There is a new set of mind-blowing photos up from the Wormwood (by Octopus Pi) just gone (APRIL 7) which are testament to the uniqueness, beauty and experimentation present at the monthly event.
The photo above is something new Alex and I are experimenting with using analogue practise and manipulating it using digital video editing and effects.
Check out the photos- if you've been you get it, if you haven't then surely you feel you may have missed out?
All Photos: Vornstar from Opening Night @ Pine St Studios.
SmartARTS Youth Festival: Catching the dreams of the youth, helping them discover their inner artist and unleashing a canvas of inspiration which motivate to reach for the stars!
CLOSING NIGHT will be on Fri 15th April from 6pm @ the very fine Red Rattler in Marrickville. The Divine Knights, MC UN-1 and Alice Spacedoll will accompany Punk Monk Propaganda taking spirited attendees on a journey of unfettered sensory experience.
I'm finally getting around to sharing a little about my/our experience at Peat Ridge Festival over New Years.
After the immediate awe inspiring Glenworth valley is absorbed by the senses ( mountain ranges all around, the little lake that runs around the grounds, cicadas at highest pitch...) the first thing that really grabbed me at Peats Ridge was all that colour. Everything is vibrant- flowing fabrics off the hips of ladies, flags set to the wind, the sun bouncing off the various installations, the gypsy caravans decorated homily in the artists grounds... up, down and around with the serene backdrop of bushland.
The energy at this festival is not like at many other "drinking" and "partying" festivals. It's more thoughtful and relaxed. No-one is rushing from here to there except the wild young'ns dancing and racing around joyfully. It's my first experience at a festival where I have not been pissed off by someone drunkenly harassing me or groups of shirtless southern star clad guys making a scene. Besides the few instances where supposedly educated individuals with a conscience for environmental issues were seen sitting in their air conditioned cars, running a roaring generator all night and clearly not using the very simple bin system to recycle and compost, overall this was clearly a unique set of festival goers.
We participated in a few ways at Peats Ridge in the geodisic dome we called home for the duration of the festival [Land of Hopeless Utopians]. Night No.1 had us doing our trademark liquid light show on the dome's white canvas whilst guest Punk Monk Alexander Sovronsky played haunting violin jammed with Ghosts of the Civil Dead recordings and twisted manipulations by Alexander Papasavvas on pedals. The beanbag clad floor filled with stargazers consuming their virtual acid through coloured drips, blobs , splatters by Kate, Alex and myself.
Night No.2 had us bring a mini-festival of film to the dome, mapped and mashed by the regenr8 crew (amazinggg!) The beehive of films featured many of our Kino Sydney friends as well as Punk Monk home-made pieces and scavenged treasures. Sovronsky again pierced the air and set hearts beating, this time jamming with the creation of Liam O'Shea- a composition loosely inspired by Xanadu, twisted and bashed into a immobilising beat for beanbag dwellers who congregated en masse. The dome was definitely the healing zone for those zapped from all that dub or the heat and needed to collect themselves, or lose themselves.
Throughout the whole festival the inaugural 15MB of FAME was taking place. Those excited about participation had their phones and cameras out and were capturing what made Peats beautiful to them and were handing in these scraps for us to make into a visual scrapbook of Peats. Anyone could do this. Peats is about something different to everyone and the footage we received was so amazing. Above you can see the result.
Some Punk Monk's (Alex and I) recently (10/12/10) created video projections (Entitled Wunian, Part 1) to accompany Ki Mono (then Kim ono, teehee) during her sound experience show @Sound Series #10 New Weird Australia. Ki Mono's (aka.the ever talented Kimberley Galceran) humbly presented 5 songs which I (without being very good at describing music that I like) could describe as a mix between fantasy video game adventure music and epic cinematic soundscape meditations whilst teleported into various magical forest scenes of brilliant colour and flowing movement of reverie inducement. http://soundcloud.com/kim-ono
Sound Series is a one of a kind monthly show @ Hardware Gallery- the home to a comfortable mix of commercial and underground arts. Sound Series is all about sound- experimenting and ear/mind opening. I can't seem to find much else (except maybe what the Serial Space peeps are doing) dedicated to the specific sense of sound but celebrating the mind-blowing diversity inherent in the field. The gallery owner himself admits it has been a perception shattering adventure that he has been so grateful to have experienced and it will definitely return in the new year.
I'm a little behind on blogging. Here's an event we provided a light show for to fundraise independent arts online mag Kluster. Held at the awesome little warehouse space- Hellen Rose Schauersberger Laboratorium and packed to the brim.
The multifaceted event featured live, interactive art created by Punk Monk Propaganda (Alex, Clare, Kate, Vic), Thomas Jackson, Mia Taninaka, Helen Mycroft and Brent Smith, tunes provided by Sydney DJ’s, Cara Stricker and Urby and a live performance by Border Thieves. State of the Art was all about the creative and the current. The emerging and the established. The future.
Sister Jane and Punk Monk Propaganda, endeavouring to make music gigs that caress more than just the ears. When asked by Alternative Media Group, who Sister Jane are, drummer Joe Driver's thorough response was:
We veer wildly between sultry smoking-room soundtrack blues… and something more closely resembling a tripping social science teacher on a freewheeling fun ride at one of those accident-waiting-to-happen fun parks that only opens during school holidays. Ton of Fun in Forster/Tuncurry springs to mind.
They're our favourite band to jam with because their psychedelic vibe is a perfect marriage with the re-invention of the 60's and 70's liquid light show; their music simply deserves it.
This is from A Shrill Chuckle Of Irrepressible Delight, for Sydney Fringe Festival in September, at The Annandale Hotel. This is Sister Jane's hit Outer Suburbs of the Soul. Man, I get this in my head A LOT! Sorry the sounds not great; wasn't shooting using fancy video equipment.
I've been thinking a lot lately about sustainable art practice; how to still use all the pretty, interesting and workable materials out there but considering how to minimise (if not eliminate...which is difficult when not actually intending to make an ecologically themed artwork) the affect it has on the environment. I've managed to come to a lot of decisions in my personal life but haven't yet established my own rules and limits in terms of art. How can I justify the use and wastage of artworks?
The first practice I/we (the punk monk team) need to tackle is the Liquid Light Show. Liquid Light is the act of using oil, detergent/gel and coloured dyes (we currently use food dye) to make patterns that move and mutate in glass. These are put on top of overhead projectors and beamed onto spaces. Therefore, energy from electricity is needed, chemicals from the liquids which are bought and then disposed of afterwards, use of cleaning products (sprays and cloths) and large amounts of water for mixing and cleaning are used. Then there is the fact that, where we would usually walk/ride/skate to an event, with our overhead projectors and gear we must use someones vehicle to get to and from the venue.
The very easiest change can be applied to the cleaning up method. Alex and I attended a workshop a few months ago with The Watershed learning how to make our own environmentally safe cleaning products using basic and inexpensive ingredients like bicarb, vinegar, eucalyptus oil and pure soap and then using re-use spray bottles from ex- cleaning products packaging or from re-use centres like Reverse Garbage. Perhaps some microfibre cloths that do not get damaged by intensive use and dyes rather than using disposable chux/paper towel could be the next step here....
If anyone has any ideas/suggestions on what kind of dyes are of minimal effect and inexpensive or if anyone is some kind of solar power Whizz Kid and can help us work towards solar powered overheads...then WOW. The key word, inexpensive, is unfortunately important- we simply cannot afford to BUY our way into sustainability.
Baby steps.
Above is a video by a group The Joshua Light Show that we are inspired by in our liquid light experiments. We have been doing Liquid light projection art for art shows, music gigs and other events for about a year since our second Punk Monk hosted event called ALGAE RHYTHM. ALGAE RHYTHM 0.02: PSYCHOCHEMICALcurated by monks Alex and Kate which turned the then Punk Monk warehouse into an oozing rainbow cranium of melding patterns, forms and textures created by the old school overhead projectors and their wizard controllers. The night was full of mural painting, science experiments, psychedelic music and light play and we haven't looked back since.
The photo above is of Kate mixing colour at Know Your Mushrooms (Ron Mann) screening and party, an event for Possible Worlds Film Festival where we celebrated fungi, films and all forms of fun! Snapped by our good friend and brilliant photographer Susie Stavert.
