If we were to go back to the start – where this all began – we’d find two girls, a kayak and an idea. Throughout 2006, Rhi and I were training for a kayak endurance race. Many mornings were spent (before work) paddling on Sydney Harbour working our biceps while soaking up – from a comfortable distance – the early morning chaos of inner city working professionals. Being on the water also gave us a unique perspective of a lesser-known Sydney: homeless men fishing from the wharf with self-made fishing rods, riggers working on the wharf at Cockatoo Island, old mansions nestled along the shores of Lane Cove River…
The harbour, with its vibrancy, chaos and intricate buzz, gave us energy to keep powering forward. But it also fed our creativity. Although I suspect mostly it was simply the time our training afforded us to bounce ideas back and forth across the kayak. Either way, much inspiration was found during our long paddles. Many new ideas formed: a book to be written, a story to be told, a blog to form, a project to implement, an organisation to begin. How often did we suddenly realise our paddles were lying dormant across the kayak while we excitedly chattered about our latest creative endeavour!
One morning we were lamenting the lack of people we knew who were interested in talking about music – talking deeply about it, tearing it apart and dissecting its layers, exploring its darkest secrets… and so, after a bunch of emails were sent to friends, acquaintances and a few randoms, our Nerd Music Nights began!
At the initial Nerd Music Night we explored the music of Liza Lim, while drinking red wine and enjoying the vegan goodness Rhi and I enthusiastically cooked up for our new friends. And since then we’ve found ourselves emersed in many critical listening and focussed discussion nights, supporting the presentation of each others creative practices, enjoying vibrant colourful (and at times rather raucous!) dinner parties, adventuring in the wilderness of Australia and spending far too much time guzzling beer after gigs and concerts while arguing, bitching and ranting about all that is art…
Curiousity began to grow about our own creative practices: Were there crossover points in our personal approaches to creativity? What would it be like working together to create art? How could we work together? What would we create? Eventually another idea emerged…
…And so here we are…
Where will this new idea take us? Who knows! But it is with great excitement that we begin working creatively together and we invite you to follow our creative process through reading this blog. Stay tuned!
- Dan
Wednesday, January 30
The Artists Involved
Serena Armstrong | composer/sound artist/musician
Serena Armstrong is a professionally trained composer and lawyer. She graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2002 with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (honours) and Bachelor of Law (honours). Serena majored in music composition and throughout her career she has worked collaboratively with visual artists, writers, journalists and actors.
Danielle Carey | writer/musician/visual artist
Danielle Carey is a musicologist, writer, musician and visual artist currently based in the Blue Mountains. A graduate from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she writes for various national music publications and is editor of resonate - the Australian Music Centre's new web magazine. She self-publishes music reviews, interviews and other writing in her blog and is currently creating a series of mixed-media art works inspired by the township and natural setting of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, NSW.
Rhiannon Cook | composer/writer/musician
Rhiannon Cook creates music, writes about it, and educates others about these processes. She has worked collaborated on numerous creative projects, has worked at the Australian Music Centre, and has taught music and composition in schools and at the Wollongong Conservatorium. She writes program notes for the Sydney Omega Ensemble and her articles have been published in most of Australia's print and online music magazines.
Julian Day | composer/writer/radio presenter
Julian Day is a composer and arts presenter based in Sydney. A former winner of The Australian Voices Young Composer of the Year Award, Julian studied composition with Gerard Brophy at the Queensland Conservatorium and with Louis Andriessen, Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe at the 2003 Bang On A Can Summer Institute of Music in Massachusetts, USA. From 1997 he co-directed COMPOST, a group of emerging composers that presented large-scale music events around the country. He has also worked extensively in sound, installation and performance art, presenting work at the Queensland Art Gallery, the Brisbane Powerhouse, the Arts Theatre in Canberra and RMIT in Melbourne. Julian also maintains a successful career as a radio broadcaster and writer. Since 2001 he has presented for ABC Classic FM, hosting the award-winning New Music Australia and New Music Up Late. In this role he has interviewed many of the world's best-known composers, including Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson and Gavin Bryars.
