by Domenico de Clario
Free Punt operating all night from Como Landing
cnr. Williams Road and Alexandra Avenue, South Yarra
Herring Island will be artificially lit and filled with sound as Domenico de Clario plays keyboard blinded-folded throughout the night to celebrate the simultaneous occurrence of the last solstice and full moon of the twentieth century.
tongleN is a Tibetan word; it desires a practise through which one aims to attain maximum usefulness to both the visible and invisible world around us. It consists of breathing in the suffering of others and returning it with happiness, wellbeing and peace of mind; one breathes in difficulty and breathes out light; in short, a transmutation takes place in the body through the breath.
tongleN (conversazione with les estrellas) is conceived as a continuous breathing movement through the body of Herring Island, beginning at sunset at December 23 (full moon rise) and ending at sunrise December 24 (solstice 3.16 am). It traces a spiral path across seven sites and back again to its initial departure point. The locations of the seven sites or estrellas (meaning stars) form the shape of tongleN, the constellation existing within the local universe of Herring Island. Each estrella functions also as a chakra and emits the appropriate coloured light. TongleN both traces the movement through the constellations estrellas/sites/chakras and leaves behind the trace of its out-breaths in the form of coloured light.
ABBREVIATED BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1947 in Trieste, Italy, Domenico de Clario arrived in Australia in 1956. Since 1966, he has held over 70 solo exhibitions throughout Australia, USA, Italy, UK, Thailand and 75 group exhibitions in Australia, South America, Israel, New Zealand, Italy, Yugoslavia, USA, Spain, France, Holland, Germany and Greece. De Clario has received numerous awards including the Penny McCall Foundation Grant (New York) and a University of Western Sydney Residency as Visiting Fellow in 1997, the Artist in Residence at Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plyrnouth, New Zealand and Asia-Link Residency at Silkaporn University, Bangkok in 1998. In September 1999, de Clario performed for thirteen days for the Liverpool Biennial; in October he conducted an all night performance in Bangkok and from June to August, a residency project called The Quiet in the Land.
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