Waltzing Matilda presents three wig machines installed in a painted wood cabinet fitted to an empty storefront window. Three versions of the chorus from “Waltzing Matilda” play simultaneously: the British folk singer June Tabor, the Irish-English rock band The Pogues and US alt rock musician Tom Waits. Each digitally-edited chorus seamlessly loops; the three singers also made to sing in the same key. Each version of “Waltzing Matilda” is connected to a wig machine via simple electronics, functioning as motor speed controls; the wig machines literally waltz to the music. As you approach the storefront from the street, the initial experience of the wig machines is silent. Once inside, the three choruses play through speakers located at the back of the space. The empty floor between the speakers and the wig machines is an invitation akin to an empty dance floor.
Exhibition History: 2005 New General Catalog (New York, USA); 2001 The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto, Canada); 2000 solo site project for PEREGRINE (independent project collective) (Toronto, Canada)
Publication: Eden, Xandra, Barbara Fischer and Nancy Campbell. Marla Hlady. The Power Plant, 2001.
Fischer, Barbara. “Drumming Displaced into Different Sized Jam Jars.” Noisemaker(s). Blackwood Gallery, 2001, pp. 30-31+. Print.
Press: Gopnik, Blake. “A Wigged Out Waltzing Matilda.” The Globe and Mail, 20 September, 2000, pp. R420.
MacKay, Gillian. “Popular Mechanics.” The Globe and Mail, 4 November, 2000.
