Thom Browning

My installation ‘Giants Among Us’ is now a part of...

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:34:21 +1000

My installation ‘Giants Among Us’ is now a part of Imaginary Theatre’s growing and diverse repertoire of work made for, with and about children and young people. Above is a snippet from the MAPS for Artists touring works brochure which we will be taking to the Australian Performing Arts Market in Adelaide. Thanks to Katherine at MAPS for Artists for the support.

First attempt at a photoshop edit of the drawing in my previous...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:38:36 +1000

First attempt at a photoshop edit of the drawing in my previous post.

Storm System. I have been drawing a bit lately which is just so...

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:18:00 +1000

Storm System. I have been drawing a bit lately which is just so good. Must be some sort of creative reaction to an overwhelming amount of arts administration. Big ups to my sister for giving me the most amazing ink art pens for Christmas.

Currently working as a project coordinator on this gig at the...

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:43:15 +1000

Currently working as a project coordinator on this gig at the State Library of Queensland for their children and young people’s program. Click through to check out the program!

"All artists are prepared to suffer for their work, but why are so few prepared to learn to draw?"

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:34:53 +1000

““All artists are prepared to suffer for their work, but why are so few prepared to learn to draw?””

- Banksy

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:53:00 +1000

Hope you all have fantastic 2010! Peace.

Folio Sampler

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:24:00 +1000

The following 6 posts contain a small sampler of works that I have created over the past 2 years across a diverse range of installation and performance projects.

I have compiled a list of these posts here for easy access. Click through the links below and they will open in a new window/tab.

Giants Among Us - Images - Installation - 2009

Giants Among Us - Audio - Installation - 2009

Bin. Cement. Flower. Leaves - Audio - Performance Installation 2008

Popping Lead Balloons - Audio - Performance 2009

Tashi, The Swan and The Dragon - Audio - Performance for Children - 2009

Transverse Fracture of the First Metacarpal - Contemporary Performance - 2009

Selected photos from ‘Giants Among Us’ at BF09 Under...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:14:00 +1000

Selected photos from ‘Giants Among Us’ at BF09 Under The Radar. Photos by Al Caiero and Carine Kellens.

AUDIO FRAGMENT from ‘Giants Among Us’. Live, public,...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:07:00 +1000

AUDIO FRAGMENT from ‘Giants Among Us’. Live, public, digital installation by Thom Browning at Brisbane Festival’s BF09 Under The Radar.

AUDIO FRAGMENT from ‘Bin. Cement. Flower. Leaves’....

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:06:00 +1000

AUDIO FRAGMENT from ‘Bin. Cement. Flower. Leaves’. Performance Installation by Red Paper Performance Company at Brisbane Festival’s BF08 Under The Radar.

Audio Fragment from ‘Popping Lead Balloons’....

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:03:00 +1000

Audio Fragment from ‘Popping Lead Balloons’. Secondary school touring performance by deBase Productions 2009.

AUDIO FRAGMENT from ‘Tashi, the Swan and The...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:01:00 +1000

AUDIO FRAGMENT from ‘Tashi, the Swan and The Dragon’. Performance for children aged 4-10 by Imaginary Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse 2009.

AUDIO FRAGMENT: From ‘Transverse Fracture of the First...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:59:00 +1000

AUDIO FRAGMENT: From ‘Transverse Fracture of the First Metacarpal’ - Contemporary Performance by Keiran Law and Genevieve Trace. Metro Arts Independents 2009.

Imagining Empty Spaces into Social Spaces

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:25:00 +1000

Imagining Empty Spaces into Social Spaces:

‘Hannah Suarez from Brisbane Creative Industries shares inspiring stories of communities and organisations who have spotted empty spaces in their cities — from abandoned shopfronts to car parking spaces — adopted and transformed them through creativity.”

This article on the British Council’s ‘Creative Cities’ mentions my work ‘Giants Among Us’. Click though and have a read!

