Review: Ten10 Brisbane
Words: Clare Kempnich
Pictures: Kate Scantleton
Whoever said you can have too much of a good thing obviously hasn’t seen a Ten10 showcase. An exhibition dedicated to bring together some of Brisbane’s best artists and musicians to create unique material; the first instalment was held at Lightspace, last week. The team at Ten10 sourced some amazing talent, with an extensive lineup featuring collaborations of Scraps with Chris Allery, Make More with Wen Shi, Lion Island with Joyce Ho, Cured Pink with Timothy Tate, The Scrapes with Chih-Han Hsu, Anonymeye with Brodie Rocca, Joel Stern with Sarah Byrne, Axxonn with Claire Renton, Interval with Tim Lovett and Hunz with Jonas McQuiggin.
The concept of this event seems so intuitive, it seems a very natural thing for people who appreciate art and music to come together with a common interest, and the way the media interacted together was really quite amazing. The music added another dimension to the viewing of the art, and vice versa, as if one complemented the other. I found it amazing how dramatically different the artworks seemed with different accompanying music. The experience reminded me of something people tell me when I watch scary movies – to imagine it without the music. Without the audio, the visual form conveys something entirely different to that which it intends to, and which can really influence the viewers experiences. This exhibition reminded me how the two forms really come together in this way – very subtly, but convincingly done.
Something that really intrigued me was how the ‘brief’ given to the artists to work together was so vague, that it left everything open-ended for collaboration to take place. Between vintage projectors, film installations, studio-set video, narrative-style creations, white noise, record players-turned-old-school animation wheels mixed with avant garde, distorted sets, computerised melody layering, to traditional live band sets of indie/folk/electronic music, the eve was one extreme to another with every piece of collaborated work, displaying some of the raw talent that Brisbane has to offer.
If you missed the event, artist and musician information, versions of the performance seen on the night, and a documentary of the collaborative process (‘Tenths’ – soon to come) is available on the website – www.ten10.com.au. The creators hope that more exhibitions like this will follow, and I really can’t wait to see more. A very creative and inspiring evening, driven by a brilliant concept.
