Metaxi, a joint exhibition by Panos Couros and Nicholas Comino presented at Damien Minton Presents, Sydney, Australia, from 2–13 July 2026 was an exhibition that combined ceramics and sound in an exploration of transformation, place and memory. The work brought together a series of hand-built ceramic vessels and an immersive sound installation composed from field recordings and electronic sound. Developed through an ongoing interest in material processes and listening, the exhibition examined the relationships between objects, environments and lived experience. Sound was presented as an integral part of the work, extending the physical presence of the ceramic forms and shaping the atmosphere of the space. This page documents the exhibition, its development, and selected works presented within it.

The ceramic vessels and platters are influenced by archaic Greek and Byzantine forms, with surfaces developed through ongoing experimentation with high calcium magnesium satin matte glazes originally based on research by John Hesselberth and Ron Roy, with some very helpful hints from Trisha Dean. The works explore texture, colour, erosion, and material depth, creating objects that feel both ancient and contemporary.

Four of the ceramic works contained embedded transducers and a custom audio system that allow the clay objects to act as speakers. The sound compositions combine Byzantine chant, recordings of the waters at Delphi, environmental recordings made at Bundanon, and the natural resonant frequencies of the ceramic forms themselves. The ceramics and audio operate together as a single work, with sound physically activating the objects. Byzantine chant by Samer Madbak.

This video documents Metaxi. The exhibition combined ceramic sculpture and spatial sound, exploring relationships between materiality, memory and place.

The sound heard in this video was played through four of the ceramic vessels using transducers attached to the forms, allowing the works themselves to function as resonant loudspeakers. The resulting sound environment became an integral part of the exhibition, with the ceramic vessels acting as both sculptural objects and sound-producing instruments.

In May 2026, artist Nick Comino and I undertook a week-long residency at Bundanon, on the Shoalhaven River in New South Wales. Working within a shared studio environment from 11–17 May, we developed parallel yet complementary practices that explored the relationship between materiality, space, sound and gesture.

The studio offered much needed space. I installed a series of ceramic platters and spherical forms, activating them as resonant sound objects through the use of transducers. These vessels functioned simultaneously as sculptural forms and acoustic bodies, allowing me to investigate the sonic potential of ceramics and their capacity to shape the sound. Alongside this installation, Nick Comino utilised the studio as a site for drawing, producing a body of large-scale oil stick works in direct response to the landscape and atmosphere of Bundanon.

The residency provided an invaluable period of concentrated research and development. During this time I undertook field recordings across the Bundanon landscape and began the final composition of the sound material that would later form the soundscape for Metaxi, our joint exhibition at Damien Minton Presents, Sydney. The residency allowed for an immersive process of listening, recording and composition, in which environmental sounds, resonant ceramics and electronic processing were brought together into a cohesive sonic work.

Bundanon offered the time, space and isolation necessary to develop these ideas with a level of focus rarely possible within everyday studio practice. The work produced during the residency became a significant foundation for Metaxi, informing both its sonic language and its broader exploration of resonance, memory, landscape and material transformation.