uncommissioned compositions
Ways of creating and communicating music, especially western musics, are imbedded in systems of notation that are resistant to reform and innovation. Standard music notations are not expressive nor open for interpretation, rather, they are instructions to be executed precisely with little to no creative input from the musicians. Graphic scores, on the other hand, offer abstracted guidance that generate other possibilities. Although visual, Uncomissioned Compositions stem from a musical understanding. They offer structures and methodologies that activate group participation through cross-aesthetic metaphor - the use of one aesthetic to excite potential and possibility in another. By addressing concepts of ownership, responsibility, and agency, the works germinate new creative ventures beyond their current visual manifestations - dissolving absolute/sole authorship towards allowing for more horizontal processes of shared creation.
CONVERSATIONS ON SHADOW ARCHITECTURE was a group exhibition curated by Ineke Dane for Metro Arts Brisbane 2021, and then in May 2022 at the Dominik Mersch Gallery in Sydney
g r e e n e r y
Greenery is a collaborative collective initiated originally between Simon and sculptor/artist David Adamo (Peter Freeman Gallery). The collective currently consists of over 10 members from various backgrounds and disciplines with the intention that it remain open and fluid for inclusive participation of both professional artists/performers as well as community members and the public. It is an ongoing project that focuses on process and various materialistic and performative possibilities. Taking part in the broader dialogue between visual art, sound/music, and performance, Greenery's process-driven project re-examines and explores various materialistic and performative possibilities. With an equal emphasis on object, sound and human interaction the perception of each medium is broadened as a result of their union.
New materialism asks the question of how do objects interfere or contribute to how we act and perceive. Greenery is a project that grew out of curiosity from both the founding artists, each gleaning new potential from the practise of the other. Each began to adapt in order to find a common ground - expanding both the material and tactile use of the objects and their sonic capabilities. The further inclusion of additional collaborators has proved to augment this initial dynamic forming an expanded multifaceted and multi-directional collaborative.
Members of the collective include - Composer Simon James Phillips (Berlin - from Australia), Sculptor David Adamo (Berlin / from USA), Soprano/Actor Ruth Rosenfeld (Berlin - from USA), Flautist/composer Rebecca Lane (Berlin - from Australia), Soprano Carolina Riaño Gómez (Berlin - from Colombia), Percussionist Emil Kuyumcuyan (Lyon - from Turkey), Percussionist Steve Heather (Berlin - from Australia), Artist Heba Y. Amin (Berlin - from Egypt), Mourad Baaiz (Brussels), Tenor Peter Tantsits (Berlin - from USA), and researcher/author Irene Lehmann (Berlin).
t w o o f ma n y
Two of Many, commissioned by Frederic and Maria Coustols for Palacio Belmonte in Lisbon, is an audio-visual installation created in collaboration with dutch filmmaker Marja de Vries as an observation on historical perspective and understanding. Steeped in hundreds of years of history, the unique Palacio Belmonte was the centrepiece for this work - the work was filmed there, field recordings were recorded there and the work was premiered there in June 2015.
