July Twist @ CuriousWorks :: Photo by Matt Sutton - http://www.mattsuttonphotography.com.au/

As usual, Twist morphs into a new shape this month. We’re blending a night that contrasts your usual, rehearsed gig with a completely experimental one.

There will be two sets – the first a rehearsed, solo act. The second will be an expansion into our regular improvised set of music and visuals, feeding off audience contributions through SMS and the Internet. All in our beautiful lil’ warehouse, right next to Central Station.

So come on down! No two Twists are ever the same – and this night continues to surprise and delight us.

Twist
8-11 pm, Wednesday 15 September 2010
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
$10 (tax deductible) donation
Directions: http://www.curiousworks.com.au/contact/

Facebook Event

Learn more about Twist here.

We’ve got some neat surprised planned – artists will be announced at the end of the week!

As always, all the money raised goes towards empowering disadvantaged communities across Australia to have a self-defined, sustainable voice.

This fundraiser will be held under a NSW fundraising certificate at the CuriousWorks HQ.

The annual Newman Film Festival is coming up on Sunday, September 19! Starting at 5pm at the Newman Recreation Centre, the afternoon will feature live music, bbq, dancing and premiere a number of short films made by young people in Newman and the Martu Desert Stories crew. See the Pilbara from a different perspective!

For those who can’t make it, stay tuned to the CuriousWorks site for film highlights!

Click on the flier below for a bigger version.

*To VJ: to conduct a live visual performance.*

Ever dreamed of projecting onto a skyscraper? Building visual awesomeness to accompany your favourite band? Sharing your photography or home videos in a more creative way?

Then this is the workshop for you.

Learn practical skills – creative and technical – in VJ’ing and share your first VJ set with a group of the lovely SHARE folk at the CuriousWorks warehouse.

Over two hours, you’ll receive hands-on training and create your first VJ set.

The price? A measly $30. There are 10 places only – we want to keep this workshop intimate, so everyone gets to really make and learn something.

Book a place at the workshop now – simply by sending your contact details to workshops@curiousworks.com.au with “VJ Workshop” in the subject line. We’ll take it from there.

Details:
Sunday, 5 September 2010
3-5pm VJ Workshop ($30)
5-9pm Share Sydney (Free)
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Directions: http://www.curiousworks.com.au/contact/
No BYO

The workshops are suitable for those who:
- Are first timers
- Want a burst of creative ideas and thinking around showcasing their visual work
- Have been dabbling and seriously need to spend some one-on-one time with someone who can answer your fiddly technical questions

Tutors and respective VJ Software:
* Joe aka sqgl – Arkaos + MIDI mapping
* George aka Subpixel – Neon v2 (Open Source+Free)
* Robert Moorman – Resolume (or Final Cut Pro Editing)
* Jolanta aka VJ lullaby – Modul8 + Numark mixer hardware
* Bart aka Videokidz – Modul8 + image mapping techniques

Demos of their work can be found at http://sharesydney.spruz.com/videoprofiles.htm

After the workshop, as the Sunday afternoon turns to dusk, you can share your new-found knowledge and jam with other VJ’s and electronic musicians, as CuriousWorks hosts its first SHARE Sydney.

Share Sydney is a regular open multimedia jam, the likes of which are occurring globally as part of a network which provides support & infrastructure for new media communities worldwide.
http://sharesydney.org/

“For family, woman, man and child, going back to the land they know.”
- Billy Landy aka Butler

Catch a slice of Martu life in 2 minutes.

On a return to country trip to Durba Springs in June this year, Martumili artist Yankura paints his traditional home Puntawarri. The backing track, performed by Butler is also about Puntawarri, a longing to return to their ancestral home.

Visit The Stories Project website for more videos.

Producer: Dave Wells
Directors: Curtis Taylor, Anthony Gibbs, Owen John, Carol Macdonald
Directors Photography: Curtis Taylor, Anthony Gibbs, Owen John, Carol Macdonald
Editors: Curtis Taylor, Anthony Gibbs, Owen John

Sound: Anthony Gibbs
Music: courtesy of Billy Landy aka Butler, “Puntawarri”, recorded live

The Stories Project
Creative Director: Shakthidharan
Producer: Eleanor Winkler
Mentors: Elias Nohra & Platon Theodoris

The Stories Project is presented by CuriousWorks.

Content by the Desert Stories crew is produced in partnership between CuriousWorks and Martu Media, a division of Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa.

We’re trying something different, and exciting, for Twist this month.

Each analogue musician will be paired up with an electronic musician to remix and reshape their sound on the fly and create improvised loops, beats, and live samples. We also welcome some guest VJs.

The core Twist experience remains the same: improvised music and visuals that feed off each other and audience contributions through SMS and the Internet. All in our beautiful lil’ warehouse, right next to Central Station.

So come on down! No two Twists are ever the same – and this night continues to surprise and delight us.

July Twist - Photo by Matt Sutton, http://www.mattsuttonphotography.com.au/

Twist
8-11 pm, Wednesday 18 August 2010
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
$10 (tax deductible) donation
Directions: http://www.curiousworks.com.au/contact/

Facebook Event

Learn more about Twist here.

Artists:
David Carr: banjo; acoustic and baritone guitars
Aimee Falzon: vocals
Robin Dixon: ‘cello
Stuart West: trumpet, flugelhorn, harmonica
DJ Squiggle, Robert Moorman, Peregrin, Subpixel, VJ Lullaby: live (electronic) audiovisuals

As always, all the money raised goes towards empowering disadvantaged communities across Australia to have a self-defined, sustainable voice.

This fundraiser will be held under a NSW fundraising certificate at the CuriousWorks HQ.

