Bomb the Space 5

The New Zealand Improvised Music Charitable Trust is presenting Bomb the Space 5, New Zealand’s largest experimental and contemporary music festival.

The Bomb the Space festival brings together some of the most adventurous musicians from across New Zealand and the world for five nights of destruction, reconstruction and realignment of music, noise and sound. The festival features practitioners of innovative music in all manner of genres: electronic, turntablism, free jazz, contemporary classical, improvised music, laptop experimentation, noise, rock, and amalgams of the above.

The festival was founded by free jazz saxophonist Jeff Henderson in 2001 in Wellington. Originally based in the legendary loft venue, The Space (from whence the name originates), Bomb the Space has expanded since 2001, shifting its venue base to the inner city Wellington venue, Happy, and absorbing local venues such as Enjoy Public Art Gallery and the Film Archive’s Mediaplex in Wellington.

In addition to concerts offered in Wellington 2005 the festival has expanded into a truly national event, including events and concerts in Auckland and Christchurch. Combining the strengths of local communities with those of visiting artists, the festival is designed to astonish and enlighten musicians and the public alike.

"Each year we programme a festival that celebrates the unique, the extremists, those who are pushing music forward," says Artistic Director Jeff Henderson. "Every night is a new take on music, a fresh perspective."

The focus of the festival is on collaboration and invention. Musicians are encouraged to share ideas both musical and cultural and are invited to participate in public seminars and workshops during the day, as well as their nightly performances.

Some highlights of the Festival are:

• Will Guthrie (Aus) - percussionist using home-made instruments,
  amplified junk, microphones & speakers as well as traditional percussion.
• Erell Latimier (France) - sound artist working with dictaphones,
  walkmans, recordings of text and sound concrete.
• Phil Dadson – renowned composer, artist, filmmaker and improviser.
• Surfing USSR – Christchurch based Klezmer-Surf ensemble, performing a live soundtrack to short animated films, ‘From Disney to Dunedin.’
• Jim Denley (Aus) – Australia’s foremost exponent of improvised music. Composer and saxophonist of the highest order. Has performed with the likes of Derek Bailey and John Butcher.
• Anthony Donaldson (NZ) – composer and drummer; a central figure in the history of avant-garde music in New Zealand.
• Paul Buckton (UK/NZ) – former UK based improvising guitarist – a major influence on the British and local scenes.
• Clayton Thomas (Aus) improvising double bassist. Founder of the Now Now Festival in Sydney. Has performed with the likes of Henry Grime, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Sonny Simmons and Hamid Drake.
• Jeff Henderson – the central figure of New Zealand improvised music and heavyweight saxophonist. Founder and director of Bomb the Space.
• Campbell Kneale AKA Brichville Cat Motel – seminal noise and drone musician. Winning of the Vodaphone Digital Art Wards and inveterate international tourer.
• Film Series at the Film Archive in Wellington – including works by Frank and Caroline Mouris, John Lake, Arthur and Corinne Cantrill, and more.

Christchurch (in association with the Christchurch Festival of the Arts)

Nightly 9pm, The Christchurch Media Club, 191 Armagh Street

Nightly 8pm, Happy Venue, underground, corner Tory and Vivian Streets

Wednesday 3^rd to Friday 5^th 12.15pm, The Film Archive Mediaplex

Friday 5^th 6pm and Saturday 6^th 7pm, The Film Archive Mediaplex

Friday 12^th 8pm, The Odeon Lounge, 3 Mt Eden Road

Saturday 13^th 6pm, The Leys Institute, St Mary’s Road, Ponsonby

Saturday 13^th 9.30pm, The Wine Cellar, St Kevin’s Arcade, K Road

Sunday 14^th 7pm, University School of Music, Auckland University