Callum Mintzis | 'And the Wind was my Dear Friend, Once Again' | Album Launch

This concert is generously supported by the City of Melbourne, Centre for Projection Art, Mission to Seafarers, Alan C Rose Memorial Trust and IgniteLAB, University of Melbourne.

An immersive, mulitimedia performance celebrating the launch of Callum Mintzis's new albums, 'And the Wind was my Dear Friend, Once Again' and 'Trembling.'

Featuring Tilman Robinson, the Penny Quartet, Carla Zimbler, MaggZ, PUSCHA, and other artists, this performance will transform the Norla Dome into a planetarium-like space, where projections encapsulate the audience in a universal spectacle around a live, electroacoustic chamber ensemble. Four years in the making, Mintzis's work expresses a deep care for the process of connection in a time where conflict and division run rampart.

"We find ourselves in a strange world. A culture which seems so dislocated from itself, it has forgotten it’s values, pushing further into the abstract and away from what is here. The pursuit of technology, novelty and stimulation appear symptomatic of a yearning for something which is absent. A closeness to oneself and so, a closeness to others. Hundreds of years of so-called advancement has culminated in a place which has forgotten the value of deeply knowing oneself. This disassociation has implications as far-reaching as the climate crisis, polarisation and division, a mistrust of emotion, narrow conceptions of self, and a profound confusion about the nature of well-being. We are lost. We see this in the blatant mistreatment of nature, disrespect for the indigenous peoples of this world, addiction to stimulation, a refusal to look at oneself, a fear of the ‘other’ and a need to control what is unknown. This situation fills me with a great sorrow and has become the incentive for all the work that I do. As Andrei Tarkovsky saw it, art has the potential to pierce through the intellect and move the soul. He saw it as a means to explore the profound aspects of human experience, to contemplate the mysteries of life, and confront the fundamental questions about our purpose and place in the world. If we are to find ourselves once again, we must feel deeply.

Between April and August of 2022, I was lucky enough to live in the Himalayas of Nepal, teaching in a Buddhist monastery. This experience has shaped me profoundly, as it gave me a perspective from which to view the way we live. For thousands of years, cultures have honoured forms of spirituality and connection to a rich inner world. All over the globe, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the deserts of Australia, people feel that connection is a right of humanity. A right which is being taken away from us."