Triptych: Community Halls Reawakened

An evening of music, textiles and silent cinema

Triptych: Community Halls Reawakened is a touring performance project bringing together experimental music, textile art and silent cinema in a celebration of creativity, community and place.

Presented by South Australian composer and sound artist Jesse Budel and Queensland-based artist and maker Joseph Burgess, Triptych reimagines historic community halls as vibrant spaces for contemporary artistic expression. Across three distinct yet interconnected performances, audiences are invited to experience the meeting of sound, image and material, exploring the relationships between artistic traditions, cultural memory and the places that bring us together.

sanctuary × mill — Jesse Budel

Celebrating the release of sanctuary × mill on internationally acclaimed experimental music label Room40, Jesse Budel presents an immersive musical performance exploring the resonances of abandoned and repurposed pianos.

Drawing on recordings from the Murray Bridge Piano Sanctuary in South Australia and The Piano Mill in Queensland, the work brings together the sounds of weathered instruments, environmental soundscapes and experimental composition. Through an evocative interplay of musical textures and acoustic environments, Sanctuary × Mill reflects on transformation, impermanence and the enduring musical lives of instruments beyond their conventional use.

The Triptych tour marks the national launch of the album, bringing this distinctive sonic world to audiences in community halls across eastern Australia.

sonotextility — Joseph Burgess

Queensland-based artist and maker Joseph Burgess presents sonotextility, an innovative performance exploring the intersections of sound, textiles and traditional craft.

Bringing together the tactile processes of textile-making with live musical expression, sonotextility transforms the act of making into a performance in its own right. As materials are worked, manipulated and woven, the sounds and rhythms of their creation become integral to the artistic experience.

Blurring the boundaries between visual art, craft and music, the performance invites audiences to consider the relationships between material, movement and sound, celebrating the creative possibilities that emerge when traditional practices meet contemporary experimentation.

The Corrick Collection — Silent Cinema with Live Music

Step back into the early days of Australian cinema with a selection of silent films from the Corrick Collection, preserved by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).

The Corrick Family Entertainers were a celebrated Australian touring ensemble of the early twentieth century, travelling extensively to present programmes combining live music, theatrical entertainment and moving pictures. Their remarkable collection offers a fascinating glimpse into the emergence of cinema and the vibrant culture of travelling entertainment.

In the spirit of these original performances, Triptych brings the films to life through live improvised musical accompaniment featuring local musicians at each tour location.

Each screening becomes a unique encounter between past and present, with contemporary performers responding spontaneously to the moving images and creating new soundtracks for these historic cinematic treasures.

Reawakening Community Halls

At the heart of Triptych is a celebration of Australia's community halls: places that have long served as gathering spaces for music, cinema, dances, celebrations and shared cultural experiences.

Travelling through regional towns and metropolitan centres, the project seeks to reactivate these spaces through adventurous contemporary performance while honouring their rich social and cultural histories.

Through the interweaving of music, textiles and cinema, Triptych: Community Halls Reawakened invites audiences to experience familiar spaces in unexpected ways, celebrating the enduring power of art to connect people, places and generations.