Editorial

Notes on Space/s

Spaces figure strongly when you’re first learning to read music. There are the spaces between the lines on the stave, the FACE and ACEG in the treble and bass respectively. There are vertical pitch spaces—intervals—horizontal spaces—rhythms, silence, and rests. Breve in. Breve out.

Space and spaces figure strongly throughout musical thought and experience. And music, sound, and performance are profoundly spatial: they emerge, exist, and echo within physical, emotional, and conceptual spaces, where listeners, participants, sound waves, and movement (and so much more) collide. Spaces give context and form, grounding the ephemeral in the tangible.

We made BLOT to create space for critical discourse and documentation. We made this issue to examine the spaces in which art exists in Aotearoa, to investigate what different artistic and cultural spaces mean to people, to explore what space means in the context of their practices. And, even more than the issues we’ve released so far, this one, somewhat unexpectedly, is strongly held together by the theme, with common underpinnings and conceptual and ideological overlaps weaving through each piece. We’re immensely grateful to the contributors for their heartfelt mahi.

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Reuben Jelleyman analyses the profound nature of music, its relationship to space and time, and how it is shaped by the interplay of acoustics, perception, and the human imagination.

Sasha Francis presents “low theory” as a conceptual space—open, fluid, and generative—where resistance, imagination, and collective action can thrive.

Queer indigenous arts collective FAFSWAG speak to their experiences navigating physical and liminal spaces in their interdisciplinary practice, exhibited here as a new moving image work.

Madison Kelly and Rachel Shearer, in a conversation guided by Elle Loui August, delve into the connection between sound, space, and whenua, contemplating practices of listening and interacting with te taiao, the environment, across Aotearoa and Australia.

Zak Argabrite traverses the physical, acoustic, and conceptual transformations of spaces left unused or discarded, drawing from creative projects and collaborative performances to understand the potential of these spaces.

Through anecdotes and philosophical musings, BLOT co-editor Antonia Barnett McIntosh presents a poetic exploration of the many-hued dimensions of space.

Rachel Harrison highlights the work of SoundCheck Aotearoa in her examination of the Aotearoa music community’s efforts to prevent and address sexual harm.

In Questions for, Phil Dadson ponders the development of his multi-faceted practice, the origins of From Scratch, and sustaining creativity in the face of personal and planetary challenges.

Forest Vicky Kapo shares a personal and reflective exploration of identity, language, and sound.

And Stephen Bain relates the past and present of the Auckland Old Folks Association Hall, an enduring symbol of community care, collectivity, and cultural resilience.

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Our deep and sincere thanks to our supporters, financial and moral. To Dave Currie, our web dev, for your pragmatism, patience, and persistence. And to you, our readers/viewers/listeners, for your continued interest in music, sound, and performance in Aotearoa.

Toitū te Tiriti
Free Palestine

Mauri ora
Arohanui

Antonia + Samuel
BLOT