Join artist Haroon Mirza for a discussion with collaborator James Rushford, a composer and performer, and studio resident in the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art’s exhibition, Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act. Mirza and Rushford will provide insight into the exhibition and practices, through the lens of their shared interest in the aesthetic and spatial possibilities of sound, sampling and experimental approaches to collaboration.
Listen to the podcast here:
Haroon Mirza has an extensive and varied art practice encompassing sculptural assemblage, immersive installation and live performance, which has its origin in music and is partially informed by the artist’s experience as a DJ. Mirza likens his methodology to that of a composer, arranging both the aesthetic and acoustic properties of materials and space into new audible, visual and haptic forms. Mirza graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting from Winchester School of Art (2002); an Master of Design Critical Practice and Theory from Goldsmiths College (2006); and an Master of Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design (2007). His work has been widely exhibited internationally to significant critical acclaim, including the award of Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, the Nam June Paik Art Center Prize in 2014, the Calder Art Prize in 2015, and the Collide International Award in 2017 which has led to a two-month residency at CERN, Switzerland in 2018.
James Rushford is an Australian composer-performer. His work is drawn from a familiarity with specific concrète, improvised, avant-garde and collagist languages. Currently, his work deals with the aesthetic concept of musical shadow. Rushford holds a Doctorate from the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles and was a 2018 fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. As a composer, Rushford has been commissioned by a wide range of organisations and festivals, including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Glasgow; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Melbourne International Arts Festival; Ultima Festival, Oslo; and Unsound Festival, New York. As a performer, he has presented work in festivals, concert venues and art galleries internationally. He has also performed as a soloist with the Krakow Sinfonietta, Australian Art Orchestra, Michel Pisaro, Eyvind King, David Behrman and Jon Rose. His music has been published by Pogus (US), Prisma (Norway), Bocian (Poland), Penultimate Press (UK), Another Timbre (UK), Holidays (IT), Black Truffle (AUS) and KYE (US).
