“My attitude to media is that we are in a moment now where we can apply contemporary approaches and techniques and attitudes – but choose from the history of media and technologies for materials that have distinguishing attributes, fidelity and malleability,” the composer explains. “That’s why you see artists returning to or sticking with celluloid, cassettes, vinyl, analogue Synths. Medium specificity is a tool for artists to use. I like the artist Dick Higgins who, in his 1965 statement on intermedia, said a composer should compose for all mediums.”
In many ways, Joel Stern is a product of the synergistic world we inhabit. The past two decades have borne witness to the gradual hybridisation and intermingling of various media formats. Visual art philosophy has bled into the creative approaches of pop stars like Lady Gaga, while rock musicians like Nick Cave and Sonic Youth have been exerting influence throughout the worlds of art and literature. The advent of technologies like the internet, iPhones and mp3 players, meanwhile, has physically embodied the very hybridity musicians and artists have attempted to touch upon since the middle of the twentieth century.
The work of Joel Stern, while greatly removed from the popular territories of such innovations, is very much representative of the world that has arisen in their wake. A multimedia artist, curator, musician and academic, Stern’s work is an exploration into the abstract, fluid nature of sound and imagery, as well as the individual idiosyncrasies and characteristics of specific sounds and concepts. His studio work encompasses vast, detailed sonic territories comprised of everything from abstract found sounds and office stationery to off-key instrumentation and soothing textures. Meanwhile his live performances can easily augment these constructions with improvisation, avantgarde film footage and various other multimedia.
“It depends on context and how I feel,” Stern says of his performance approaches. “Live performance is really different from what I do in the studio. There’s always freedom to improvise with the materials I use and I like to incorporate a lot of chance and indeterminacy into my shows. I think with solo performances it’s important to feel prepared and ready, and have something fairly clear to express. I think the improvisation / composition dynamic is pretty blurred for most artists working in experimental or exploratory ways. It’s not one or the other, but usually both. You sort of have to accept and celebrate both.”
It is somewhat inaccurate however, to describe Stern’s work as a mere product of the zeitgeist. The composer has developed his philosophies and practices from a myriad of approaches and investigations over the past decade – working within a number of experimental communities (Melbourne, London and Brisbane), lecturing at universities and collaborating across a variety of disparate projects. A number of Brisbane bands (Impromptulons, No Guru) count Stern as a member while his work in Brisbane-based multimedia ensembles OtherFilm and Abject Leader has been instrumental in expanding Brisbane’s growing reputation as a creative hub.
“I think Brisbane’s getting better every year for artists. The rest of Australia is looking to Brisbane with curiosity and interest, just as we are looking around for inspiration from them. Brisbane’s been good to me. It has nurtured me,” the composer relates. “It’s important for me to immerse yourself in music, to listen with open ears, to seek out new and challenging ideas and sounds, and to have the skills to reflect on your own work contextually, and know how to develop and evolve it. Experimental strategies followed by reflection and application, that’s the evolution of music. The internet has accelerated everything involved with art apart from the making of it, which still does and should take time.”
Joel Stern’s Objects Masks Props is now available from Naturestrip Records.
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