The art of sound

Edie Kurzer, Australia, 2020

Tape reels, headphones and microphones

Courtesy Gary Kurzer

NAGRA Reel to Reel Tape Recorder

Nagra, Switzerland, c. 1970s

Courtesy Paul Huntingford

Object On display
Photograph by Egmont Contreras, ACMI.

“Sound is what truly convinces the mind it is in a place,” said videogame designer Jesse Schell. “In other words, hearing is believing.” Sound is an essential part of storytelling, whether it’s ambient noise, roaring sound effects or a musical score swelling over the action. It helps communicate what’s happening, not just in narrative features and television but also in documentaries, news programmes and commercials. One of the items displayed here is a vintage Nagra audio tape recorder used by Channel 7 News in Sydney during the 1960s and early 1970s when external news footage was shot on 16mm reversal film. The syncing of sound and vision occurred back in the editing room before going to air.

Curator Notes

Edie Kurzer is a celebrated Australian designer. Twice she has won the AACTA Award, the most prestigious prize for costume design in Australia, for her work on the iconic 6 part TV series Picnic at Hanging Rock (Foxtel /FremantleMedia) and the highly lauded ABC mini-series Molly. With Picnic she also won the coveted Australian Production Design Guild’s prize and in 2019 won it once more for the feature film Judy & Punch.

Over the past twenty-five years in Australia Edie has made crucial contributions to major productions such as: the Gillian Armstrong-directed documentary feature film Women He’s Undressed (about Orry Kelly); the influential TV mini-series Secret River and Violent Earth; and the feature films South Solitary (starring Miranda Otto), Look Both Ways, Matching Jack, and Thank God He Met Lizzie (starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Frances O’Connor). She also designed costumes for Josh Thomas on his ground-breaking television series Please Like Me (season 4).

Internationally, Edie has worked with director Bill Bennett on both In a Savage land and Tempted (starring Burt Reynolds and Saffron Burrows) and with the renowned British film and theatre director Mike Leigh on the Royal Stratford Theatre’s production of A Greek Tragedy (London/Edinburgh/Sydney).

Edie has also collaborated in vital cultural and educational projects in Indigenous communities in major cities and in remote regions of Australia.

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Collection

Not in ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Foyer → Entry → FSF-02. Fed Sq Foyer Cabinets → FSF Cabinet 16

Object Types

3D Object

Diorama

Collected

587 times

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/112067--the-art-of-sound/ |title=The art of sound |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=4 January 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}