Gurrumul, Ariel Pink & More Named For Supersense Music & Arts Festival

An international A-list of creatives from the music, film, dance, performance and audio-visual industries will descend upon Melbourne this August for the inaugural Supersense festival, including work from the likes of LA iconoclast Ariel Pink and local legend Gurrumul.

Curated by globally renowned performer Sophia Brous in collaboration with the Asian Performing Arts Program, the high-end celebration of all things creative will canvass all manner of sensory wonders from "the euphoria of Eastern trance ceremonies to the frenzies of modern punk and stroboscopic cinema" when it fills the stages, nooks and crannies of the Arts Centre Melbourne from 7-9 August.

"Supersense turns Arts Centre Melbourne inside out, making some of our hidden spaces cauldrons of creativity," Arts Centre Melbourne chief executive Claire Spencer said in a statement.

"It's unlike anything we have ever presented before, and we look forward to throwing open the doors to the adventurous and the creative-minded to experience our spaces in a whole new way, to share and discover with us in this celebration of the contemporary moment, as we take Arts Centre Melbourne in a bold new direction."

In addition to the inclusion of Pink and the premiere performance of Gurrumul's Gospel Songs concert, Supersense will welcome former Nick Cave collaborator (in short-lived outfit The Immaculate Consumptive) Lydia Lunch with current project Retrovirus, legendary German electronic musician Ash Ra Tempel/Manuel Gottsching, works from John Cale featuring Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard, Michigan-bred electro-fiend Laurel Halo, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, US avant-jazz guitarist Marc Ribot, Chinese troupe Tao Dance Theatre and a collaboration from industrial electro duo HTRK and Melburnian performers Chunky Move. Punters will also have the opportunity to experience US songwriter Grouper's "immersive film installation", Hypnosis Display, created in partnership with filmmaker Paul Clipson, as well as "a cast of acclaimed artists" including local legends The Necks taking on the music of Brian Eno in Discreet + Oblique.

As curator, Brous (pictured below) brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the fledgling festival, informing her programming choices with a long and storied career in both arts performance and patronage. 

Brous emerged as one of the nation's youngest industry leaders when, at age 22, she was named the Melbourne International Jazz Festival's Program Director (a role she held for three back-to-back events) as well as going on to curate the Adelaide Festival Of The Arts and serve as board director for Music Victoria.

"Supersense is an emporium for ecstatic experience, a durational festival-as-theatre that will fill audiences with wonder," Brous explained in a statement.

"It is a space to be curious and intrepid, to come see a legendary icon and then discover an entire world of sounds and traditions that are heart-wrenching, extreme, profound and joyous.

"I am so very excited to step into this transformed environment and feel the impact of all the performances together with so many others in a program that could only happen in one of the great creative cities in the world."

Tickets for this year's Supersense event will be available from 9am this coming Monday, 25 May, via the Arts Centre Melbourne.

The full program will be revealed tomorrow; check the Arts Centre Melbourne's website for more information.