Looking at the music behind the 2016 Gertrude Street Projection Festival

For those out of Melbourne we apologise, but we just have to give some ups to the Gertrude Street Projection Festival!  It's like a more confined, community driven version of Vivid.

The festival celebrates projection art and lets us see familiar spaces and buildings in new, inspired ways. It’s a collaborative, volunteer effort of artists and traders, residents and community groups.

For 10 evenings in July and in over 35 sites, the length of Gertrude Street in Fitzroy is illuminated by the visions of talented projections artists. Buildings, laneways, footpaths and tree trunks light up with site-specific, curated projections. GSPF’s diverse program celebrates and connects Melbourne's diverse arts community.

But in 2016, the festival has branched out to celebrate the intrinsic connection between live music and visuals, with a number of exciting and specialised music events to feature on the program. GSPF's program hub at The Catfish is turning into the cross-platform party space we are all about, and has got some of Melbourne's finest musicians and collectives to create amazing live collaborations.

Below you'll find just a couple of the amazing projects highlighting the importance visual art plays in music:

GSPF Opening Night w/ OCDANTAR

Opening GSPF will be a free evening of eclectic performances, headlined by OCDANTAR (aka Josh Delaney of SMILE, Rat & Co). He's dropping in with visual collaborator, Brendan Harwood, to perform a new show in support of his beautiful debut, Time in Flux. Support comes from art pixel distorters, Gamer 3D, and power-jangle quartet Slow Fires. There will also be super fun AV/DJ sets Rose Staff and Krystal Schultheiss (Project Pixel).

The Catfish, 30 Gertrude Street

Friday 15 July 2016, 6.30pm – 12pm

FREE

Good Manners x GSPF

Back it up on Saturday night with this massive night set up by Good Manners and GSPF. Brendan Harwood is clearly in hot demand right now, as he'll be in charge of visual duties once again, teaming up with his old collaborator in LUCIANBLOMKAMP.

Blomkamp will be headlining the event, having recently returned from a national tour to support the release of his incredible sophomore record, Bad Faith. Joining him will be Martin King (collaborating on a special live show with Juliet Rowe) - as well as rising talents SAATSUMA and Gonzo Jones. This will basically be the equivalent of the coolest family catch-up you've ever been to.

The Catfish, 30 Gertrude Street

Saturday 16 July 2016, 7.30pm – 12pm

$10 Tickets

GSPF Closing Party: Presented by Paradise

Once 3/4 of Melbourne has swamped the inner northern area, lapping up the insane projections and installations dotted around Fitzroy -they'll be heading back to The Catfish for one more dance. This one comes courtesy of Paradise (of Paradise Music Festival fame), who have decided to extend the celebration of projection works to incorporate immersive live performances. Selecting some of Australia’s leading artists to perform tailor-made, exclusive and once-off performances, they're promising a completely unique and interactive experience, and we reckon it'll be a big way to say goodbye to GSPF 2016.

Marcus Whale will be launching his powerful debut album, Inland Sea; friendships and Null are whipping up a collaborative Audio-Visual Performance, Deer is debuting his own Audio-Visual set, there'll be a contemporary dance performance from Dreamteam Projects and the Paradise DJs have got something called a 'Burnout AV Set' in store for us.

The Catfish, 30 Gertrude Street

Saturday 23 July 2016, 7pm – 12pm

$15 TICKETS

There are more music/performance events to be announced, so to keep track of them and to check out the full program of amazing visual art, head to the GSPF WEBSITE.

The Gertrude Street Projection Festival

Friday 15 - Sunday 24 JULY 2016

6PM - MIDNIGHT

Words by Tom Hutchins

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