For the past 20 years, Liquid Architecture has been Australia’s leading organisation for artists working with sound and listening. LA investigates the sounds themselves, but also the ideas communicated about, and the meaning of, sound and listening.
Our program stages encounters and creates spaces for sonic experience, and critical reflection on sonority and systems of sonic affect. To do this, we host experiences at the intersection of contemporary art and experimental music, supporting artists to produce performances and concerts, exhibitions, talks, reading groups, workshops and recordings in art spaces, music venues and other sites.
Liquid Architecture is curatorially driven and our methodology embraces research, collaborations and imaginations. We want to echo beyond local conversations, problems, debates and questions, to reverberate across media and disciplines, and so to sound out new discourses about the audible world, and beyond.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the sovereign owners of the country where we live and work, and recognise that sovereignty has not been ceded. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
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GEORGIA HUTCHISON is a cultural development practitioner and arts executive in Naarm/Melbourne, working with Liquid Architecture since 2017. Her practice as an artist, educator, organiser and strategist crosses contemporary art, music, design and social justice. Previous to LA’s prolific international program, she has independently worked with partners including Asialink Arts, National Association for the Visual Arts, MONA, RMIT University, U-P, Molonglo Group.
JOEL STERN is a curator, researcher, and artist living and working on Wurundjeri land in Melbourne, Australia. Stern’s work deals with a range of issues, themes and questions connected with theories and practises of sound and listening. Interests include: sound, power and control; covert listening and panacoustic surveillance; polyphony as social practice; experimental music and community ritual; speech, voice, subjectivity; eavesdropping and ventriloquism; techno-politics of machine listening; rhetorics of nonsense and bullshit; pandemic soundscapes; acoustic justice; silence as testimony; post, trans, and non-human listening. Since 2013, Stern has been Artistic Director at Liquid Architecture, a leading Australian organisation that creates spaces for sonic experience and critical listening at the intersection of contemporary art and experimental music. In this capacity he has been responsible for hundreds of festivals, symposia, exhibitions, concerts and publications realised in Australia and internationally, with collaborators ranging from major museums and institutions through to community organisations and artist-led initiatives. In addition to Liquid Architecture, Stern has led numerous independent organisations including: OtherFilm, a collective working with artists moving image and the legacy of avant-garde cinema; and Instrument Builders Project, a workshop, residency, exhibition series featuring artists, musicians and craftspeople from across Australia and Asia. In 2018, with critical legal scholar James Parker, Stern curated Eavesdropping, an expansive project connecting Liquid Architecture, Melbourne Law School, Ian Potter Museum of Art, and City Gallery Wellington, which comprised exhisbitions, public programs, working groups, tours, and a publication, addressing the ‘politics of listening’ through work by artists, researchers, writers, detainees and activists from Australia and around the world. Stern’s PhD thesis ‘Eavesdropping: The Politics, Ethics, and Art of Listening’ was completed through the Curatorial Practice program at Monash University, where he also teaches on sonic art.
DEBRIS FACILITY PTY LTD is a queer Corporate Entity which entangles itself with Bodies, Complicating their Borders with Haptic Interfaces. Wearables act as Extensions to broader installation practices, and move Parasitically with their Hosts through Differing Terrains. The Transmutation of Industrial Materials into Situations, Installations and jewellery Implicates our Consumption within global Supply Chains, highlighting Transitory processes and Exchanges.
ALISA BLAKENEY is a curator from Western Australia. She has presented exhibitions and projects at Taipei Artist Village, Stedelijk Museum, De Appel, Tate Modern, Goldsmiths, Paper Mountain, and Bunbury Regional Art Gallery.
LIANG LUSCOMBE is a Naarm/Melbourne-based visual artist whose practice encompasses painting, sculpture and moving image that engage in a process of generative questioning of how media and film affect audiences. She has contributed essays and reviews for numerous publications and cultural institutions such as Artlink, Raven, Discipline, un Magazine, Art Collector Magazine, Runway Journal, West Space Journal and Monash University Museum of Art. She has been included in screenings at Liquid Architecture, Melbourne; OpenTV, Chicago; Comfort Station, Chicago; and Vehicle, NYC. She has undertaken residencies at Chicago Artist Coalition’s HATCH residency program, Chicago, 2019; SOMA Summer, Mexico City, 2018; Australia Council Studio, British School at Rome, 2013; and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art Studio Residency, Perth, 2011. Recent solo exhibitions include: Itchy IOUs, 2021, recess, Melbourne; Sweaty Scales, Metro Arts, Brisbane, 2020; Sweaty Scales, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2019; She inches glass to break, VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition, Richmond, 2018; Table Talk, Box Copy, Brisbane, 2016; A Tall Painter, Yarra Flats, Melbourne, 2016; Three Sailors, Sutton Project Space, Melbourne, 2014; Non in Casa, 157 Blyth St, Melbourne, 2013.
