Curation

Sounding the Future

curated by Gail Priest

UTS Gallery, 1 August - 22 September 2017 

Artists: Gail Priest, George Poonkhin Khut, Pia van Gelder & Tom Smith and Peter Blamey
Curator: Gail Priest

Sounding the Future is an exhibition curated by Gail Priest that speculates about what art in the future will sound like. The exhibition presents sonic “possibles and potentials” ranging from almost-here transhuman mediations, to far-future post-anthropocene aftermaths, with some apocalyptic contingencies in between. We always speak of “visions of the future,” but what if we were to let the auditory realm lead our imaginings? Does the dialogue about futurity take on new dimensions when considered through a different sense ratio? These dreams of future soundings, inflected by our present day, also offer reflections on how we listen now. The artists have developed new work that considers the impacts of new technologies, degrading environmental conditions and the prospect of a post-human world.

Download Sounding the Future Catalogue (PDF 2.8 MB)
with essay by Dr Lizzie Muller

Pretty Gritty

107 Projects 2013-2017

Artists: Medicine Voice, Shoeb Ahmad, Lortica & When We Never, Dan Mackinlay, Kynan Tan, Marieke Verbiessen, Actual Russian Brides, catfingers, Trinity, emeidos, Jasmine Guffond, Happy Axe, Daniel Whiting, Astrid Zeman, Clocks & Clouds, Luke Jaaniste, Clare Cooper, Kusum Normoyle, VAVENGE (Morton, Dan, Earle & Guerra), Jannah Quill, Ivan Lisyak, Athrotaxis, Alex Whillas, Steffan Ianigro, Monica Brooks, Corin, Andrew Tuttle, AFXJIM, Sam James, Matthew Syres, An Infinity Room, Pia van Gelder, LAKIDKI, Rainbow Vomit & Cum Bubbles, James Heighway - Spiders, Dale Gorfinkel, Peter Blamey, Jacqui O'Reilly, hz, GoldModeL, Scissor Lock, Knife Crimes, Defektro, Cat Hope, Jon Drummond, Alon Islar - Airsticks, Tina Havelock Stevens, Tony Osborne, Donna Hewitt, Heartswin, Kate Carr, Ollie Bown, Melissa Hunt, Andrew Gadow, The Children's Encyclopaedia, The Tormentor, Paneye, Andy Rantzen, James Brown, Jon Hunter, Alexander Rishaug, Pimmon, Christian Moraga, Michaela Davies & the Involuntary Orchestra, raven, Julian Knowles.
Producer-Curator: Gail Priest

For just under 5 years Gail produced  a roughly bi-monthly gig series presenting over  50 national and international artists exploring the a range of experimental music and audiovisual mode. Each event was accompanied by a mostly home-cooked thematic confectionary to keep the spirits high. 

Listening Visions

Screening Program, 70mins 

14 November 2014, Rencontres Bandits-Mages, Bourges, France

Artists: Robin Fox, Thembi Soddell & Anthea Caddy, Kynan Tan, Machine Death, Andrew Gadow, Lawrence English
Curator: Gail Priest

Listening Visions is a screening and listening program highlighting the work of innovative Australian sound and media artists. Interspersed between short audiovisual works are pure aural experiences, allowing the audience to contemplate the powerful effect vision has on hearing while also appreciating sound as a non-retinal medium.

Image 

Image: Robin Fox, Volta (video still) 

ArtBar: Rapture/Rupture

27 June 2014, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

As part of Performance Space's Sonic Social

Artists: Pimmon, Scisssor Lock, Cat Hope, Daniel Whiting, Michaela Davies, Peter Blamey, Andrew Gadow, Julian Day, Luke Janniste, Gail Priest & Kate Carr, Sam James with screenings by Robin Fox, Kynan Tan & Rachel Watts + more
Curator: Gail Priest

Sound moves us because it moves through us. Sonic waves penetrate our bodies and make our viscera tremble—the louder the sound the more we vibrate. Rapture/Rupture will offer audio experiences and performances that aim for maximum molecular movement—dancing on the inside.

Image: Cat Hope performing at MCA's ArtBar, phot Alex Davies.

New Weird Australia: VOX

Compilation co-curators: Gail Priest & Stuart Buchanan(NWA010)

Artists: Kusum Normoyle, Paul Heslin, Amanda Stewart, The Deadly Nightshades, Kucka, Mimic Mass, Holy Balm, Major Napier, Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, Donna Hewitt, Skyneedle, Furchick, Scissor Lock, Mosaic Mosaic, Ronnu Panda, Rabbit Island, Juarez.

A compilation released by the New Weird Australia initiative featuring Australian artists working across pop and exploratory music, using voice as the primary instrument.

Heavy Ecstasy:
Superdeluxe@
Artspace

part of the Biennale of Sydney 2010

3 July 2010, Artspace, Sydney 

Artists: Mandala Trap (Jeff Burch from Songs & Paul Gough aka Pimmon), Machine Death (Ben Byrne & Ivan Lisyak)
Curator: Gail Priest

During the 2010 Sydney Biennale, Artspace was an Australian outpost of the famous Tokyo music club Superdeluxe. A number of Australian artists were invited to be guest programmers. Gail curated an evening titled Heavy Ecstasy.

What Survives: Sonic Residues in Breathing Buildings

24 March 24-15 April 2006, Performance Space Galleries

Installation Artists: Alex Davies, Nigel Helyer, Jodi Rose. Sound Station Artists: Garry Bradbury, Joyce Hinterding, Aaron Hull, Somaya Langley, Sumugan Sivanesan, Amanda Stewart
Curator:  Gail Priest

An exhibition exploring the real and imagined remnants of human presence in architecture. The structures we build bear silent witness to human behaviour—what have the walls, beams and girders absorbed and what sonic secrets can be coaxed back out of them? Does this ephemeral material influence the energy of the spaces we inhabit? Taking inspiration from Rilke What Survives explores the indestructibility of energy and its subsequent transformations and manifestations.

unNatural Selection

17 March-16 April 2006, Manning Regional Gallery Taree,

Artists: Melanie Foster, Matt Gardiner, Daniel Green, Robin Petterd, Jasper Streit
Curator: Gail Priest

An exhibition of sculpture and installation driven or inspired by technology. The chosen works are experiments in re-creating and re-interpreting natural elements and environments through the most unnatural means. The works are animated, almost alive, responding to touch or presence, some sustaining themselves though their own feedback loops, offering different mediated environments for future fantasy habitation.

Electrofringe 2003-4

Festival for Emerging Media Artists

This is Not Art Festival, Newcastle, Australia

Electrofringe was  a five day  festival of digital, electronic and new media arts. It was  dedicated to unearthing emergent forms, highlighting nascent trends and encouraging young and emerging artists to further explore technology and its creative possibilities. Gail was a co-director for the 2003/2004 iterations.