Created by David Murphy, the giant circular harp is an acoustic instrument, which looks a bit like a very large kettledrum. It contains 66 strings, strung in a complex pattern across the top. During performance, which usually requires three people, a video camera points down at the instrument from above, and vibrations from plucked and hammered strings are fed into bowls of liquid. This makes patterns which are projected onto a large screen, as the sound is fed into small speakers underneath in which containers of water or mercury have cameras trained on them. The resulting images are then superimposed to make interesting visual effects.


In his work that appeared at the REV Festival in Brisbane, 2002, "The Circular Harp and it's resulting images", the Circular Harp David Murphy made as an exploration into the junction of geometry and music was played by percussionists Graeme Leak, Greg Sheehen, and himself (on left). The music was amplified for the audience, and used to excite bowls of liquid, with the beautiful and beguiling images that resulted being projected above the performance in real-time