Alternative Media Group

FESTIVAL: BRIAN ENO’S LUMINOUS

Author:

Amelia G

Posted:

Wednesday, 29 April 2009

Already a legendary musician, singer and composer, a music theorist, political and environmental commentator, producer (for bands like U2, Coldplay and Talking Heads), author, visual artist and maker of sounds we hear all the time (on films, iPhones, computer games and Microsoft Windows), Brian Eno’s latest venture has been curating a new 3-week festival to be held in Sydney from the end of May.

 

Appropriately, the program of music, art, performance and ideas spans events as diverse as rock, classical, electronica and world music, art instillations, lectures, panels and a continuous light show projected on the Opera House sails.

 

Luminous is unlike most arts festivals because it is a clear manifestation of one man’s idiosyncratic interests and values, as opposed to something designed by a committee.

 

First up is Eno’s keynote address Pure Scenius. “Genius is usually taken to mean the special intelligence of one person,” he tells us via the video on the website, “whereas what I think more often happens is that you get fertile scenes where there’s the cumulative intelligence of a lot of people.” Taking this idea of ‘scenius’, he says his vision for the festival was to create a scene of cross-fertilisation for a few weeks and to see how all these people and ideas would interact.

 

Eno will also make an appearance on stage for David Eagleman’s reading. A neuroscientist by day and sci-fi writer by night, Eagleman’s research on time perception, synesthesia and visual illusions will be perfectly suited to Eno’s accompanying soundscapes.

 

Continuing on the synesthesia thing Eno’s ‘visual music’ instillation in The Studio will comprise 77 million permutations of 360 hand painted slides constantly evolving and interwoven with ambient sound.

 

Highlights from the music program include Battles, Ladytron, Lee Scratch Perry, Jon Hassell, Karl Hyde and the original band of legendary Nigerian singer Fela Kuti (cited by Eno as one of his biggest influences) fronted by his son Sean Kuti.

 

Besides the international line up there are some exciting appearances from home-grown talent including The Necks giving a live improvised score for Back to Back Theatre’s Food Court, a hit at last year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival (the image alone should get you there).

 

Being given all this in the Opera House is exciting enough, but having the building outside scintillating with the man’s own continuously changing configurations of colour for the duration of the festival is like a huge psychedelic cherry on top.

 

For more information and the full program see luminous.sydneyoperahouse.com

 

Going Back to Back with The Necks for Food Court. Photo By Jeff Busby.

Like this article? Register as a subscriber here. It's free! We'll keep you up to date with new stories on the site.