The Substation/ Gabi Briggs/ TENYA/
This event is wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral accessible toilets are available. Registered assistance animals are welcome.
Please note TENYA is 30 minutes in duration. Each loop of the work will be played on the hour, every half hour.
Free
PRESENTED BY THE SUBSTATION AND LIQUID ARCHITECTURE, SUPPORTED BY YIRRAMBOI
TENYA, meaning 'Us' in Anaiwan, acts as an archive of cultural revitalisation. This sonic-visual work by Anaiwan and Gumbayngirr artist Gabi Briggs builds on her 2024 film ARKAN & IRBELA. Preparing for a walk on Country, Briggs layers field recordings of ancestral land with dialogues where voices surface and recede. Textures of Anaiwan Country and language renewal unsettle colonial assumptions of Indigeneity, their echoes threaded with violent geographies and resonant absence.
Anchored by a singular figure, TENYA is a rich sonic archive of cultural revitalisation and emotional release told through field recordings on country, the female voice through the power of screams, string instrumentation, guns, and thoughtful creative spatial sound design. It asks: what does ‘Us’ mean when survival depends on solidarity, sovereignty, and return to place.
Through sound and the unspoken, the work maps deep continuities of identity and resistance.
TENYA is commissioned by The Substation and Liquid Architecture as part of the Listening to Country — The First Nations Experimental Sound Commission. This presentation forms part of Gabi Briggs' ongoing project as part of her West Space Commission ARKAN & IRBELA.
Please note TENYA is 30 minutes in duration. Each loop of the work will be played on the hour, every half hour.
LISTENING TO COUNTRY – THE FIRST NATIONS EXPERIMENTAL SOUND COMMISSION
Gabi Briggs is the inaugural recipient of the Listening to Country — First Nations Experimental Sound Commission.
In the first of its kind nationally, the Listening to Country — First Nations Experimental Sound Commission provides critical support and a unique pathway for one First Nations sound artist to develop a new sound work, co-commissioned by The Substation and Liquid Architecture. The program offers significant creative and financial support to the selected artist and aims to restore the balance of access and visibility in experimental sound for First Nations Artists. This initiative offers the selected artist a unique opportunity to develop new creative languages and forge new creative futures through experimental sound.
ARTISTIC TEAM
James Howard – Creative Producer: First Nations Programming, Liquid Architecture
Hayden Ryan – Spatial Sound Designer and Artist in Residence at Liquid Architecture
Lawrence English – Advisor
CONTENT WARNINGS
This work contains sudden loud noises, low lighting and violence.
ACCESS
This event is wheelchair accessible and gender neutral accessible toilets are available. Registered assistance animals are welcome.
Image: Gabi Briggs, 'ARKAN & IRBELA', 2024, video still. Cinematography by Ryan Andrew Lee. Courtesy of the artist.
Related/
Exhibition/
Community
Poly-rhythmic: Music//Talks//Eats
PRESENTED BY THE SUBSTATION AND LIQUID ARCHITECTURE
Poly-rhythmic: Music//Talks//Eats is a series of panel discussions/live performances, and food offerings occurring 4 times each year, hosted and programmed by Liquid Architecture with guest curators and academic associates. Through conversations, food and music, this series examines and explores artists ideas from First Nations, diasporas, migrant and Global South perspectives and includes visiting international speakers, artists and curators.
Join us for a special edition of Poly-Rhythmic: Music//Talks//Eats, celebrating the world premiere of TENYA, a new sonic experience by Anaiwan gedyura artist Gabi Briggs. Meaning “Us” in Anaiwan, TENYA is an act of cultural revitalisation—an evolving archive of sound, language, and memory.
This discussion offers an intimate look into Gabi’s creative process before audiences experience the full work. Following the premiere, a panel discussion led by Luritja artist, writer, and curator Jenna Rain Warwick will bring together Gabi’s peers and collaborators, including Yaraan Couzens Bundle and Hayden Ryan, for a deep dive into the work’s themes, sonic and conceptual methodologies.
After the formal discussion, the space will open up and attendees are invited to continue the conversation with the artists over delicious food, before Jenna Rain Warwick closes out the afternoon with a DJ set.
ACCESS
This event is wheelchair accessible and gender neutral accessible toilets are available. Registered assistance animals are welcome.
