Mel O’Callaghan

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Mel O’Callaghan, “The Fall,” 2004

colour video with sound (still), 4:08 min. (courtesy the artist and Esker Foundation, Calgary)

A man plunges into a murky sea. His parachute, entangled in its own lines, billows and twists as he sinks into the abyss, his arms moving in a slow hypnotic dance as his life comes to a tragic end.

This four-minute video, The Fall, was created by Australian artist Mel O’Callaghan, who splits her time between Sydney and Paris. She offers a powerful metaphor, possibly foretelling human extinction, with this otherworldly vision of a return to the primordial fluid from which life emerged.

Inspired by legendary French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, the video is one of several dramatic works in Pulse of the Planet, on view until Aug. 27 at the Esker Foundation in Calgary. 

Curated by Peta Rake and Shauna Thompson, the show synthesizes several years of O’Callaghan’s practice, including artistic and scientific collaborations that are both inspiring and ominous.

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Mel O’Callaghan, “First Sound, Last Sound,” 2023

performance with steel tuning forks and wooden resonance chamber at Esker Foundation, Calgary (photo by Elyse Bouvier)

Visitors entering the Esker see a large white platform that occupies much of the gallery’s main foyer. It is topped by two steel tuning forks. At three metres in height, they are monolithic, invoking ritual and reverence. It’s the setting for a durational performance, First Sound, Last Sound, in which performers strike the resonant metal with a rubber mallet and move in response to the sound. 

Vibrations in the show are aligned with Schumann resonances, often referred to as the “pulse of the planet.” A multitude of extremely low frequency vibrations, normally around 7.83 hertz, are generated by lightning and travel around the globe in the resonant chamber between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere, where our atmosphere meets outer space. 

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Mel O’Callaghan, “Ore of Cyrus,” 2022

acrylic paint and pigment on glass (courtesy the artist and Esker Foundation, Calgary)

Many works in the show have performative aspects. For example, one room contains a series of brightly coloured abstract “action” paintings made in response to the tuning forks.

In another dimly lit room, six glass tuning forks hang on the wall. They glow in light cast from above and are accompanied by hydrophone recordings made on the ocean’s floor. The booming sounds make me think of a pounding heart or a rolling thunderstorm. 

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Mel O’Callaghan, “To the End,” 2007

still from colour digital video with sound (courtesy the artist and Esker Foundation, Calgary)

In two videos – To the End and Ever Tried, Ever Failed – lone figures traverse treacherous and dreamlike landscapes. As they navigate obstacles like quicksand or shifting rocks, dramatic instrumental music heightens the tension for viewers.

O’Callaghan’s practice is not fixed on a single track. Rather, she immerses viewers in multisensory experiences that engage the eyes, the ears and the body, asking them to consider the planet as a living, responsive being. Does the Earth have a pulse? Can the ocean breathe? Where is the root of our collective humanity?

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Mel O’Callaghan, “Centre of the Centre,” 2019

three-channel HD colour video, installation view at Artspace, Sydney (photo by Zan Wimberley)

Biological life and its connection to inanimate matter is richly explored in Centre of the Centre, a large three-channel video accompanied by a sonic collage. It magnifies geological formations on the ocean floor and shows creatures that live there. 

O’Callaghan’s practice may have its roots in the lifelong obsession of her grandfather, Albert Chapman, a mineral collector who assembled more than 800 specimens. He once gave O’Callaghan a mineral that contained a pocket of primordial fluid. 

O’Callaghan’s artistic practice is expansive, traversing video, sound, sculpture, painting, installation and performance. Based in fieldwork and research, it has included collaborations with everyone from eco-feminists and musicologists to oceanographers and physicists.

As ocean levels rise, wildfires flare around the world and ecosystems collapse, her ritualized and speculative narratives cut through the usual rhetoric, encouraging us to embrace and preserve the many wonders of our planet. ■

Mel O’Callaghan: Pulse of the Planet at the Esker Foundation in Calgary from May 26 to Aug. 27, 2023. Drop-in live performances are held certain Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Check the website for details. Curated by Peta Rake and Shauna Thompson.

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