Real Time Review - Transverse Fracture of the First Metacarpal

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:43:00 +1000

Excerpt from a review of TRANSVERSE FRACTURE OF THE FIRST METACARPAL by Douglas Leonard

in Real Time issue #93 Oct-Nov 2009 pg. 47

“…Another work in the physical performance vein was Transverse Fracture of the First Metacarpal performed as part of the Independents 2009 season at the Sue Benner Theatre at Metro Arts. This often disarming but deceptively contrived piece dealt with personal encounters with physical injury and rehabilitation by the co-creators Kieran Law and Genevieve Trace. That this might be of major industrial concern for starting out artists was emphasised, coincidentally, by the fact that only relatively recently did mid-career artist Lisa O’Neill return to performance after significant time out due to injury. Curiously, the shows bear a resemblance.

Law and Trace warmly engage with the audience and each other, developing a neat patter between them and bearing lightly on their physical injuries. Trace is particularly funny as she clowns through the story of how she seriously hurt herself while in the original daffy costume she wore on stage as a teenage performer. Law plays a more bashful muggins when he describes the usual dumb things young men do that resulted in his own injuries, although, to be fair, Trace unrepentantly confesses to having her nose broken in a stupid fight with her sister.

There’s an underground tension that emerges darkly to counter this lightness. This transverse fracture in the proceedings is well managed by the performers as they disengage from the audience and each other, entering another world of their own. Thom Browning’s low key electronica inundates the space to create a moody uneasiness perfectly complemented by Whitney Eglington’s spare lighting design. Two medical light boxes suspended in the space illuminate the brain scans and x-rays of broken bones held up to them in classic gestures that recreate to strong effect the still moment of anguish and horror before a patient’s life or death sentence is pronounced. Law’s Suzuki-based and Trace’s circus style of repetitive choreographed movement performed with absolute focus likewise served to prolong this moment to an unnerving extent considering the real risk of injury in this context.

This was a sophisticated and interestingly constructed show—the moment of disconnect, the movement into abstraction, was similar to the act of severence performed by O’Neill in The Pineapple Queen wielding her axe, and for the same reasons. Law and Trace, by cutting ties to their own self-narratives, seemed to be staking claim to new and uncharted territory on a level basis with the audience. Given their obvious skills and commitment, it will be interesting to see how their future work develops with larger subject matter. As a footnote, I’d like to mention the salient influence I’ve been observing that OzFrank has been having on two generations now in Brisbane…

….Transverse Fracture of the First Metacarpal, co-devisors, performers Genevieve Trace, Kieran Law, sound design Thom Browning, lighting design Whitney Eglington; Sue Benner Theatre, Metro Arts, Brisbane, July 9-25”

For the full review check http://www.realtimearts.net/article/93/9603

PS I have now started another blog that is purely a collection...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +1000

PS I have now started another blog that is purely a collection of image, video and audio all which amuse/inspire me and that don’t really belong on this page. It is called…..Tee Bee. Click through the image to check it out!

What the hell was that?

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:27:50 +1000

That was the most intense 6 months of work I have ever experienced.

April-October has been fairly ridiculous. Between Imaginary Theatre, State Library of QLD, working for other independent artists and creating my own work I have been doing alot of stuff. The feeling of achievement is only just enough to glaze over the fact that it isn’t really ideal to be working that much - in any ways. My high expectations of myself certainly do not help this situation, as I continually set the bar higher and higher, never happy with mediocrity in any shape or form.

The thing is though - the more overworked I am the harder it is to keep the bar high. Some things have definitely been let slip over the past few months as exhaustion has set in. There are a few things I am immensely proud of and a few more which I am happy with, but know that I could have done just that bit better.

Not sure if there is a lesson to be learned here, as no doubt the next year will see even more opportunities raise their head which I will have very little choice but respond to. I mean, if I am going to keep going I might as well go all out right?

Shrug.

Just 1 week until Giants Among Us hits Brisbane buildings! Check...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:08:43 +1000

Just 1 week until Giants Among Us hits Brisbane buildings! Check for more details at www.giantsamongus.com.au

Trailer from: Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:41:00 +1000

Trailer from:

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood.

Courtesy of the Media Education Foundation.

http://www.mediaed.org

"The people who run our cities don’t understand Graffiti because they think nothing has the..."

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:24:45 +1000

““The people who run our cities don’t understand Graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit, which makes their opinions worthless””

- Banksy