Kinetic works and pieces triggered by sensors, a machine throwing ping-pong balls at instruments and a device that converts energy into noise are among the features of Material Sound.

Six artists from across the country – Vicky Browne, Pia van Gelder, Caitlin Franzmann, Peter Blamey, Ross Manning, and Eric Demetriou – are involved in the exhibition.

Curator Caleb Kelly said it had beginnings in the United States.

“MAMA director Bree Pickering was working in Philadelphia and we hatched the plan of doing this, and she left for MAMA, so here it is,” he said.

“One of the things we’re most excited about is bringing contemporary art to regional galleries.

“There used to be this idea that regional galleries were art society kind of places – paintings of flowers, handmade ceramics – and that’s still got a role, but they’re also places we can have ultra-contemporary art works that maybe wouldn’t normally leave the big cities.”

Kelly, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales, will also develop a version of Material Sound to exhibit in North Carolina next year.

“With this show, everything is transparent – you engage in the work and you didn’t need a degree to do it,” he said.

Artists have re-purposed materials for their piece – Eric Demetriou has used Murray River water and local beeswax, and Vicky Browne has brought vegetation from her home in the Blue Mountains for one of her works.

“The way we know things is also through sound, it’s not just looking at or touching something,” Browne said.

“Part of how we know a wooden table is that we know the sound of it.”

Residents will have a rare opportunity to view the work of guest artist Robin Fox – he will co-ordinate a spectacular light show in St Matthew’s Church on Saturday.

Free events to kick off the exhibition, running until April 29, are as follows: