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SWELL 2014

live music, reimagined.

The Project Scope

SWELL. live music, reimagined

Live music, reimagined.

Experiential, immersive and unlike anything else – Swell is not a festival, yet delivers the transformative feeling of being enveloped with sunshine and sound. It is not a show, yet values quality production and acoustics. It is not an underground party, yet emanates an experimental, anything-goes vibe. It is a multi-sensory musical soundscape.

Evocative and genre-defying, over six nights of MMW, Swell exposes what is musically emerging in our city: be it entirely breakthrough, the current craze, a local treasure or an established artist exploring the unorthodox.

Celebrate the ingenuity and boundless talent of local artists as you explore intimate, unique spaces filled with music in the heart of the CBD. Taking cues from live interactive theatre blended together with interior architecture, sound leads design at Swell as the normal boundaries associated with performance are broken down.

Participate in the hidden and unfamiliar; discover a new musical love in an unconventional way. This is a fresh take on the live music experience.

Room 1

A physically and emotionally intimate bedroom-like experience. At times deeply dreamy. At other times confronting. Guitar-scapes and effects by Jamil Zacharia and Costa Stefanou, depending on the night.

Room 2

Minimal and heavy. Ghetto house near shook the plastic from the ceiling in Swell’s Room 2.

Dylan Michél (Wooshie) from the mighty tasteful Melbourne collective performed encased in a transparent plastic sack. Back combing hair moves included.

Room 3

Much loved Melbourne group Broadway Sounds lifted the roof off Room 3 on the second weekend of Swell at Melbourne Music Week. Conga lines broke out under the flourescent lights. Yes these folks know how to party!

Room 4

Things got JAZZY people. A remarkable array of revolving talent for those curious enough to quite literally poke their head through into Swell’s Room 4 at Melbourne Music Week.

Room 5

Interactive visual performance system designed and programmed by Oliver Ellmers [Blunk] in collaboration with electronic musician Jay Bhattacharya [EMERSE] especially for Swell at Melbourne Music Week.

Simple black and white barcode, binary and mathematical patterns were created by the interpretation of data generated during EMERSE’s live electronic performance. The walls surrounding EMERSE as he played were projection mapped with the generative patterns, altering how the space was perceived, creating a false sense and illusion of added depth.

 

The Project Data


Type Music Festival, Interiors, Sound Design
Size 5 rooms / 1,600 sq ft
Status completed 2014
During Melbourne Music Week
Location Melbourne, AU
Principal Brooks Atwood
Co-Creators Janenne Willis, Edd Fisher

SPECIAL THANKS
Sasha Noble, Jen Wood, Jane Macdonald, James and Brem at The Carlton, Andrew MacKinnon and Taboo, Olivia Ramsay, Reece Hobbins, Travis Walton, Timothy Percy, Joel Sims, Frankie Wilkinson and Sam Leigh.

Hugs and special shout outs to: Liza Boston, Mark Pritchard, Tim Jones, Pom Kimber, Lachie Gibson, Crispi and Cat at PBS

 

Press

The Sydney Morning Herald
Broadway World
Three Thousand
The Modern Con
Herald Sun
Melbourne Arts Fashion
Concrete Playground
Broadsheet Melbourne
The Age
Design Arts Hub
Leader Community ePaper