'Manifestation x Steeplejack' / August 27th-28th at Miscellania
A huge weekend ahead for those in Naarm with the inaugural Manifestation event slated to run over two days, in collaboration with outfit known for their decade-long run of parties: Steeplejack.
Though not initially booked as a collaborative event, the teams behind each collective have curated a line-up of local talent that will guide you through 30 hours of sensory exploration at every local’s favourite watering hole - Miscellania. Expect an amalgam of response-based, world-building performances that allure your senses and beseech you dance!
Though this will be the first event Manifestation have run, they have a well-established mix series open to all on SoundCloud. The focus of releases on this platform has been one of cultivating a dual sensory experience, of integrating the worlds of sight and sound for featured artists and listeners alike. The former of these two factors has largely been rooted in both real and imagined organic textures and phenomena, something used as inspiration in the generation of a digitized hypothetical world; a place where artists are given freedom to construct a complimentary soundscape.
The upcoming event will aim to bring a new dimension to this format with a focus on the theme of oxidisation. Some immense talent has been brought together to bring this to life. Among this collective is eofy, a mixed medium sculpture who brings into new being that might otherwise be discarded. Joining them is /amalg, a collaborative effort between Nikeeta Arthur, Jay Morgan, and Peter Bloor who together work with disconsolate native appliances to actualize hypothetical futures. Lastly, there is niph, a new media artist and generative light sculpture whose work aims to represent nature's effortless orderly chaos. Through their visions combined, these artists in conjunction with Manifestation x Steeplejack hope to turn the Miscellenia’s minimalist loft into an otherworldly dystopia where the organic meets the inorganic.
Though this hazy, dream-like loft may be a stranger to dystopian futures within its walls, it is no stranger to Steeplejack and its community. It is hard to sum up in a brief feature all that which Harrison and his band of merry audio-visual spell weavers could be praised for. Throughout their colourful 10-year history Steeplejack has maintained a firm orientation toward self-exploration and discovery through music, allowing new styles, genres, and artists to push the envelope of what may already have been done without ever taking themselves too seriously. Their long running events are a shining example of this approach which maintains a satirical, tongue-in-cheek energy whilst showcasing some truly amazing musical talent.
In tandem with this, the Steeplejack mix series and its sister show, Faultlines, serve as yet another format where established and emerging artists can be showcased and push the boundaries of what they and listeners may be accustomed to. Whilst veterans of the event space, the upcoming collaboration with Manifestation will see Steeplejack realise a long hoped for plan to be a part of a larger scale event within Miscellania. Through their shared values of personal and professional exploration, innovation, and community, the teams from Steeplejack x Manifestation hope to give back to a community who have given them everything, showcasing Naarm’s artistic voice and inviting others to relish in its unique essence.
Whilst many of those directly involved with Manifestation x Steeplejack will themselves be gracing the decks across the 30 hr extravaganza, they have alongside them a smorgasbord of genre-defining talent.
Day one starts early, from 2pm, with performances by Artemis, Index, K.L. Mai, and Lily Tait. K.L. Mai is a ceramic artist and musical Dreamweaver, worlds which collide to facilitate an ongoing love for sensory abstraction, recently back from Soft Centre where they were involved in a collaboration of an outstanding live AV performance.
The first day will see its own AV performance between Eora Nation’s Mija Healey and local eek. A true manifestation of oxidise can be expected when her ability to subvert expectations in her craft meets the world-defining abilities of eek’s kit-bashing narratives.
Lily Tait will also be a name to watch out for, whose sets improvise sonic ecosystems and the interactions they can have with their acoustic elements, informed by the potential within violin and vocal technique.
The night doesn’t stop there as taking us though until 3am will be artists r. Hunter, Scything, Synergetix, and Wasp. Most excitingly, Synergetix - a collaborative effort between Steeplejack, Cutting-Room, and Night-Magnet - will bring the full potential of the dystopic space to bear with their “omnitensionsal-instrumentally-apprehensible high-tech-low-brow perisonic-negentropic-prefrequential sound”.
From 7am Sunday Miscellenia’s diffuse, ethereal, daytime space will play host to d-grade, dregs, Harold B2B with Nino, and the venerable Kitty Whip. Where d-grade have already flexed their musical innovation muscles with mixes for Faultlines and a recent exhibition at the Stanley Street Gallery and thee performances by dregs will be the first on a fortnight long tour that will see them up through Sydney and Canberra, most notable is LOIF, who will be performing his debut live set on Sunday.
LOIF has had a huge year thus far with releases on Amniote Editions x Ute and Pure Space, where he consistently elevates his craft above dance-floor protocol whilst never compromising rhythmical perfection. Join him to bring true assimilation to the simulation is siri, a digital media artist who is no stranger to the potential of Miscellenia’s space having a storied history elevating artists performances with his impeccable vision.
As if this all weren’t enough, party goers will continue being beset with cochlear delights courtesy of Ménage, Nat Salih B2B Ricci, and noom. Ménage, a collaborative effort between the long-time friends Dashiell, Eugene Pascal and Sam Brickle, are recently back from an overseas tour where they, alongside Animalia, performed as events such as Breakfast Club in Amsterdam. Ever a vibe anytime they take the stage, Ménage are back in Narrm to palpate our sense with their deft amalgam of breaks, techno, trance, and house in a glorious welcome home live performance.
Bringing the simulation full circle will be acts from OK EG x Rhys Newling and Winged Mantis Emerald Dream Machine. OK EG, a collaboration between Naarm based producers Lauren Squire and Matthew Wilson, draw inspiration for their improvisational live performances from natural, textural soundscapes. One knows not what to expect when the spaces OK EG generate between hypnotic polyrhythms and lush ambience meet with Rhys’ passion for collaborative sonic-terraformation in a hotly anticipated AV set.
A feature can scarcely capture the potential of this event. Those behind the collectives, the venue, and the individual artists themselves are all consummate advocates of creative exploration and expression, united by shared values and inexorably passionate about their craft. They have all consistently delivered outstanding music, space, and sense of community, regardless of time or place. Brought together, over two days, with mutual support, my poor and limited homo-sapionic intracranial cerebro-cortex can scarcely hope to fathom what otherworldly place I, and everyone else, may be tele-transported to. Definitely not one to miss.
Tickets to Manifestation x Steeplejack, August 27th-28th at Miscellania.
Article by Joshua Pickup (@pickupjosh)
Thank you for reading this article. Before you leave the page, we’d like you to take a moment to read this statement. We are asking our readers to take action and stand with the BIPOC community who fight and endure the oppression and injustice of racial inequality.
Here in ‘Australia’, Indigenous people are the most incarcerated population on Earth. Countless lives have been murdered by white police, white government policies and this country’s white history, institutionalised colonialism and ongoing racial oppression. Racial injustice continues today under the phoney, self-congratulatory politics of ‘Reconciliation’ and the notion that colonialism is something that must be denied and forgotten, an uncomfortable artefact of the past.
Feeling guilty is not enough. We must take action, pay the rent, educate ourselves and acknowledge that empathy and sorrow for past actions is insufficient if this does nothing to prevent our current reality from extending into the future.
Please consider making donations to the following organisations (the list is so small and the work to be done is so large, do your research to find more grassroots, Indigenous-lead community organisations):
Indigenous Social Justice Association - fighting to stop Indigenous deaths in custody
Firesticks Alliance - who campaign for Indigenous land management, cultural burning and looking after Country