(Don't forget to catch us on Wednesday @ The Annandale for a jam with psychedelic rockers Sister Jane)
Here are some shots (from here) of some liquid light projections we did with Sister Jane from a show last year at the now, closed Hopetoun Hotel (rest it's soul). Alex isn't drinking food dye and detergent here, but is creating bubbles in the design- just one technique in a practice of infinite possibilities. We'll be exploring some more on Wednesday, in what will be our third jam with Sister Jane.
In a recent interview with Alternative Media Group SJ drummer Joe Driver described us as a troupe of art-school freak-child light designers.This tickled us pink! Fellow vibe merchants Sister Jane are just what you need on a Wednesday night to shake that mid week stress out your hair. Their psychedelic jives inherit a sense of freedom that'll force your feet to groove- we'll provide the rainbow explosion happening in your head as projections around the room.
Behind the scenes of Gaia Retouched: A little teaser
Stills: Alexander Papasavvas
Gaia Retouched (ARTIST STATEMENT)
The ubiquitous cult of consumerism wreaks havocon our natural universe. In the obsessive pursuit of mineral wealth, unsustainable & systematic human sabotage threatens to disrupt our very existence whilst faceless corporates pay lip service to the eco concept at the cost of balance. A world of diminishing returns. The Gaia Principle dictates the interconnectedness of everything. Life & death are a cycle. Even for planets. Does our expediation of this fit a much larger picture ultimately eradicating the human race from existence? Is there life after Earth? Or Earth after us.
You can see Gaia Retouched at artRiot Saturday 18th sept and next Saturday 25th Sept from 12-2pm as part of Sydney Fringe Festival. We will be there if you'd like to have a chat.The rest of the exhibition is open Wed- Sun 11am-3pm- you can see our experiment of oil purified by hair (or whats left of it) and our ECO tm moss art satire.
Whilst your there, gorge on the gingerbread prison, eat sunflower seeds and get educated, witness micro bats and goliath beetles super tech'd soldiers and marvel the wall art pieces of comic, photographic and mosaic beauty. If not to only sneak a peak at the upstairs of the Annandale Hotel- a Twin Peaks set of red drapes and checkered tiles!(** enter through the restaurant around the side to avoid confusion..)
Stepping aside from all this artRiot rioting, I'd like to reflect on a gig we did, not long back, called WORMWOOD. It's not just a gig, it's a bit of a project for us, a canvas for experimentation and getting to know some awesome musical, visual and creative artists and thinkers. Our first Wormwood, actually #3, had us with three old school projectors- one behind the bands, one highlighting the mysterious staircase and an "apprentice" projector outside under the sprinkles open for the audience to dip their toes in the magic.
This is great for Punk Monks Vic, Clare and Jay who unlike the very talented alchemists Kate and Alex are just beginning our relationship with the overhead projector. I can conclude that it is very very messy, something will always get broken and that surprisingly less dye = brighter colour! If you want an acid trip sans acid then spend a night mixing oil, detergent and food dye in glass containers on top of a brightly burning light box and shine it onto a wall somewhere.
Ongoing monthly, we'll play with how we may extend the projections using ideas of shadow, audience + other performers interaction and playing with different surfaces for blasting with colour. Perhaps we'll introduce some video. If you were there and you have some ideas/feedback- welcome. Otherwise join us for the next one.
HAIR ART
Creon - have faith! get your head shaved/cut by Creon!
GREENTOOTH
Turn your bluetooth on! We'll be sending "Fortune Cookies" out on the night!
Join the Wormwood group and ATTEND the event on FB. And hey guys: ITS FREE. Just bring some change to buy some absinthe and get that nice dreamy buzz going- not that you won't have enough help from all the sensory stimulation on the night.
Three sunrises in four days over Maroubra beach as I channel my inner Lilith and rage against man's greed for Punk Monk Propaganda's artRiot protest film. Symbolising man's destructive pursuit for profit over the environment and the breakdown of nature's cyclic abilities to heal it's wounds, our video piece will represent the crisis and violence of Oil.
Gaia Retouched is an experimental artwork that will evolve over time. Part 1, launching at artRiot this Sat 11th sept (starts 6pm) will involve not only our mobile shot video but a living installation commenting on the commodification of "ecologically sustainable" industry and will require creative interactivity as we experiment with alternative solutions for man-inflicted environmental disasters. Part of the inaugral Sydney Fringe Fest, it is available for your interaction for 2 weeks upstairs at The Annandale Hotel.
