A Festival of Experimental Musical instrumentsApril 5th – 7th 2002
Music of our time is rich in new timbres, new textures and new instruments. Contemporary artists are pushing the boundaries beyond the physical limitations of traditional instruments, to explore new sounds from new sources. REV presents the very latest developments in experimental musical instrument making and performance – from installations designed for your interactive enjoyment to feature performances of the wild and wonderful.
The inaugural REV Festival is a project of the Queensland University of Technology School of Music in partnership with the Brisbane Powerhouse Centre for the Live Arts. REV brings together experimental musical instrument makers from around Australia, as well as key figures from abroad, in a world first event. REV will feature over 40 experimental musical instrument makers and sound/installation artists who cross all spectrums: Real, Electronic & Virtual.
REV Artistic Director Linsey Pollak has put together three days of intense activity, so use this guide to plan your program ahead. Each day starts with the opportunity to visit installations and exhibitions. Afternoon free indoor and outdoor performances flow into evening feature concerts, both roving round the building and utilising the two Powerhouse theatres. Visiting artists will give lecture/demonstrations to challenge your perceptions of musical instruments. Finally the Spark Bar becomes the late night venue until the small hours with “Fabrique”, a showcase of contemporary electronica.
“REV provides an absolutely new look at the way music can be produced. It looks at New Sounds from New Sources. Sources that are Real, Electronic or Virtual. It looks at experimental musical instruments. And at REV the musical instruments themselves are the protagonists.
Music, and the technology for music production are inextricably linked and always have been, from when the placement of fingerholes in the first flute influenced the development of the tuning and temperament of that particular local musical tradition. People have always experimented with sound and the instruments that make sound, but we rarely get to hear and see many of those experiments. (And there have been many!) Particularly in a modern world driven by predominantly economic values and rampant consumerism the instruments that we get to hear and see are the ones produced by the multinational music corporations. But there’s a whole exciting world out there where people are exploring all sorts of sonic possibilities with all sorts of building blocks. REV brings together some of those explorers, some of the sonic possibilities and some of those building blocks.
Basically we are creating a big Sonic Sandpit for both the maker/performers and you to play around in. And what a great playground we have, with the whole of the Brisbane Powerhouse at our disposal. Interactivity is a key to this Festival, so as well as the many exciting and varied concerts there are also over twenty installations that can be played by you as well as the workshops leading up to the Festival. It will also provide a long overdue forum for discussion among experimental makers and a great opportunity for these makers to meet, make links and dream new projects together. To this end we have invited both local, interstate and international sound artists from a variety of approaches and backgrounds. We hope that this will grow into an exciting, diverse and world renowned biannual event, that will in turn provide a seeding ground for other events and projects.”
Linsey Pollak – Artistic Director
