Ren Walters

History of Quiet Noise

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At the most recent Quiet Noise (the annual backyard show focusing on un/low amplified experimental music), there was discussion over the traditional veg biriyani about how many events there had been, what had happened during COVID, who played when and with whom. Ernie Althoff thinks he has been to all of them except one, and he praised the consistent quality of the series over the years. I struggled to remember some details, so decided to go back through the archives and pull some details together.

I – 14 January 2012

Althoff/Green/McIntosh

Ernie Althoff

Clinton Green

Andrew McIntosh

Photo: Peter James

II – 2 March 2013

Tim Catlin

Clinton Green & Andrew McIntosh

Gearoid Brinn & Barnaby Oliver

III – 15 February 2014

Warren Burt & Tim Catlin

Warrant Burt

Ernie Althoff

Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver

(first recorded mention of biriyani meal)

IV – 28 February 2015

THIS Ensemble video

Paul Kidney Experience video

V – 13 February 2016

Jenny Barnes/Clinton Green/Michael McNab

Anna Fern

Aviva Endean (with Dale Gorfinkel, Clinton Green & Michael McNab)

Photos: Greg Wadley

VI – 12 February 2017

Radio Cegeste

Ren Walters & Clinton Green

Derek McCormack

Acoustic turntable preparations from DJ Stanley Phatmax between sets.

VII – 17 March 2018

Clinton Green

Simon Charles & ensemble (Kim Tan, Phoebe Green, Lily Tait, Rory Brown, Michael McNab)

Snacks

Machines by Ernie Althoff

This was an evening event, beginning at 6pm when it was still daylight. Clinton’s performance took place at the nearby railyards after dark.

Video and photos

VIII – 23 February 2019

Maria Moles/Dale Gorfinkel/Michael McNab

Clinton Green/Barnaby Oliver

David Palliser

Video

IX – 14 March 2020

Tarab

Chun-liang Liu

Clinton Green

**this event was cancelled due to COVID**

X – 17 April 2021

Erin K. Taylor

Nick Ashwood/Clinton Green/Michael McNab

Tarab

**there was no event in 2022 due to ongoing COVID lockdowns**

XI – 25 February 2023

Nat Grant/Miranda Hill – Video

Clinton Green/Allanah Stewart

Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung/Mirren Strahan/Lily Tait – Video

XII – 3 February 2024

Connors/Callaway/Green/Liauw/Alexander (impromptu jam)

Carolyn Connors

Jen Callaway & Clinton Green

Levi Liauw & Mia Alexander

XIII – 8 February 2025

Helen Svoboda

Clinton Green

David Palliser/Rafal Kaczmarek

Machine by Ernie Althoff in between sets

Events next week

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Tuesday 14 May 2019, 8pm

Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver duo

Make It Up Club, Bar Open (upstairs), 317 Brunswick St Fitzroy

clinton and barnaby (pic - J Callaway)
Photo: Jennifer Callaway

 

Sunday 19 May 2019, 9-11pm

INTERSECTION4

Corner of Swanston and LaTrobe streets, Melbourne

 

The fourth roughly-annual GAIP event/happening of Intersection. Ren Walters ‘explains’ below:

 

Please join in for a wander around together for part or all and invite whomever may be interested. SOUNDING, sitting, STROLLING, conversing, TRAVERSING, processing, obsessing, STARTING, stopping, observing, draping, SKATING, voicing, running, CRAWLING, stalling, jaywalking, SKULKING, SILENCING, mumbling, bumbling, INTRODUCING, intersecting, WHISPERING, breathing, ARRIVING, LEAVING, fumbling, tumbling, huddling, falling, REVERSING, INTERSPERSING and so on . . .

 

To quote a past participant; “I came along, couldn’t see nothing so I went home”

And; during the performance I received a text from a co-performer “where is the music, where is the performance?”

 

The following is the original “score”;

INTERSECTION – (a point or line common to lines or surfaces that intersect.)

Participants continuously cross at the four traffic lights on each corner of the intersection, for one to two hours duration.

The dream is to be invitational through practicing/embodying openness and generosity toward the environment and fellow pedestrians. Taking the uncontrived opportunities that arise through this immanency.

This mode of being may be enhanced or facilitated by particular movements, gestures, appearances, sounds, props etc., when understood as ‘enabling strategies/techniques’ to generate momentum, to supplant self-consciousness, to stimulate a ‘performative frame’.