“Candombe is a very emotional experience … you feel your ancestry when you play.”
- Leo Santalucia, Urumbe

Catch a slice of Western Sydney life in 90 seconds.

The candombe drums hold cultural importance for both the Uruguayan and African communities in Fairfield. Just as it provided relief for the African slaves who brought this rhythmic drumming from Africa, it continues to remind South American migrants of the difficult social, political and economic hardships that caused their families to migrate.

On 29th May 2010, Fairfield saw its very first Afro-Latino festival that celebrated the shared cultural heritage of African and Latin American communities. A love of soccer, music dance and food was shared by all who attended the event.

Visit The Stories Project website for more videos.

Candombe
Producer: Guido Gonzalez
Director: Lazarius Nyembo
1st Assistant Director: Alan Lao
Director Photography: Anna Lam
Editor: Shane MacDonald and Elias Nohra
Sound: Saif Jari
Music: Urumbe Drumming Group (recorded live at the AfroLatino Festival)
Thanks to festival organiser Laura Luna

The Stories Project
Creative Director: Shakthidharan
Producer: Eleanor Winkler
Mentors: Elias Nohra & Platon Theodoris

There’s nothing quite like community-led research and stories to inform your opinion of a place. Through text, stills and videos – all viewable in a cool interactive map – residents of St Marys in Sydney’s West share a variety of stories for both their own community and outsiders to glimpse a slice of life in St Marys.

Over the past few months, CuriousWorks has partnered with Penrith City Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Program on the Neighbourhood Stories initiative. The goal: empower local residents to tell their stories and make positive contributions to their neighbourhood.

Focussing on 6 local residents and 3 Penrith City Council staff, CuriousWorks ran training workshops where the participants would learn videomaking and web publishing skills. Importantly, the stories and research that the participants uncovered would inform a “Neighbourhood Action Plan”, a formal document that would be presented to council to enact actual change.

Check out the website: http://neighbourhoodstories.net.au/

And watch this little Behind the Scenes feature:

Who’d have thought school detention could be so much fun? On July 1st, 2010, drama students from Holroyd High School performed a one-off performance to a packed Lennox Theatre at Riverside Theatres in Parramatta and much fun was had!

If you missed it, or just want to experience it again and check out some behind-the-scenes goodies, head over to the Detention website by clicking HERE or on the picture below!

Detention is the result of 8 weeks of workshops with writer Caleb Lewis, movement artist Angela Hill & digital media nerd Elias Nohra from CuriousWorks. The workshops were held at Holroyd High School in Greystanes, Western Sydney, with drama students from years 10, 11 & 12. Drama teacher Rebecca Franklin generously provided her time and effort to make it all happen!

This project was spearheaded by Parramatta Riverside Theatres and led by CuriousWorks, with support from ArtsNSW & STARTTS.

It’s fine live music, with a twist.

CuriousWorks’ July Fundraiser
8-11 pm, Wednesday 28 July 2010
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
$10 donation
Directions: http://www.curiousworks.com.au/contact/

This time it’s a little later in the month, but July’s Twist event shall be worth the wait!

Combine live music with dynamic visuals and a little audience participation/manipulation and you’ve got a Twist!

CuriousWorks’ monthly improvisational fundraising event promises to be full of surprises. This month’s themes: City & Desert!

Twist – verb:
1. to combine, as two or more strands or threads, by winding together; intertwine
2. To distort the meaning or form; pervert
3. To combine or associate intimately.

CuriousWorks is a charity that works with disadvantaged communities around Australia. Twist is our way of connecting with and supporting our own community.

Each month we gather some of the most talented independent musicians and artists in Sydney showcasing their collective talents in our uniquely welcoming studio. Money raised is split equally between our charity and the independent artists that perform.

So please come along and relax on the couches; meet new friends; impose your influence on the performance; and let your senses be nourished.

Last month’s themes of Fear & Hope produced some nutty results! This month’s themes, City & Desert, are bound to do likewise.

Images will be presented to a group of improvising musicians. They respond with music. The jam begins.

In turn, VJ’s will respond to this music with their own images, mixed live. Live illustrations will also be drawn!

The artists:

* Robin Dixon on looping various instruments and sounds into a bed of musical goodness – his main band is Derwent River Star – http://www.myspace.com/derwentriverstar

* Dave Carr on guitar and banjo virtuosity – http://www.davidcarrmusic.net/

* Aimee Falzon on live drawing and vocals – you can hear her sing and see her draw in this clip: http://www.curiousworks.com.au/place/urban/imagine-the-city-as-a-living-thing/

* Shakthidharan on VJ’ing and soundscaping – you can see one of his works here: http://www.curiousworks.com.au/place/urban/mashup-generations-conference-2009/

* Raphael Gadot, a jazz drummer from Paris, on drums

As always, all the money raised goes towards empowering disadvantaged communities across Australia to have a self-defined, sustainable voice.

This fundraiser will be held under a NSW fundraising certificate at the CuriousWorks HQ.

Over the past few months, CuriousWorks has partnered with Penrith City Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Program on the Neighbourhood Stories initiative. The goal: empower local residents to tell their stories and make positive contributions to their neighbourhood.

Focussing on 6 local residents and 3 Penrith City Council staff, CuriousWorks ran training workshops where the participants would learn videomaking and web publishing skills. The website and content they created will finally be debuted on the 8th of July!

Come along to meet the participants and check out the super-cool website, complete with interactive multimedia map!

Details below:

When: Thursday 8 July 2010

 4pm for 4.30pm start (5.30pm finish)

Where: St Marys Corner, Community Cultural Precinct

Memorial Hall, corner Great Western Highway and Mamre Road

Car entry via 29 Swanston Street, St Marys

RSVP:

e: shunt@penrithcity.nsw.gov.au

t: (02) 4732 7500