pond/er (h)ear

vicki hallett & berni m janssen

Saturday 15 November, 4pm
JOLTED Arts Space
342 High Street Northcote

Tickets $15/$10
Get tickets here or purchase on the day at the door

Performing structured improvisations blending poetic texts, vocalizations, treated clarinet, field recordings, found sounds

… each work responding to ‘a time and a place ‘  –  ‘each pond its own song’…

Each with different theme and development, including:

(p)each

(p)each, inspired by the popular Japanese folktale Momotaro, responds to, and is also inspired by the world-wide grassroots movements challenging and defying oppression and injustice. The story of a boy born from a peach, who gathers unlikely allies, to fight the oppressors offers an example of bravery against unmatched odds, of how when we work together we can do the seemingly impossible.

It is a tribute to all people who have lost so much, including their lives, in these struggles.

(p)each, had a long development. Vicki and berni began exploring the peach text in the months just before covid. Over the covid times, they developed the work online and whenever they could meet in person. Over those years people’s fight for an equitable world continued and continued to add layers to the original inspirations.

A version of (p)each has been presented as part of Radiophrenia 2025 programs in Glasgow, and London.

Available now: https://bernimjanssen.bandcamp.com/track/p-each

pond/er

A contemplation of the life and times of that quintessential rural feature, the dam. Could be a pond. Or a lake. A body of water filled with life, surrounded by life, fluctuating, changing. Season to season.

pond/er is a work in progress drawing on poetic text, field recordings, instruments and sounds from dams in Djaara country.

berni m janssen is a maker of poems, performances, multidisciplinary art and preserves. She often works with composers, musicians, sound artists, performers and visual artists. She mentors with JOLT Arts. She lives and works on the unceded land of the Dja Dja Wurrung in Australia.

Vicki Hallett is a musician, acoustic ecologist and composer.  She records and composes with the unique sounds of the ever-diminishing habitats and species. She utilises sounds we rarely or cannot hear. Hallett travels the world recording sounds as well as performing in environments in Africa (with hippopotami) and the Amazon jungle. www.vickihallett.com