FireLight is a synthesis of the ancient and the contemporary, a story relevant to all of us as we face the challenges of our shared future. This story will be a compression of the events of the North-West of Tasmania itself, the plants, animals and people that together form the history of place, from ancient times to modern. It will take you through the creation of the majestic wilderness of Tasma
nia, the long custodianship of Indigenous culture, white settlement, convict culture, the transformation of the modern pastoral environment, and a glimpse into the future of this land. The vision will be created as bold line animation, screened on the mountain using banks of linked lasers beamed at the mountain from multiple angles to render Mt Roland as a screen on which a story is told. At the same time, an original composition and soundscape will be streamed live via broadcast radio,
The Actual Story
Rock paintings have survived thousands of years to tell stories through a language of physical representation and natural metaphor. FireLight will meld this ancient tradition and modern animating techniques with pioneering laser technology to bring to life imagery across the 3300 x 800m rock face of Mt Roland. Using a timeline of millions of years, we will be taken on a journey, as if being told a dreaming yarn of the land, on how each event effects the present and the future, and how everyone’s story, from the most personal to the most public are woven together to make one shared reality. At the same time an original soundtrack, created by international composer Dean Stevenson, will be broadcast on FM radio. This composition will weave together orchestral and Indigenous musical traditions to create a soaring soundtrack that is at once local and universal.
