Dale Gorfinkel is a multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, instrument builder, installation artist and educator. He is interested in finding fresh ways of presenting and making music. These include outdoors, across artforms, and inter-cultural and inter-generational contexts. He brings creative communities together & shifts perceived boundaries of scenes, styles & artforms. Dale’s work reflects an awareness of the dynamic nature of culture & the value of listening as mode of knowing people & places.
Dale enjoys building automated sonic contraptions and modifying other instruments, especially the vibraphone. He creates wondrous sonorities using continuous bowed inventions on aluminium bars, swinging tin resonators and bouncing ping-pong balls that create random rhythms. He has also developed a quirky approach to the trumpet, using additional plastic tubing, footpumps, shower roses, balloons, and various mouthpieces that create unpredictable sounds. He also plays balafon (African xylophone), drums and saxophone.
In 2013, 2009 & 2007 he was awarded Australia Council grants to develop new instruments & installations of automated kinetic sound sculptures and record new works. He employs common materials to create unexpectedly wondrous & immersive sonic environments. Some installations seek to reframe technology through the intersection of electro & acoustic, new & old mediums, such as his use of data projectors & spinning styrofoam causing quasi-holographics. Other installations illuminate acoustic phenomena, some are affected by solar & wind activity, and many seek a tactile interactivity especially popular with children. Play is an important part of the creative process whether it is improvising with sounds or experimenting with materials to create instruments & sculptures.
