As was announced in July “the creative team behind Melbourne’s iconic Shadow Electric have announced an exciting new music and video collaboration series set to kick off this August.” Titled ‘Visions’ and held inside Brunswick’s historic Estonian House (Formally the Marco Polo, and Western Cinemas) the project will feature some of Australia’s best loved local acts, pairing them with spectacular, unique visuals.
What makes this project even more exciting is that Shadow Electric’s iconic 34-metre square cinema screen, will be relocated to Estonian House for the series providing a one-of-a-kind experience for local music fans, who will get to see some of their favourite acts (Teeth & Tongue, Rat & Co and The Bombay Royale amount others) in the reinvigorated historic cinema house.
We had a chat with one to the event organisers Dave Chestwig who took us inside the original concept, the making of and what to expect. For tickets and more info on the upcoming ‘Visions’ event pop by www.shadowelectric.com.au.
The Birth Of ‘Visions’ at Estonian House
“I lived a few streets down from Estonian house when I first moved to Melbourne, I was always curious as to what lay inside. I did some research and was excited to learn it was originally a cinema built in 1929. The space nowadays has had the cinema seats removed to form a standing auditorium set up and primarily functions as a community hub for the local Estonian community. My research led me to a contact within the Estonian community and we’ve been working towards placing an event there ever since.
Earlier this year we produced an outdoor show at Abbotsford Convent with Rat & Co collaborating with video artist Oliver Ellmers and Sleep D working with Artmammal & Misklectic. The show was great, one my personal favourites and was very well received. Having such a massive cinema screen backdrop really takes the audio / visual collaboration to a whole new level experientially. We wanted more opportunities to produce similar shows, thats where the intial idea came from. We have a pretty experienced team so the process from conception to reality is really a bit of hard work and lot of faith in the idea.
Securing such a suitable venue was key to making these shows happen. Like any project, you develop the concept, put all practical elements into place, secure your artistic content, promote and then execute a tight event. Thats a pretty rudimentary breakdown. You have to love with concept to make these events a reality and you have to find other people that will fall in love with the concept as much as you do.”
What Makes Estonian House Different From Other Venues
For a venue of its size its particularly grand, massive proscenium arch stage, high ceiling, massive screen and top notch audio. The ever loveable shadow electric bar team will be in full effect.
The Concept Behind The Meeting Of Visuals & Music
“I think art forms other than music are under represented in the context of a fun Saturday night out. I think we’re seeing more authentic collaborations across different platforms of late. Its not uncommon at our Abbotsford Convent Band Room for an EP launch to be accompanied by an exhibition, or for bands to have ongoing collaborations with video artists. We’re excited to be providing a canvas where multiple art forms can be considered and developed as a singular piece.”
Line Up Selection
“We booked bands that we thought would work well in the context of playing in an old cinema with exciting visuals. We’ve booked Rat & Co several times and Olie who doest their visual is essentially a permanent member of the band, so they’ve been very keen when ever we’ve spoken to them about bigger bolder use of visual and projection.
We knew Jess from Teeth and Tongue would be excited by this idea and she has sought out Keith Deverell to collaborate with. Bombay Royale are a band that was born to play in a cinema. Nuff said.
Juice Rap News is particularly exciting as they’ve not played in Melbourne ever and only played a couple of live shows ever. They are interest celebrities who have collaborated with Noam Chomsky and the likes. This show is particularly exciting for me as we’re branching out to territory beyond music and video, into a weird world of live comedy / theatre / video rap.”
Future Plans
“Watch this space, we hope to be announcing a second series very soon!”
SHADOW ELECTRIC PRESENTS ‘VISIONS’
Friday, 28th August 2015 (Evening Show)
Teeth & Tongue
Supports: Pearls and The Ocean Party
Doors 7pm
Saturday, 29th August 2015 (Evening Show)
Rat & Co
Supports: Klo and Hoodlem
Doors 7pm
Sunday, 30th August 2015 (Matinee Show)
Juice Rap News with Nazeem Hussain + Dan Ilic
Doors 1pm
Sunday, 30th August 2015 (Evening Show)
The Bombay Royale
Supports: Sex on Toast & Johnnie and the Johnnies
Doors 7pm
All tickets on sale now via Shadow Electric
