Only Above
Jules Reidy & Ivan Cheng
Art Gallery of NSW
January 7, 10, 11, 2026

Berlin-based musician and composer Jules Reidy created a musical accompaniment to the 38th Kaldor Public Art Project, Thomas Demand: The Object Lesson. The 30-minute work, Only Above, is an assemblage of musical forms derived from processed guitars and field recordings. It was inspired by the planes, colours and volumes of German artist Thomas Demand’s extraordinary design for the Kaldor Project exhibition in the Naala Badu building, as well as by the artworks on display.

Audiences had the chance to discover this new piece of music and its variations on harmonic progression, Euclidean rhythmic passages and time-stretched materials, live in the exhibition space. Reidy played their original composition in collaboration with performer Ivan Cheng over a series of performances in January 2026, while local musicians and sound artists Megan Alice Clune, banana and Mary Rapp reinterpreted Reidy’s score for their performances.

Photos Michael Waite