Composer and sound artist Flo Wilson Photo: Supplied / Flo Wilson
Flo Wilson knows the drill at RNZ.
She used to be a sound engineer for RNZ National, and like a lot of RNZ's best sound engineers she's a musician in her own right.
This month Wilson is back in New Zealand from her new home, Berlin, overseeing the premiere of her work "In the Stars" in Auckland and collaborating in a sound art concert in Wellington's Futuna Chapel.
"In the Stars" was a bigger-than-Ben-Hur kind of project, featuring six singers (including Wilson) connected to six loud speakers, extracting the maximum amount of reverb from six old grain silos that form part of Auckland's Silo Park.
It was one of the key events of this year's Aotearoa International Festival of Secret Sounds, organised by Audio Foundation.
For Wilson, it was a bit like being inside the pipes of a giant organ.
The Futuna Chapel gig will be a more intimate affair, with Wilson sharing the bill with New Zealand-based artists Dream Chambers and Tondo.
What Wilson's two New Zealand gigs have in common is her ongoing fascination and affinity for the human voice. Amplified, manipulated, stretched - sometimes beyond recognition - and often her own voice accompanied by herself on keyboard.
Wilson's work earned her national recognition last year through an Arts Foundation "Springboard" award, which brought her some financial support and, just as importantly, mentorship in the form of Audio Foundation director Jeff Henderson.
Henderson encouraged Wilson to dream big, and that encouragement lead to this year's "In the Stars" project.
These days, Wilson's dreams extend beyond Aotearoa. Since leaving her sound engineering job at RNZ in Auckland, she's found an artistic home in Berlin.
Is it home for good? asks Crump.
Part of Wilson says 'yes', but it depends on Germany's political situation. Elections are due this week with the far-right AfD Party looking like it'll take a big share of the vote.
An AfD-led government might be enough to send the young artist back south again.
