The Sound Of Seeing - NZ Experimental Music Film Screenings Announced

The brains behind CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand have put together a special series of film screenings and live performances at Te Whanganui-a-Tara creative hub Pyramid Club, promising to "present an alternative history of Aotearoa experimental music, seen through the history of artists film and video 1973-2020." Curated by Mark Williams and Epic Sweep Records, The Sound Of Seeing happens on three consecutive Fridays from 30th October onwards, with a diverse multi-media programme offering "a history of NZ experimental music informed not only by radical sonic aesthetics, but also ecological, political and social practices".

Nights One and Two will feature mostly films with pre-recorded soundtracks by such significant local figures as Jed Town (working with PS Films), Bic Runga (working with Nova Paul) and Torben Tilly (working with Gavin Hipkins) while Night Three will shift focus to live soundtracks performed by Chrissie Butler, Simon Cuming and Thomas Carroll, accompanying silent films drawn from CIRCUIT's collection, plus a new audio / visual work by Jamie Berry. With film screenings curated via the process of "not by watching the films, but by listening only to their soundtracks," you know your ears will be in for a treat. Dive into the full details for each night below...

“This is not only a new way of imagining the history of experimental music in Aotearoa, it is also the first time some of these films have been shown in public for many years” - CIRCUIT Director Mark Williams

The Sound Of Seeing - Pyramid Club, Wellington

Night One - Friday 30th October

Moving image works by Tanya Te Miringa Te Rorarangi Ruka, Lissa Mitchell, Terry Urbahn, Gavin Hipkins, Rachel Shearer, Christopher Ulutupu, Bryce Galloway, Richard Von Sturmer, Charlotte Wrightson, Derek Ward, Aliyah Winter. The night includes soundtracks from Jane Mihingarangi Ruka, Fever Hospital, Torben Tilly, Wendyhouse, Jed Town and Ieuan Evans with the New Zealand Male Choir. Live performance by Ludus.

Night Two - Friday 6th October

Moving image and sound by: Nova Paul, Bic Runga, David Downes, Nathan Thompson, Expansion Bay and Del, Popular Productions, Tone Cornaga, George Hubbard, Sean Grattan, James Duncan, Mireya Lucio, Kim Pieters, William Henry Meung, Janet Lilo, Harry Lilo, Owairaka District School, Waimarama Puhara, The Parasitic Fantasy Band. Concluding with a new live soundtrack by Erika Grant, Isaac Smith and Rosie Langabeer, who will accompany Laura Duffy's Garden of Purity (2018).

Night Three - The Sound of Seeing Live! - Friday 13th October

New live soundtracks from Jamie Berry, Chrissie Butler, Simon Cuming, Thomas Carroll, plus films from popular productions, Bruce Barber, Mike Heynes and a new audio/visual work by Jamie Berry.

Tickets +more info available HERE via UTR

Gavin Hipkins, City of Tomorrow (trailer) (2017) Sound by Torben Tilly, Courtesy of the artist and CIRCUIT.

David Downes, Noise (Theme and Variations) (1998), Digital Video, Sound. Courtesy of the artist and CIRCUIT.