James Paul
"We were submerged into a seemingly soothing world of sound design maverick, James Paul ... " (THEATREPRESS on CONVICTION)
whose " ... thoughtful, heart-pounding sound design ... " (WITNESS PERFORMANCE on THEY DIVIDED THE SKY)
is " ... the aural equivalent of alcohol-induced blurred vision." (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD on WAKE IN FRIGHT)
James Paul is an artist whose media are sound, video, space, light, and time. Their work is experienced on stage, screen, radio, and internet; or can be seen in the flesh in galleries and museums around Australia.
James makes work that focuses on physical experience, amplifying imperceptible things to the scale of direct encounter. The work is fuelled by an obsession with properties and behaviours of the physical world; duality, chaos, topology, and semiosis.
Recent performance works include They Divided the Sky (Daniel Schlusser), Wake in Fright (Declan Greene), and Australian Realness (Janice Muller). Current projects include
O Z O R
and multimedia science-fiction
2 BLACK FRAMES
a pluriform series about the MKULTRA program.
Some history:
James has designed sound for live performance since 2012, and has collaborated on over 30 stage productions in Australia. Exceptional works include The Collected Works of Victor Bergman (The Family), Conviction (Zoey Dawson), and META (Samara Hersch). James has worked with the Daniel Schlusser Ensemble since 2013, beginning with Menagerie (Melbourne Theatre Co.) and M+M (Melbourne International Arts Festival), and continuing through the present with They Divided the Sky (Belvoir Theatre Co.) and Hercules (Arts House). They collaborates on new work: new versions, new experiments, and new realities.
James’ compositions Cephalopoda, MIKROS, and MAKROS were performed by Speak Percussion in their Emerging Artist Programs. Music projects, solo and in collaboration, have been broadcast on national radio, performed by popular singers, and scored stage, space and screen. James is known for musique concrète, noise, and heavy electronic musics.
James’ exhibition work includes Number of the Machine (with Darrin Verhagen and Tilde Joy as (((20Hz))) for Antony Hamilton Projects), blue|red2:VIMS\SIMS (with (((20Hz))) for Scienceworks), PROCOZmkii.b (West Space/NGV: Australia/White Night), and Umwelt: My Monster (with Darrin Verhagen and Richard Grant for MORBIS ARTIS/RMIT Gallery). James’ exhibition works use extreme stimuli, high amplitude, and robotics to oversaturate faculties of perception. James is a founding member of (((20Hz))). They created an audio-visuo-kinetic robotic listening experience MERLE for Einstürzende Neubauten’s Klangbewegung Maschine (Goethe-Institut), which they described as “cool”.
James holds first-class Honours, and studies biosemiotic methodologies for design. James shares a Green Room Award with Darrin Verhagen and Michael Pulsford for Daniel Schlusser Ensembles M+M, and has been nominated on three further occasions. They have been exhibited by NGV: Australia, West Space, White Night, and their performance work has been shown at the Sydney Opera House and in Slovenia.