Created and directed by Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey, the megaphone project is a discovered world of sound and physical contortion that is about the world of private and public broadcast and how we physically engage with it.

Twenty-five striking red megaphones of different shapes and sizes recreate the childhood miracle of wireless tincan telephones, and the joyful manipulations of voices that are naturally reinforced through simple acoustics. Voices then mysteriously and ambiguously return via our custom-designed wireless audio network.

This is a sound work that is inherently ambiguous, where everyone becomes part of a grand sonic texture, discovering amplifications of themsself and others, leaving instructions, exhortations and loving messages.

The megaphones create an interactive performance field. Specially-trained attendants (Sally Smith, David Wells and Jesse Stevens) skilfully manoeuver the situation to calibrate the optimum space for the public to create their sound and movement works.

Audience response to this opportunity is immediate and compelling. Every child aged 18 months and up (and most adults) has an instinct to use the megaphones, speaking through, singing in, shouting in,listening to, seeing through, running from horn to horn, and climbing inside, sometimes even falling asleep to the gentle sound massage of a sibling on the other end. In the field of megaphones, the audience creates a lively environment of play and enjoyment that is all their own invention.

the megaphone project is available as a touring installation and performance with variable content and configuration depending on the theme of your event.

It has now been experienced by over 30,000 people of all ages.

the megaphone project has been generously supported by the City of Melbourne through ArtPlay, the Victorian Arts Centre and Federation Square, as well as Awesome Arts Festival