Book on Australian experimental music

A book about Australian experimental music, Experimental Music: Audio Explorations in Australia (UNSW Press) has just appeared. It is edited by Gail Priest and has chapters by quite a few well-known names in the Australian experimental music scene. On the whole the book focuses on the last 10-15 years, though events from as early as the 1970s are mentioned. The accompanying CD has tracks from as far back as 1971 and as recent as 2007. My piece Peer Pressure (2001) is included.

Gail has also started up www.experimentalmusicaustralia.net, a website related to the book. It contains a growing list of Australian experimental musicians. People are invited to submit themselves for consideration.

Show and Tell at Monash

On 10th and 11th December the Fine Art Department at Monash University organised a postgraduate colloquium, a sort of big show-and-tell. It wasn't a public exhibition, but each student had some space to set up work and we each got a slot to talk about what we had done, and answer questions in a discussion led by a staff member. About 50 students were involved, so there were typically three or four parallel sessions.

We also had two lectures by Professor Andrew Benjamin, who has the title of Professor of Critical Theory and Philosophical Aesthetics at Monash. Professor Benjamin then attended quite a few of the student presentations, including mine, and asked probing questions.

The whole event was a great success, and an excellent way both to get feedback on one's own work and to find out what other students were up to over a wide range of practices: painting, drawing, sculpture, digital imagery, video and various types of installation. This is the first time the colloquium has been held; I hope it becomes a regular event.