Erin Coates

K video, with sound
7:20 minutes
Sound Composition: Cat Hope & Decibel

Commissioned by Decibel for the exhibition Sounding Art, held at PS Art Space in Fremantle in September 2017. Decibel performed live compositions during the opening weekend, scored for each commission in the exhibition. Read more here. Listen to the score for The Pact here.

The Pact explores elements of physical endurance and the bond between friends – two women rock climbers. It is set inside a dark space of indeterminable dimensions; the scale, movement and orientation of which are defined by the bodies of two climbers trapped within it. A tessellation of symmetrical patterns is formed; hanging from their arms, hooking their feet over the edges of the dark space, shifting in centrifugal movement, and using dual compression to suspend their bodies within the void. The extreme physical exertion of these actions is visible in the straining muscles and tension in the bodies, as sheets of blood fall through the space and a sense of abstract horror slowly rises. To endure the space and remain suspended within it, the figures are reliant on one another.