The Musick Project 2011/2023

Installed in the Musick Memorial Radio Station on Te Naupata Reserve / Musick Point

This installation was a practical and performative execution of Paul’s 2011 speculative proposal to install a selection of his r/p/m (revolutions per minute) sculptures in the Musick Memorial Radio Station. This project was realised as part of Layla Tweedie-Cullen’s PhD research Circles Within the Archive: Navigating the Paradoxes of Paul Cullen’s Practice.

Cullen’s hypothetical Musick installation was presented as one of five gatefold covers, wrapping the publication r/p/m. On each of the covers, he proposed a different installation at a historical centre for scientific study, reflecting various locations he had visited and researched. In his original Musick cover proposal, the works Geographer [1] (1995), Fox Circle (2007), Geographer [2] (1995), r/p/m [3] (2010), Science (Table) (1993), and Lost (2007) were to be installed in the station. However, because some of these works no longer exist or are not held by the Paul Cullen Archive, only four pieces were positioned in the Musick Memorial Radio Station. This included two works not part of the artist’s original proposal: Moon (2013) and The Orange Theory (2007). These works were also placed in rooms and spaces not part of the artist’s original proposition.

The Musick Memorial Radio Station is not open to the public; therefore, only a select few experienced this performance first-hand: the radio group members present that day, Ry Tweedie-Cullen who assisted with installation, photography and transporting the works and Layla Tweedie-Cullen. 

The Musick Project was also realised in virtual reality, view documentation here.