Part performance, part side-show, part show and tell, The Light Show is a celebration of the unashamedly avant-garde. Sun-Bus-5 present a curated program of low-budget video art masterpieces, projections and structured musical improvisations. The Sacred Heart Chapel & courtyard at Abbotsford Convent, and St Andrews Hall will be immersed in a psychedelic garden of image and light, creating an electric entrance into an intimate multi-screen space.

The Light Show features four distinctly different yet interwoven components. Firstly, the venues themselves are bathed in large dynamic analogue projections, improvised by legendary projection artist Hugh McSpedden. Hugh has created film and psychedelic visuals since 1968, including the projection of giant, colourful polka-dots on the Royal Exhibition Building at an embryonic Melbourne Fringe Festival 29 years ago. Audience members are encouraged to linger in this environment before entering the venue proper.

The second component is a screening of short Australian film and video art works created over four decades. This eclectic collection curated by Andrew Garton illustrates a development and vast diversity in style, content and technique from Sydney and Melbourne artists.

The third component is a show and tell lead by Hugh, demonstrating a fascinating collection of large format projection equipment, one example even featuring a Tesla coil!

Lastly, the musicians of Sun-Bus-5 (Andrew Garton, Chip Wardale, Hugh McSpedden, Kate Adam and Steve Law), who each bring a vast diversity of arts practice to The Light Show, create a cinematic accompaniment to various combinations of projected image and light.

Three different performance ‘stations’ exist with distinct instrumentation and unique ‘light’ signatures for the ensemble. Utilising Garton’s Drift Theory, a structured improvisation formula, and an array of instruments including analogue synths, treated guitar, bass, marimba, percussion, turntable and assorted devices, Sun-Bus-5 respond to myriad light dramatisations of music.

The Light Show is a live art event not to be missed.

“Anyone interested in projections will want to learn from Hugh, a pioneer of light.” – Andrew Garton, Producer

VENUES

St Andrews Hall, Proctor St, St Andrews, VIC 3099

DATES: 4 and 5 Oct
TIME: 8.00pm (2hr)

Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford, VIC 3067

DATES: 12 and 13 Oct
TIME: 8.00pm (2hr)

TICKETS
Full: $20
Concession: $18
Group: $15

TO BOOK visit melbournefringe.com.au or call (03) 9660 9666

SHOW PUBLICIST
Chip Wardale / 0437199563 / chip@mad.scientist.com

Download: the-light-show-Media-Release [PDF]