Benjamin Millar | photographer/writer/sound artist
Benjamin Millar is a Sydney-based journalist, writer and photographer. He works as a journalist and editor for a stable of community newspapers, produces experimental sound pieces and has written extensively on music, arts and entertainment for a range of on-line and print publications. He keeps a blog of his creative writing and music reviews as well as his photography. He is currently working on a radio play and a novel.
Serena Armstrong is a professionally trained composer and lawyer. She graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2002 with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (honours) and Bachelor of Law (honours). Serena majored in music composition and throughout her career she has worked collaboratively with visual artists, writers, journalists and actors.
Danielle Carey | writer/musician/visual artist
Danielle Carey is a musicologist, writer, musician and visual artist currently based in the Blue Mountains. A graduate from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she writes for various national music publications and is editor of resonate - the Australian Music Centre's new web magazine. She self-publishes music reviews, interviews and other writing in her blog and is currently creating a series of mixed-media art works inspired by the township and natural setting of Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, NSW.
Rhiannon Cook | composer/writer/musician
Rhiannon Cook creates music, writes about it, and educates others about these processes. She has worked collaborated on numerous creative projects, has worked at the Australian Music Centre, and has taught music and composition in schools and at the Wollongong Conservatorium. She writes program notes for the Sydney Omega Ensemble and her articles have been published in most of Australia's print and online music magazines.
Julian Day | composer/writer/radio presenter
Julian Day is a composer and arts presenter based in Sydney. A former winner of The Australian Voices Young Composer of the Year Award, Julian studied composition with Gerard Brophy at the Queensland Conservatorium and with Louis Andriessen, Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe at the 2003 Bang On A Can Summer Institute of Music in Massachusetts, USA. From 1997 he co-directed COMPOST, a group of emerging composers that presented large-scale music events around the country. He has also worked extensively in sound, installation and performance art, presenting work at the Queensland Art Gallery, the Brisbane Powerhouse, the Arts Theatre in Canberra and RMIT in Melbourne. Julian also maintains a successful career as a radio broadcaster and writer. Since 2001 he has presented for ABC Classic FM, hosting the award-winning New Music Australia and New Music Up Late. In this role he has interviewed many of the world's best-known composers, including Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson and Gavin Bryars.
Benjamin Millar | photographer/writer/sound artist
Benjamin Millar is a Sydney-based journalist, writer and photographer. He works as a journalist and editor for a stable of community newspapers, produces experimental sound pieces and has written extensively on music, arts and entertainment for a range of on-line and print publications. He keeps a blog of his creative writing and music reviews as well as his photography. He is currently working on a radio play and a novel.
About Life Between Buildings
life between buildings is a group blog documenting the creative process of a collaborative project between five Australian creative artists working in various disciplines – sound/music, visual arts and writing.
Our collaboration involves the creation of site-specific art work. Our first project centres around a two-week artists’ residency in April/May 2008 at Bundanon, a rural property on the Shoalhaven River where Arthur Boyd lived and worked.
The name of our project is derived from Danish architect Jan Gehl’s classic treatise on the interplay between public space and social life. Central to Gehl’s practice is the consideration of design from a social point of view; his designs focus on people and how they interact within a particular space. By emphasising the relationship between people and the built environment, Gehl’s designs become a means to an end rather than an end in themselves. This resonates strongly with our interest in collaborative practice, exploring concepts of place and environment, and our ideas about site-specific art.
Follow this link to find out more about who we are and this one to read about how it all began.
Our collaboration involves the creation of site-specific art work. Our first project centres around a two-week artists’ residency in April/May 2008 at Bundanon, a rural property on the Shoalhaven River where Arthur Boyd lived and worked.
The name of our project is derived from Danish architect Jan Gehl’s classic treatise on the interplay between public space and social life. Central to Gehl’s practice is the consideration of design from a social point of view; his designs focus on people and how they interact within a particular space. By emphasising the relationship between people and the built environment, Gehl’s designs become a means to an end rather than an end in themselves. This resonates strongly with our interest in collaborative practice, exploring concepts of place and environment, and our ideas about site-specific art.
Follow this link to find out more about who we are and this one to read about how it all began.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)