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JENNIFER BARRY is a creative professional with over 25 years' experience leading arts organisations, managing creative projects, devising public programs, and producing the work of artists, nationally and internationally. She has held a range of leadership positions including Footscray Community Arts Centre (Director/CEO), Shunpike (Executive Director /USA), Chunky Move (Executive Producer/Co-CEO), Federation Square (Manager, Public Programs), the Australian Institute of Arts Management (Executive Director), and the Arts Management Advisory Group of Victoria (Executive Director). As a consultant and project manager, she has worked with all levels of government, and numerous organisations, undertaking strategic planning, conducting stakeholder engagement, and managing business development initiatives. Clients have included the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria (now Creative Victoria), the City of Melbourne, the Australian Art Orchestra, the Australian Network for Art and Technology, and the Royal Children's Hospital, among many others. Jennifer has served on numerous not-for-profit boards and advisory committees.
NAOMI VELAPHI is an arts producer and programmer interested in contemporary, interdisciplinary arts practice. She is currently the Program Producer for the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) and also has an independent practice with a strong commitment to working with culturally diverse artists. She has held producing roles both independently and for a number of arts institutions including Arts Centre Melbourne, Arts House, Koorie Heritage Trust and the Abbotsford Convent. Naomi has over 10 years of experience in the industry and has worked across all facets of arts production including, curation, funding and budget management and audience development. She is currently a part of the Australia Council Arts Leadership Program, holds a Masters of Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Melbourne and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) from Curtin University.
KRISTEN SMITH is a non-practicing lawyer with over a decade of experience focused on large scale commercial litigation and class actions. She currently works as an Investment Manager for international litigation financier, Omni Bridgeway, having previously worked for Slater and Gordon in their Commercial and Project Litigation team. She has also worked at Dundas & Wilson (now CMS) in Scotland and as an Associate to the Supreme Court of Victoria’s Associate Justice Efthim. In 2004, she was awarded the Victoria Law Foundation Chief Justice’s Medal for Excellence and Community Service. She has previously served on the boards of the Australian Communities Foundation and the EastWeb foundation and is currently Vice President of the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS) board.
MARK NOLEN is a Certified Practising Accountant with extensive experience in the creative industries sector. He is currently Management Accountant at the Australian Centre of the Moving Image, having previously worked in a similar role at Film Victoria. Along the way he has helped countless singers, actors and even clowns get their taxes in order – no laughing matter! When not crunching numbers, you can find Mark sitting back with a fine drop of Scottish Whisky soaking up some even finer tunes.
DAVID CHESWORTH is an artist and composer, known for his experimental, and at times minimalist music, who has worked with electronics, contemporary ensembles, film, theatre and experimental opera. Together with Sonia Leber, Chesworth has created installation artworks using sound, video, architecture and public participation. Exhibitions include ‘56th Venice Biennale (2015), ‘19th Biennale of Sydney (2014), and ‘Melbourne Now’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2013-14). Festivals featuring Chesworth’s music and sound works include Ars Electronica, Festival D’Automne de Paris, Bang on a Can Marathon, New York, Sydney Biennale, Adelaide and Melbourne Festivals and MONA FOMA. Early in his career he was co-founder of post-punk band Essendon Airport and for five years was coordinator of the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre in Melbourne. David Chesworth joined the Liquid Architecture Board in 2015.
HANNAH FOX is an artist, curator and creative producer working in the fields of sound, public art, contemporary music and live art. She founded creative partnership Supple Fox, delivered four years of programs as Artistic Associate for Contemporary Music at Melbourne Festival, and was Associate Creative Director of Mona’s winter festival Dark Mofo. In July 2019, along with Gideon Obarzanek, Hannah was appointed as Director and joint CEO of Rising – the newly remodelled and launched festival for Melbourne. Her tenure extends from 2020 till 2023. In parallel to her curatorial endeavours, Hannah has ventured into developing her own artistic practice in collaboration with artist Byron J Scullin and Thomas Supple. In June 2017, the group presented Siren Song: a large-scale, outdoor sonic artwork that fills the skies of a city, which continues to be remounted in cities around the world.
MICHAEL GRAEVE is a Castlemaine-based visual and sound artist. Working from easel painting through installation to sound performance, he engages painting and sound art practices in dialogue, extending frameworks for their creation and reading, and creating oscillations of conjunctive and disjunctive relations. He exhibits and performs internationally and has held over 25 solo exhibitions. His work has been reviewed in Artforum International, Eyeline, Real Time and Art/Text as well as in books by Ros Bandt and Caleb Kelly. He is a senior lecturer at RMIT University and holds a PhD. He was a Samstag scholar studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has been awarded residencies in Vienna and New York. Michael has been a board member of Liquid Architecture Sound Inc since 2007, and was previously a board member and program manager at West Space Inc and a founding committee member of Grey Area Art Space Inc.
