Musician and artist Hannah Foley’s performance at Gordon Dam on show at Dark Mofo

A unique performance on a waterphone inside a Hydro dam is set be shown as part of Dark Mofo. Find out what you can see.

Artist and musician Hannah Foley who performed in the Gordon Dam and will have her work shown as part of Dark Mofo. Picture: Ursula Woods

A haunting and unique performance by Tasmanian artist and musician Hannah Foley in the Gordon Dam, seen by only a handful of people, will be shown for Dark Mofo.

As part of the 50th anniversary of the completion of the dam at Strathgordon last October she played a waterphone inside the dam walls.

A waterphone, known as an ocean harp, included water from the dam.

As part of her PhD Ms Foley has been researching how artists might engage collaboratively with bodies of waters.

Artist and musician Hannah Foley who performed in the Gordon Dam and will have her work shown as part of Dark Mofo. Picture: Kelly Nefer

She said her father Hayden Foley worked for Hydro Tasmania his whole career and that “might be what subconsciously drew me to working with Hydro on this project”.

“Having visited Strathgordon and the Gordon Dam a number of times in the past, I’ve always been interested in the atmosphere of the place — both in terms of its affect and meteorological conditions,” Ms Foley said.

“The air is always thick and wet, and perhaps because of this, you can feel the humming of the hydro-electric station.

Artist and musician Hannah Foley. Picture: Gabrielle Eve.

“The body of the instrument holds a small amount of water, so when the instrument is tilted, the water runs across the resonator and shifts the tone of the sound.

“This results in a kind of ethereal, wailing sound.

“Having heard about the tunnels that run through and under the dam wall, I imagined this sound echoing through these passages.”

Ms Foley performed the waterphone inside the dam’s diversion tunnel — standing in a pool of water which leaks from the dam’s 6m wide ‘plug’.

“The sound of the instrument in the tunnel was haunting, as if channelling the waters — both across time, and from one side of the wall to the other.

“The waterphone allowed me to integrate current and historical data into the instrument itself, and its common use in sci-fi films perhaps unconsciously projects the sound into the future.”

Ms Foley is excited her performance will be shown as part of Dark Mofo.

“The performance, having taking place in the depths of the dam wall, at an operational site not accessible the public, means that until now, this project has been only intimately experiences by the people who were present: my incredible team of documenters, Ursula Woods (videographer), Jethro Pickett (sound engineer) and Kelly Nefer (photographer), and our wonderful Hydro Tasmania guide Brett Brady.”

Artist and musician Hannah Foley who performed in the Gordon Dam and will have her work shown as part of Dark Mofo.

Mr Brady did a sound check of the space inside the walls of the Gordon Dam to test the acoustics before Ms Foley made the trip down to Strathgordon.

“The dam’s not hollow but the diversion tunnels have got some good acoustics,” he said.

“I went in and sang a country and western song so they could hear what it would sound like.

“As it turned out, the tunnels were the magic place to be.”

While it’s the first time a musician has performed inside the dam, it’s not the first time a musical instrument has been played at Gordon Dam.

Mr Brady was on site in 2020 when Tasmanian musician Kelvin Smith helicoptered a piano in and performed on top of the dam.

“I’m always very interested in what’s happening at the dam and I was very happy to be involved in Hannah’s project.”

Ms Foley’s work will be at Dark Park each day of Dark Mofo.

Artist and musician Hannah Foley who performed in the Gordon Dam and will have her work shown as part of Dark Mofo.

Originally published as Musician and artist Hannah Foley’s performance at Gordon Dam on show at Dark Mofo