Musicians have been busy experimenting this year. They’ve had to. However, this group was never interested in the ‘new normal’, they want the ‘new new’. Self-reflection and self-immersion, shifting bodily and historical perspectives, gendered, layered, poetic and suffocating in milk while doom-scrolling. Through distinct works, these emerging artists share personal stories spanning the Golden Age of Hollywood to text messaging bots.
This YouTube Premiere event unveils a feast of music, words and images that will take you on a rollercoaster ride through the hidden chambers of our minds, bodies and emotions. We will also launch a website that is simultaneously abstract and familiar, anti-nostalgia for our times.
Click here to watch from Friday 17 December 2021 onwards
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Video Works
Followed by the launch of:
Video
Adina Herz’s downpour is a musical art film which explores the human condition of being overwhelmed by emotion. The performance utilises the recurring metaphor of substances being poured onto the face. The core of the work is a visual paradox. The performer revels in the different textures and viscosities of the substances, however, is engulfed and distorted by them. This enables the observer to undergo a deep emotional journey aided by the visual exploration of the paradox. Herz’s rendition of the renowned works Vocalise by Rachmaninoff and Dido’s Lament by Purcell as well as Herz’s original material score this work, heightening the emotional journey through the richness and haunting nature of the vocals.
Video
The creation of composer-performer Ofri Einav, [EM]BODY is an exploration of the vulnerability of presenting one’s body to be seen by oneself and others alike. Using audio-visual experimentations with both physical and digital staging, sound, lighting and performance, this multi-sensory experience will guide you through an examination of the body in its functional sense, as an invitation to question one’s perception of the body as a tool, an object, a subject and an extension of self.
Weaved together by the talents of dancer Shannee Einav, set designer Hilit Einav, and audio producer Joshua Freeman, Ofri Einav’s [EM]BODY will lead you on a powerfully intimate odyssey through your corporeal being, laden with her expressive vocalisations, soulful musicianship and poetic lyricism.
Video
The flux of modern society is given an uncanny sheen in this retrospective interrogation of the movies we hold dear.
From aspiring musician and performance artist Paddy O’Dwyer, ‘Killing Your Darlings’ is mesmerising, hypnotising and unnervingly astute in its exploration of gender and incidental violence throughout the golden age of Hollywood.
The gentle yet paralysing melodic throes of Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley are performed by Paddy with an impassioned and nuanced delivery that breathes knew meaning into the seemingly innocuous visual stimuli on screen, and when combined with striking surrealist hyper-editing techniques, the result is a work that lingers with you long past the proverbial silver screen fades to black.
Video
Five Stages of Grief is a gripping performance of the human psyche following trauma. Trauma plunges most into a chasm of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – a detonation of emotions or drawn-out years of hardship. Violinist Nicholas Drozdowski has created an imaginative visualisation of the five stages that weaves Western classical music with mesmerising movement from Maeve Nolan. The blending of art forms conveys the complexity of the five stages and illustrates the non-linear dynamic between each stage. The work has an underlying theme of despair and explores fragmented symbols that reflect a volatile mind. Inner turmoil reveals itself through the emotive music and dance, showcasing the wake of trauma on the mind and body. Five Stages of Grief is a striking production of dualities: turbulence and stillness, the living and the deceased, hopelessness and resilience.
Video Demonstration
Through viewing this exhibition, audiences can enjoy exploring the use of water in music, particularly with how it is used differently throughout history and in different schools of music.
Indeed, this is achieved by the novel method of modifying recordings of kettles boiling and clicking to create a percussive effect. A soundscape is also constructed from various household objects and objects relating to water, constructing an experiment of creativity and flair.
The artistic concept is partially inspired by John Cage, a notable American composer known for pushing the boundaries of what constitutes music, performed, and popularised, his ground-breaking composition ‘Water Walk’ on the 1960 game show ‘I’ve Got a Secret’.
Following in Cage’s footsteps, audiences will enjoy a reinterpretation of ‘Water Walk’ in a contemporary setting, as well as take inspiration from his experimentation to explore soundscapes. The project will also piece together a cultural experience, by including the use of foreign languages in the poetry reading, including my second tongue of Mandarin Chinese, where the spirit of collaborating with friends is preserved. As such, this resulted in the conception of a project that transverses the traditional boundaries of music and culture.
* The Chinese characters in the title of this project resemble what a water sound effect would sound like, like 'tick tock' in English.
Website
The first COVID case was reported in December 2019. Since then, our world has suffered through colossal change and has seen a shift in the ways we approach our day-to-day life; it has produced devastating repercussions on our health, social life and general livelihood.
Composer and sound designer Natalie Wihandono has curated an immersive, website-based experience that weaves through a typical day in the life of lockdown, using a ‘choose your own adventure’ style design. Titled in | site, it explores the variety of emotions many of us have experienced during the pandemic. Using an amalgamation of field recordings, MIDI recordings, acoustic composition and electronic sampled sounds, Natalie conceives a rich, complex world full of various multi-sensory sensations. From isolation to insomnia, come and immerse yourself in this vast array of experiences.
Interactive Smartphone Experience
To start the experience, text "heyyyy!" to 0401 969 360.
Ever been lost scrolling through your phone before? You glance up at the time and say “oh just five minutes more” only to realise an hour later that your mother has been calling you for dinner for the past thirty minutes. Yeah. Never happened to me either…
You’ve Been on That Thing All Day! Created by Philip Langshaw establishes a connection between the user and the A.I. that has been operating their device since they first plugged it in. Combining creative sound design, music and live SMS messages, the user interacts with disembodied mechanical voices and text spamming robots that attempt a guided modern age style meditation, bringing the user to a more present state of awareness. However an android built through a buzzing and ringing mobile phone might do that.
The work is an exploration of the modern psyche, placed in realm of constant and barraging sounds, texts, messages and notifications, all vying for our attention. Yet with such little attention to work with.
Watch on YouTube from 6.30pm, Friday 17 December 2021 onwards.
