Melbourne-based sonic arts preproduction house JOLT Arts have just announced Copy That, Copy Cat – JOLT Sonic Festival 2019, which will see leading auditory artists and musicians dial up the sonic boom you have been dreaming of across one weekend in September (20th-22nd) at Footscray Community Arts Centre.
The three-day event showcases innovative soundsmiths of varying disciplines. Having made a mark abroad with JOLT festivals in Asia and Europe, the pre-production house is now looking to its own backyard where it will showcase homegrown talent through JOLT Sonic Festival’s all-Aussie program.
Curated by Strange James, The BOLT Ensemble and The Amplified Elephants, the program features a diverse selection of inimitable performances, such as Alessio Dilettoso and Alon Ilsar who each incorporate air sticks — a virtual drumming device — into their practice. Other notable highlights from this year’s program include Brian McNamara and Rod Cooper, who play with the relationships between sculptures and sound, and Cissi Tang, who builds their music on found sounds, such as bird calls and insect chirps.
In selecting this unique line up, curators focused on a few points namely that originality and innovation begins with lived experience. This line up celebrates the uniqueness and innovation of our local communities, and blends these local artists with well-known sonic art and art music acts. The name of this years festival, Copy That, Copy Cat, pays homage to this concept in a bit of a tongue-in-cheek way: these musicians are so unique and so good at what they do that you can’t easily copy them.
Alongside the curators, all of the artists in this years carefully selected lineup are set to push the boundaries of sound and art to deliver an exciting and stimulating event like no other in the country.
JOLT LINEUP 2019
Alessio Dilettoso with Alon Ilsar
Art Day South + Dale Gorfinkel
Bolt Ensemble
Brian McNamara
Carmen Chan Shoenborn
Cissi
Danniel Munnery + Mary Doumany
Elision
Emily Bennett
Ester Tuddenham
Impermanence
Justine Anderson
Naima Fine Fine
Nick Wilson
Patrick Francis Family
Phillhelenes
Rod Cooper
Sonic Adventurers
Strange James
Super Luminum (Cat Hope + Lisa MacKinney)
The Amplified Elephants
Thembi Soddell + Miranda Hill + Karen Heath
Timothy Franklin
Uncle Larry
Zoltan Fesco