Punk Monk artists: Victoria Waghorn, Clare Devlin- Mahoney and Alexander Papasavvas
not only do worms eat hair and convert them to fertiliser, or become beautiful wigs donated to charities such as Locks for Love for people not as fortunate to have your luscious locks.... but your hair has the power to suck it up. by that i mean diminish oil in large scale spills and clean our water from the gunk of greed. treasure your hair and when you cut it off, think about where you might want to give it a new life purpose.
No, it's not a Yayoi Kusama penis furniture piece. It's a bunch of hair booms hungry for oil. (credit: matteroftrust.org)
i am now accepting donations of hair. i am also asking really nicely for any one with a knack for hairdressing or even someone to help out with that element to present themselves. gratitude forever...e-mail clare@punk-monk.com to get involved.
ArtRiot is part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. the more-than-just-an-art exhibition will feature artists/activists for radical social change including Punk Monk Propaganda as we meld our filmmaking, installation and science experimentation into one powerful art work. we invite you to come along and play.
abov vid is from a previous shoot: alex papasavvas behind the cam. clare d-m's hair in front. (+cicadas.)
Absinthe + Psychedelia ? Music + live art ? Your Jive? Ours too!
Absinthe is a magical spiritual beverage made of the flowers and leaves of anise, fennel and wormwood. It's highly alcoholic inducing sensory bliss which will heighten the kaleidoscopic stimulation already present for you atWORMWOOD.
Punk Monk are joining in Green Faerie Kimberley Galceran's vision of monthly interactive events based on collective collaboration and creative vibes. Hosted at The Loft, a liquid light projectionists wet dream (tall white walls for canvas), we'll be experimenting with some of ourinky techniquesand developing some ideas each month in this new playground.
DJs Jack Shit & Catinabox - even more music for the masses
Absinthe - as always!
in coming months: Meme Me,Mersey Sound Collective, The Walk on By, StupidKrap, Psychonanny and the Babyshakers, Piano is Drunk, Jusgo Mosh... and.... you??
Rozelle Mental Hospital, abandoned wards 17 &18 were opened up last Friday for Sydney artists to install, jam, hang, perform and put some of their life in art form into the space. The place is beautiful and never has it been more colourful and vibrant and full of diverse perspectives.
Punk Monk showcased on Opening Night but some of (and the skeletons of) their art is still available for your pondering.
The Piano room of ward 18 is echoing the old pianos screams, mesmerist hovering ghost projections and is scribbled with musical vitriolic but poetic scribblings and is available for you to paint all over on a giant canvas (kickstarted by Deo) .Not far is The Bleep Machine with a haunting sound scape and intrusive, rhythmic machinery viewing through the peephole. Look out for the melting cars, they may have escaped the space or may still be exploring- get them driving again. Over in ward 17 is a giant spiders web/web of the mind, the skeleton of a larger project conducted on the night where melting liquid light and colour was seen oozing from the room's cranium.
Unfortunately Liam's trumpeteering heard from all corners of the ward and our poet's conjuring images through their words on opening night are only for the wall's memory now.
Please go check it out, there are some beautiful works by a huge number of Sydney artists. Support opening up disused space for artist use (Thank you Rogerio and Leichardt Council)!
More photos to come (especially of The Bleep Machine and Melting Cars)- the above is a small taster from Opening Night.
There are some other photos of the artworks of the exhibition on it's site.
Here are some shots (from here) of some liquid light projections we did with Sister Jane from a show last year at the now, closed Hopetoun Hotel (rest it's soul). Alex isn't drinking food dye and detergent here, but is creating bubbles in the design- just one technique in a practice of infinite possibilities. We'll be exploring some more on Wednesday, in what will be our third jam with Sister Jane. 
Three sunrises in four days over Maroubra beach as I channel my inner Lilith and rage against man's greed for Punk Monk Propaganda's artRiot protest film. Symbolising man's destructive pursuit for profit over the environment and the breakdown of nature's cyclic abilities to heal it's wounds, our video piece will represent the crisis and violence of Oil.
Absinthe + Psychedelia ? Music + live art ? Your Jive? Ours too!
