Day 221: Past in the present...

Day 221: ...in the future and now, or something

Some days are more in the events and the photos are incidental. It started with a short gig at the coffee shop, whereupon, a former student appeared, having been 'just passing by'. 

A little later in the day, one of those cultural double days...play in the afternoon, orchestral concert in the evening. But both had out-of-the-ordinary moments.

The play, Gloria, was at the Bille Brown Studio which always gives me the chance to walk around past Kurilpa Point, GOMA, and the Pauls (as we old-timers remember it) milk factory. In terms of urban landscape, this area has it all. Indeed, it has featured on the blog before. 

I think there has been a recent paint job, I wondered if they kept the 'Pauls' part visible deliberately, a nod to history. 

Was Pauls, was good...

Of course, when you round the corner, the sheer architectural statement of the GOMA warrants a day of photography all on its own. Australian photographer Max Dupain was an early influence on my photographic interests and I expect he would have taken some spectacular photos during its construction.

GOMA angle 1

GOMA angle 2

The evening's concert included the premiere of a new composition by young composer Gordon Hamilton, Ghosts in the Machine. A piece for orchestra and choir, the members of the Australian Voices were scattered through the orchestra. It almost qualifies as a meta-musical piece in our meta-meta week. The lyrics included a section inviting members of the audience to email, yes, email the composer directly. I did, of course, and then tweeted about that, of course. I can be meta-dash-meta too. 

There was also a line in his lyrics which struck me...I decided on the title of today's post back when I saw the Pauls sign earlier this afternoon. His lyrics include:

'What year is this?

According to the title page, we were composed in 2014

is that the present or the distant past?'...

from Ghosts in the Orchestra, Gordon Hamilton, 2014

Past, present, future etc. Eerie coincidence.

Emailed moment

In the spirit of the night, and emailing and tweeting during the performance, I took the extra step and captured an 'image' of the moment I emailed the composer, just as requested. We're not supposed to do that, normally...but there was little that was ordinary about today. I consider it participating in the artistic process.


At the end of the concert, I met Elaine Acworth, playwright of Gloria, and my friend's next door neighbour...she works at QPAC...meta-moments.

I've taken the photos in the past, I was writing now, you're reading this tomorrow.

Ooh, shivers!

[Camera : iPhone 4S, 3.40pm, 3.43pm, 3.44pm, 8.34pm]