Peak Plastique

Peak Plastique video stills 2025. Credit: Nick Roux 

Peak Plastique, an immersive video and sound installation, examines our complex relationship with plastics and the friction between hopes for sustainability and the tough realities of our plastic-filled world.   

Originally conceived as a live concert, Peak Plastique has been reconceptualised for ArtSpace at Realm as an immersive video installation with a sound world of playful, intricate rhythmic patterns that mirror the structures of plastic molecules.  

Drawing on decades of sonic curiosity across the fields of classical, jazz and experimental music, pianist Erik Griswold, violinist Anna McMichael, percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson and video artist Nick Roux have joined forces to create this mesmerising new work which premiered as a concert at the World Science Festival Brisbane earlier this year followed by a presentation at Classical: NEXT in Berlin in May 2025.  

“A fresh, irreverent perspective on the messy, beautiful intersection of art, technology, and nature.”  Review of Peak Plastique recording, Chain D.L.K., 2025.

Stream the Peak Plastique recording

Peak Plastique is a Clocked Out project supported by Creative Arts Research Institute, Griffith University and Monash University. The recording is released by Unsounds.

Opening event

Musicians Anna McMichael, Vanessa Tomlinson and Erik Griswold

Join us for an exciting opening event featuring a performance by musicians Erik Griswold, Anna McMichael and Vanessa Tomlinson with Monash University students from the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music. Each piece explores a musical textural world of its own, being inspired by a specific synthetic or natural element, ranging from polypropylene and PVC to seaweed packaging. The music evokes both a fascination for plastic and a deep sense of precarity.  

Everyone is also welcome to come to an informal artist talk before the launch during a special Maroondah Arts Collective gathering.

Please RSVP via the form below. 

• Date: Thursday 9 October 2025
• Time: 6pm to 7.30pm (informal artist talk from 5.30pm)
• Venue: ArtSpace at Realm, 179 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood
• Cost: Free 

Register online

Associated programming

In association with Peak Plastique, a series of workshops, displays and activities will explore the problem of plastic from a range of perspectives. These include: 

• Blue Realm, a meditation on consumption, transformation, and our entwined relationship with the environment on the Realm ArtWall. Made from recycled plastic hay baling twine by artist Carolyn Cardinet.
• Displays created from recycled plastics by Precious Plastics Monash and students from Croydon Hills Primary School showcased in the Realm Collectors Cabinets. 
• The Peak Plastique and Blue Realm launch event with a live performance and artist talk.  
• School holiday workshops Create with Plastic Art & Sustainability with artist Carolyn Cardinet in Realm Library. 
• Themed storytimes and plastic percussion activities for toddlers and preschool children in Realm Library. 
• An interactive session on Plastic-Free Household Hacks and National Recycling Week pop up display presented by the Maroondah City Council Waste Management team. 
• Plastic-free household hacks
• National Recycling Week display