Open Frame: Room40
This annual exploration into weird and wonderful avant-garde soundscapes returns to Carriageworks.
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Overview
The annual Open Frame festival returns to Carriageworks in June for another excursion into experimental, contemporary sound. Curated by Lawrence English, founder of seminal Brisbane label Room40, Open Frame will feature an eclectic mix of both local and international artists operating right at the fringe of avant-garde.
The 2018 edition of the festival splits its focus between senior artists and on emerging voices. It will see the world premiere of Occam Hexa XXIV, a specially-commissioned work by Éliane Radigue, a French composer who draws influence from the minimalist scene in New York in the 1970s, her Tibetan Buddhist beliefs and her native France to create epic, slow-developing works.
There'll also be a performance by eclectic US artist Charlemagne Palestine, who has had an amazing career as a musician, composer, visual artist, documentarian and gallerist, to name a few. Palestine recently exhibited an installation of 18,000 stuffed animals (called — wait for it — Ccornuuoorphanossccopiaee Aanorphansshhornoffplentyyy) in Paris, Los Angeles and New York, however it is not yet confirmed whether any of them will be joining him onstage in Sydney.
On the emerging-voices side of the equation, Chinese-born, Berlin-based experimental artist Pan Daijing. Her distinctive music doesn't comfortably fit into any category and often combines operatic singing with techo beats and industrial noise.
Past iterations of Open Frame have been unusual, unexpected and often flat-out weird, but never less than enthralling.
Image: Vitali Gelwich
