Fremantle’s Inner Harbour will be transformed by The Port’s Call, an expansive sonic installation by Thomas Supple and Byron J Scullin. Beginning at dawn on the first day of the Biennale and continuing until dusk on Sunday 12 November, the arrival and departure of each large vessel (regardless of the time of day), will be signalled by a bespoke soundscape. With each passing vessel, a continually changing symphony of sound, using long-range acoustic technology, will echo throughout the Port. Stretching across a square kilometre, from the South Mole into Victoria Quay, the harbour will become a living stage for this […]

Kastoms is a new iteration of Taloi Havini’s Answer to the Call, an immersive twenty-two speaker installation, composed in dialogue with contemporary arts practice, scientific investigation and customary wisdom. Originally created after her residency onboard the R/V Falkor (Schmidt Ocean Institute) and premiered with the TBA21-Academy at Ocean Space, Venice (2021), this significant work is now re-imagined in Australia for the first time, resounding in a series of cycles specifically for the Old Customs House in Fremantle. An island platform will lie at the centre, its shape and blue tones will evoke the depth and expanse of our understanding of Oceania […]

Resonant is an exhibition bringing together two distinct installations at PS Art Space by Bori Benko and Rob Kettels. In conversation with space, time and, one another. Resonant will transport viewers into an entangled vibrational and sonic world, into a space of shared visual lyricism and intertwined histories. Bori Benko’s Songs to the Universe makes visible the vibrating forces beyond our perception. Everything in our world, in the digital landscape and within our bodies, hum with vibrational energy. Bori captures these different frequencies and unique tunes in her moving mechanical sculptures. Revealed in this exhibition are the harmonies, patterns and travelling waves […]

GOOLUGATUP SOUNDS 16 w/ SCRATCHING MARCUS WHALE (eora / nsw) + LAURA ALTMAN (eora / nsw) Friday 3 November 2023 / Free entry from 6pm GS16 finds us in the height of Kambarang season, welcoming three acts who illuminate different threads connecting familiar genre tropes with freeform sound exploration. Each offers their music alongside vivid modes of performance - where elements of theatre, human movement, SCRATCHING is the ever-evolving collaboration of Grace Sanders and Ezekiel Padmanabham, augmented live by some of Boorloo’s finest players and sound-shapers. With Grace’s introspective-yet-sprawling songwriting and Ezekiel’s omnivorous production approach, Scratching can veer from futuristic […]

Trombonist Shannon Barnett and her quartet blend German precision with Australian humour and musical mastery. Described as a “soul-meltingly communicative brass player”, trombonist Shannon Barnett brings her German-based quartet to the Perth International Jazz Festival for the time. Building on her already impressive performance background in Australia, Barnett moved to Cologne in 2014, where she soon crossed paths with David Helm (bass), Fabian Arends (drums) and Stefan Karl Schmid (tenor saxophone) and subsequently formed this quartet. They have released three albums together (Hype, Bad Lover and Alive at Loft) and have toured throughout Europe and Australia, including performing at the 2016 Wangaratta Festival […]

Kastoms is a new iteration of Taloi Havini’s Answer to the Call, an immersive twenty-two speaker installation, composed in dialogue with contemporary arts practice, scientific investigation and customary wisdom. Originally created after her residency onboard the R/V Falkor (Schmidt Ocean Institute) and premiered with the TBA21-Academy at Ocean Space, Venice (2021), this significant work is now re-imagined in Australia for the first time, resounding in a series of cycles specifically for the Old Customs House in Fremantle. An island platform will lie at the centre, its shape and blue tones will evoke the depth and expanse of our understanding of Oceania […]

A “whimsical and free” solo performance for double bass and voice. Helen Svoboda is a double bassist, vocalist and composer. In the words of the ABC Music Show’s Andrew Ford, she is “a musician who absolutely defies categorisation”. Her work explores the melodic potential of the contemporary double bass, intricately weaving extended techniques and overtones with vocal tessitura to explore themes of sonic unity amidst abstract songwriting. Her performance practice emits a childlike, quirky energy, with a flair for “allowing difficult ideas to sound whimsical and free”, according to vocalist Kristin Berardi. For this performance, she presents a series of […]

Tom Avgenicos presents Ghosts Between Streams, an ode to nature via a rich tapestry of sounds, with Delay 45. Ghosts Between Streams is an interdisciplinary work by 2022 Freedman Fellow, composer and trumpeter Tom Avgenicos. It blends chamber music, contemporary jazz and electronics to explore the power struggle between nature and urbanisation. With an overarching environmental concern, the work captures the notion of solastalgia – the sadness felt at the loss or change of a beloved place in nature. Inspired by Avgenicos’ daily walks through Stringybark Creek Reserve on Cammeraygal Country (Sydney), Ghosts Between Streamspaints a vivid picture of the […]

Nice To Meet You: trumpeters Tom Avgenicos and Jessica Carlton play together for the first time. First meetings rarely play out in public, but they will at this unique series of shows. Nice To Meet You brings together two world-class musicians who have never played together and puts them in front of an audience that can watch in wonder as they navigate this new musical relationship in real time. In this performance, Australian trumpeters Tom Avgenicos and Jessica Carlton will take to the stage under these unique circumstances. Will it be duelling trumpets or a scintillating soundscape of haunting beauty? […]

Nice to Meet You: trombonist Shannon Barnett meets double bassist and vocalist Helen Svoboda. First meetings rarely play out in public, but they will at this unique series of shows. Nice To Meet You brings together two world-class musicians who have never played together, and puts them in front of an audience that can watch in wonder as they navigate this new musical relationship in real time. In this performance, Australian-born, German-based trombonist Shannon Barnett will meet Melbourne double bass player and vocalist Helen Svoboda. Will this duo create musical magic of spartan simplicity or radically robust improvisations? No-one will […]

Nice To Meet You: guitarist Josh Meader and bass player Sam Anning play together for the first time. First meetings don’t always play out in public, but they will at this unique series of shows. Nice To Meet You brings together two world-class musicians who have never played together, and puts them in front of an audience that can watch in wonder as they navigate this new musical relationship in real time. In this performance, Sydney guitarist Josh Meader will meet Melbourne bass player Sam Anning. Will these two powerhouse players create musical fireworks, or slip into subtle, sonoric serenity? […]

Nice To Meet You: pianist Matthew Sheens and drummer Ben Vanderwal play together for the first time First meetings rarely play out in public, but they will at this unique series of shows. Nice To Meet You brings together two world-class musicians who have never played together and puts them in front of an audience that can watch in wonder as they navigate this new musical relationship in real time. In this performance, New York-based Australian pianist and composer Matthew Sheens is paired with globally renowned Perth drummer Ben Vanderwal. How will these two unique forces in the world of […]