Synthesizers: Sound of the Future

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posted on 2025-03-16, 22:25 authored by HEATHER GAUNTHEATHER GAUNT

The Grainger Museum was at the heart of electronic music experimentation in Melbourne in the 1960s and early ‘70s, when composer Keith Humble, recently returned from a decade of musical experimentation in Paris, transformed the Museum into ‘the Grainger Centre’: an electronic experimentation studio for students and composers. Humble equipped the Grainger Centre with the latest analogue synthesizers made by Electronic Music Studios, Ltd, (EMS), London. The synthesizers from EMS allowed local composers to create entirely new sounds to incorporate into their experimental music and processes. For a brief period of less than a decade, the Grainger Museum resonated with this ‘sound of the future’. Synthesizers: Sound of the Future tells the story of this forgotten period in the Grainger’s history. The exhibition brings together, for the first time, the suite of early EMS instruments - many of which were in the Grainger Museum in the period - on loan from the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS). Evoking the ethos of vibrant period of musical creativity in Melbourne, the exhibition also features cutting-edge video art by electronic artist David Chesworth, produced on the EMS Spectre video synthesizer circa 1980. Exhibition curated by Heather Gaunt, Curator, Grainger Museum Thanks to the following key contributors: John Cary, David Chesworth, David Collins, Les Craythorn, Agnes Dodds, Robin Fox, Keith Whitman, James Gardner, Alan Gaunt, Graeme Kerrs, Charles McInnes, Kristoffer Paulsen, Byron J. Scullin, John Whiteoak, Liquid Architecture

History

Add to Elements

NTRO Output Type

Curated Exhibition, Event or Festival

NTRO Output Category

Curated Exhibition, Event or Festival : Exhibition/event

Place

Melbourne, Australia

Venue

The Grainger Museum, The University of Melbourne

NTRO Publisher

https://culturalcommons.edu.au/synthesizers-sound-of-the-future-online-exhibition/

Start Date

2018-04-20

End Date

2018-09-09

Medium

Physical exhibition; and web-based exhibition. Included the creation of an online exhibition, including commissioned film content (produced by Learning Environments), used in the physical exhibition in the Grainger Museum, as well as integrated into the online exhibition.

Research Statement

The Grainger Museum was at the heart of musical experimentation in Melbourne in the late 1960s, when composer and teacher Keith Humble established a renegade composition studio at the Grainger Museum using early synthesizers. This period of experimentation in the Grainger Museum is under-researched, with little awareness of the importance of the Museum in the evolution of early Australian experimental music. The exhibition presented the first researched exploration of this key period in the history of the Grainger Museum, situating the groundbreaking activity in the Melbourne experimental electronic music scene and, more broadly, the evolution of the commercially produced synthesizer by EMS (Electronic Music Studios Ltd.). The exhibition was an international milestone, the first to present a complete chronology of EMS synthesizers in the period. The project culminated in a major public exhibition, and online exhibition, including new video content. It exploited innovative audience interactivity in an environment where visitors could use the historic instruments and included a suite of public performances with experimental sound organisation Liquid Architecture, and staff and students of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. The exhibition greatly increased visitation to the Grainger Museum, with 5730 visitors during the course of the exhibition. The exhibition received significant press coverage, including magazine, newspaper, and national radio (see attached Media Evaluation document) and was featured in Pursuit https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/podcasts/celebrating-synths. It demonstrated an innovative approach to delivery, including developing a co-creative approach with key collaborators associated with electronic music, and student creative input from FFAM and Engineering.