Following on from the recent CareerOne interview, national Australian newspaper MX published an article about me and the Australia Council’s ArtStart grant program. Check out Art Starter Feeds Creativity (PDF 520KB) by Rhiannon Elston.

There is an ArtStart information session tomorrow (20th January) at Fraser Studios, 10-14 Kensington Street, Chippendale NSW. If you’re interested in learning more about this new Australia Council grant for young and emerging artists drop by the studios at 1pm.

Kath Melbourne will be running the session, with short talks and Q&A by recent grant recipients Anna Lise De Lorenzo, Claude Jones and myself.

Anna was awarded an ArtStart grant for her ‘object design studio launch supported by a series of curated exhibitions investigating emerging local object design’, Claude was awarded a grant ‘to develop and implement a marketing strategy to raise [her] profile, increase gallery and media attention and sales’ and I am using the grant for ‘laying the foundations to make a living as a sound and multimedia artist’. You can read more about what other recipients are using their grants for in the ArtStart December 2009 Assessment Meeting Report.

CareerOne recently interviewed me about my work as a Sound and Multimedia Artist and ArtStart grant success. Check out the Big Breaks for Budding Artists article by Rhiannon Elston.

Binary Forest Test 1 from David Kirkpatrick on Vimeo.

This is the first test for my work called Binary Forest. Binary Forest will debut as a video installation as part of the 2010 YAK Summer Residency I am producing with Arnab Ahmed at Shopfront Contemporary Arts and Performance (Carlton, NSW, Australia) on Saturday the 16th of January 2010. It will then evolve into the audiovisual component of a dance work called Static Cocoon that I am devising with Anna Kuroda. Static Cocoon will debut in Japan on the 30th of January 2010.

To kick off the new year in style YAK Events would like to invite you to the 2010 YAK Summer Residency Showings on the 16th of January.

The showings are the culmination of a two week intensive rehearsal and development residency undertaken by young artists from around Sydney and Melbourne. This year the showings feature works by the Bits & Pieces Ensemble, Sophie Webb and Mark Pritchard, and Faustina Delany. The residency gives performers an opportunity to create, develop and experiment, with no restrictions other than a time limit and their imaginations.

Check out the 2010 YAK Summer Residency Journal to see what’s been happening during the residency so far.

The YAK Summer Residency Showings will take place at Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre for Under 25’s, 88 Carlton Pde, Carlton, NSW. In order for us keep producing work by young artists a $10 donation at the door would be much appreciated.

The Australia Council for the Arts just awarded me a $10 000 ArtStart grant to assist in “laying the foundations to make a living as a sound and multimedia artist”.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Amongst other things I will be using the money to upskill, purchase new equipment and collaborate with interstate artists and organisations. Check out the ArtStart December 2009 assessment meeting report for further information.

If you are a recent creative arts graduate I highly recommend submitting an application in a future ArtStart grant round. The next deadline is the 8th of March 2010.

Public Bunnies flyer design by Mickie Quick

I went to see Public Bunnies; (Op. 3 in C# Minor) at PACT last Friday. It explores the rules and rituals we impose on ourselves by creating an elaborate society in which old underwear is treated with the highest of importance and status. The concept is quite strange but it works, and it works well.

Public Bunnies begins and ends in the theatre but the majority of the work is an interactive exploration of the entire PACT lot, expertly transformed into a junkyard outpost. The audience here becomes a part of the society it is exploring. You could walk amongst the goings on and characters in this world, and at times characters would reach out and interact with you directly. A resident mystic had an in depth conversation with me about what the colour of my underwear meant would happen in my future. With this form of interactive structure there are always bottlenecks in certain places, meaning you don’t get to experience everything, but that’s to be expected, and for the most part was dealt with quickly and without breaking character.

Director Michal Imielski’s self-composed drone-infused soundscape, combined with Aaron Clarke’s pulsating lighting design and impressive acting by PACT’s ImPACT ensemble immediately envelops the audience in this alternate world. The highlight for me though was the piano choreography in the theatre portion of the show. Members of the ImPACT ensemble rolled over, under and around a series of upright pianos with such precision that the distinction between human and piano was lost. The combination of instrument and human melded into one organic mass.

In my opinion, after having worked on a previous show of his called Blind as you See it, and now having experienced Public Bunnies, Imielski is one of the most interesting Australian based directors around at the moment. In the Public Bunnies program he says he treats the visual motifs of the work “similar to musical motifs. They are like musical notes or scales, with which one can compose a song or a symphony.” As a sound oriented person I think this is what appeals about his work. He also trends towards dark lighting and composes his own deep, thickly textured sound with elements of non-western instrumentation, all of which I am a big fan.

If you get the opportunity to see a later iteration of Public Bunnies or one of Imielski’s other directorial efforts I highly recommend going. Also, congratulations to PACT’s ImPACT ensemble of young artists for devising such an interestingly unusual work.

Successful applicants for the YAK Summer Residency 2010 were announced on Monday. Congratulations to  Sophie Webb, Mark Pritchard, Bits and Pieces (Felicity Nicol, Joanna Erskine, Grant Moxom, Jessica Falkholt, Carolyn Eccles and Michael Cutrupi), Luke Holmes and Faustina Delany.

YAK Events is looking forward to see what you make of your two week residency at Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre.

There will be a public showing of work developed during the residency at Shopfront on the 16th of January. Members of the arts industry and general public will be welcome to attend. Check back here closer to the day for further details.

Ólafur Arnalds – Ljósið (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

I just came across this clip on the Create Digital Motion website. It is one of the most beautiful music videos I have ever seen.

The way the music and vision are linked through movement, colour and texture is mesmerising. The strings enter with a restrained, graceful flourish of colour, pulling back to the solo piano’s minimal swaying harmony, all with an overarching beautiful melancholy. Esteban Diácono’s vision is literally woven through Ólafur Arnalds’ music, creating a multimedia work that reaches the listener/viewer on a deeply emotional level.

Simplicity is beauty.

YAK Events is offering groups and individuals the opportunity to develop new or existing work during a two week residency at Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre. There are no restrictions on the style, genre or nature of the work you want to make. The YAK Summer Residency is about giving artists the freedom to do as they please.

The residency will take place at Shopfront in Carlton NSW from 4 – 17 January 2010, culminating in a public showing of your work on the 16th. Spaces are limited, so move fast. Applications will be accepted up until Friday, 4th December 2009.

Check out the YAK Summer Residency 2010 Application.