MONICA LIM oversees Fame Agenda, a casual women’s retail brand with presence in various department stores in Indonesia. With her husband, Konfir Kabo, she runs a portfolio of fuel retail sites across Australia, and is co-founder of Project Eleven: a philanthropic initiative supporting contemporary art projects with a focus on new commissions and cross-cultural projects. She previously practiced as a Tax Consultant at HLB Mann Judd and as Tax Manager at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu between 2000-2006. Monica is a classical pianist with an interest in experimental and multidisciplinary forms of expression, and is completing her degree in Interactive Composition at the University of Melbourne. She has produced work for White Night, Melbourne Fringe and Arts Centre Melbourne and is working on projects for Arts House, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Ensemble Offspring and Ars Musica, Brussels. She currently sits on the Events Committee for the Melbourne Recital Centre. She has two sons, aged 14 and 16.
ANDY MILLER currently works as the General Manager of Multicultural Arts Victoria. Initially trained as a painter at the Canberra School of Art, Andy Miller worked in theatre for a number of years before working to establish arts programs in the community sector. Following a few years as an arts and cultural officer at two local governments, Andy began a career in the state public service in various senior roles at Arts Victoria and Creative Victoria and was seconded for a period with Creative Partnerships Australia, as Senior Programs Manager. As well as a Bachelor in Fine Arts, he has a Masters in Public Policy and a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management from the University of Melbourne.
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Contact
We welcome conversation, ideas and feedback at any time.
info@liquidarchitecture.org.au
FB, IG, YT, SC
104/35 Johnston Street
Collingwood VIC 3066
AUSTRALIA
LIQUID ARCHITECTURE
SOUND INC
ABN 73128090237
ASN A0050679K
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You can provide feedback or make a complaint via email via email to info@liquidarchitecture.org.au.
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Lin Chi-Wei: Tape Music
Lin Chi-Wei is a legend of Taiwanese sonic art, whose practice incorporates folklore culture, noise, ritual, and audience participation. He is a founding member of Zero and Sound Liberation Organization, pioneering groups for experimental music in Taiwan, and in 2012 published Beyond Sound Art: The Avant Garde, Sound Machine and the Modernity of Hearing, which analyses the aesthetic condition of sound and art in a post-colonial East Asian context.
At Collingwood Art Precinct, Chi-Wei will initiate an iteration of his participatory sound work, Tape Music, in which vocal volunteers pass a ribbon score containing 666 words from hand to hand, reading and vocally responding as the ribbon passes, becoming a ‘human tape machine’.
LA: We have observed a certain tension weaving through your work Tape Music. This piece represents an ongoing attempt by you to explore how a group of humans may be assembled into a ‘machine of sound’, but it does this, critically, through a polyphonic process that is constitutively social, tactile and communal (i.e. kind of ultimately and irreducibly human)? How do tensions between the machinic and human play out in your work?
“Well, I think these are exactly the essential questions the Tape Music raises.
Between 2004 to 2013, Tape Music has only been played by audiences. There have been around 100 sessions and more than 2000 people have participated. People from primary schools, temples, churches, factories, local governments, neighborhoods, folk music groups, empowerment groups, training groups, and also visitors and audiences of museums, music festivals, bars and venues. As you can see, there are individual participants (such as in the museum) and people from different communities in different occasions.
For me the interesting thing is to see how these temporal gatherings turn into an aural community in a very short time! As a rule of the game I normally give no explanation nor instruction to the audience. I just pass the ribbon with embroidered words made of meaningless phonetics (without pitches) to the audiences and see what is going to happen. As you can imagine, people must react to it firstly by direct instinct (not every audience likes to do the performance by themselves), then by seeing how the others react to it, and trying (or refusing to try) to find a role in the playing.
To give an example: In 2007 in a Tape Music session in a local community in Stockholm, most of the (elder) people had naturally found their own place in the harmonic series, while a younger girl made annoying cat noises all the time (which was not part of the notation). In the artist talk after the performance, the participants were delighted when I told them they made probably the most “harmonic” performance I had ever experienced. They started a long talk after my comments concerning the ideas of the Swedish term lagom (which means ‘just the right amount’). The idea may also relate to the Viking practice of equal food divisions as well as modern Swedish democracy! For me personally, I think the meowing girl was doing her job perfectly.
There are also contradictory cases: In a Japanese electronic factory of Shenzhen, China, a folk music group (supported by the factory owner, whose members are also labourers in the enterprise) were invited to participate in the session in their repetition room. Throughout, no-one emitted a word, they just silently transferred the ribbon without making any noise for 15 minutes. The fact is that they were paid to work as musicians-labourers, and if there is no instruction given, they just won’t work ….. It is essential to see how the community organises and also how they don’t organise….In Hong Kong I found another radical version of Tape Music for no-one ever to hear or dare to do!
If we consider society as a machine, Tape Music could probably work as a kind of sonore diagram of the inner circuits.”
Print material designed by U-P
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung, Taungurong, Dja Dja Wurrung and the Wathaurung people of the Kulin Nation as the custodians of the land in which this event takes place, and we recognise that sovereignty was never ceded. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.Partners
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