In circumnavigating this space, our attentive presence and movement will charge an energetic field in the vicinity.

 If for some reason you become diverted from this prescribed activity (by engaging in conversation, missing the green light because you were staring at the sky, taking a tourist to the nearest bus stop, etc.), this can be considered fortuitous. Then just return to your activity.

Where Does ‘Your’ Space End and the Next Begin?

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A new book has just been published, edited by Candice Boyd and Christian Edwardes, entitled Non-Representational Theory and the Creative Arts. The book also features a chapter focussed on A General Assembly of Interested Parties (GAIP), the loose collective of artists and activities initiated by Ren Walters, of which I have been involved with as well. The chapter ‘Where Does ‘Your’ Space End and the Next Begin? Non-representation Geographies of Improvised Performance’ is written by Candice (a GAIP participant herself), along with several other GAIP participants, including myself. In it, we recount various GAIP-related experiences and events (complete with colour photos), which Candice assimilates into a theorectical context. It’s very satisfying to see this serious consideration of GAIP and it’s actitvities emerge, which sits besides Paul Blackman’s in-depth review of a GAIP-related THIS Ensemble happening last year.

The book is available from the link above (for a very expensive price), students and academics might prefer to check their library holdings. If anyone is interested in seeing the aforementioned chapter, please contact me and I’ll provide you with a copy.

Intersection 3

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The third iteration of Ren Walter’s Intersection event/non-event will take place from 11pm to 1am on Friday 18 May 2018, on the corner of Swanston and La Trobe Streets, Melbourne.

Ren writes about the concept:

For those who have not participated in such an event before; there is no expectation of performance. The process for me has been one of traversing/ being present at the location without necessity to overtly perform, although certain things have happened that would perhaps contradict that statement. For me, INTERSECTION began as an investigation into the when of performance alongside the how and what of performance…No formalities are undertaken just turn up and find your own way.

Video from the first Intersection in 2015:

GAIP/THIS Ensemble at MAP Rainbow

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395
A General Assembly of Interested Parties.

Next week I’ll be participating in GAIPscape at MAP Rainbow on Saturday 28 April, in Rainbow, Western Victoria. Organised by Tony Yap, the festival kicks off at 1pm and features a variety of contemporary performances, including sound, movement and visual art. GAIPscape, convened by Ren Walters, will take place in the Town Hall between 3-6pm. The personnel assembling is looking a lot like THIS Ensemble, who haven’t performed publicly since 2016. All performances are free.

CURRENT 2017/18

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CURRENT 2017-18 flyer

CURRENT 2017/18

Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 February 2018, 1:30-10:30pm

Aeso Studio, 83 Brunswick St, Fitzroy (enter through laneway at rear via Palmer St)

$10 per day, or $15 for both days.

Facebook event.

CURRENT has been a significant event in the Melbourne improvised music and performance calendar for several years now, and this year I’ve been humbled in being asked by founder Ren Walters to guest curate it along with Michael McNab.

Michael and I have spent that past few months planning a two day structure that will see a ragtag bunch of 30 performers (musicians, poets, dancers, visual artists, performance artists, and ‘in-betweeners’) divided up into new ensembles to improvise. Each performer will perform twice, once on Saturday and then again on Sunday in a completely different ensemble. We were on PBS-FM’s The Sound Barrier last night discussing it – listen here.

Performers:

Juana Beltran
Georgia Bettens
Jennifer Callaway
Mick Douglas
Matt Faisander
Simon Fisher
Susan Frykberg
Cor Fuhler
Llara Goodall
Dale Gorfinkel
Clinton Green
Martin Kay
Kim Kerze
Cam Love
Scott McConnachie
Derek McCormack
Siobhan McKenna
Michael McNab
Sage Pbbbt
Amaara Raheem
Emma Riches
Allanah Stewart
Erin K Taylor
Josh Twee
Ren Walters
Giles Warren
Mitchell Welch
Samuel Harnett Welk

Schedule

Music with Intermission

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Music with Intermission

Music, with an intermission of film and live improvised soundtrack, then different music.

MUSIC – Super-Luminum – debut duo from Cat Hope (bass) and Lisa MacKinney (guitar).

INTERMISSION – video by Ren Walters, with live accompaniment from Ren Walters, Clinton Green and Michael McNab

MUSIC – Ernie Althoff – mechanised music

Thursday 3 August, 8:30pm at LongPlay, 318 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North

$10.

Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/318808508560960/