For several days in late March, Brisbane played host to the second World Science Festival.  A major coup for Queensland, Brisbane beat out several other major world cities, including Hong Kong and Paris, to host this event which had been launched in New York in 2008. Brisbane’s impressive program was engineered by Suzanne Miller, Director of the Queensland Museum Network and Queensland Chief Scientist.

Professor Miller’s second festival explored four themes:

Physics + Space: The story of matter and its motion through space.

Oceans: The health of our marine environment and the challenges facing water supply and sustainability.

Energy: Alternatives, supply and diversifications.

Robotics: Engineering, computers and artificial intelligence.

The connections between each of those themes and music/sound are immediately obvious and were vigorously and imaginatively explored over three days in late March at the Queensland Conservatorium in an event branded 100 WAYS TO LISTEN.

On the occasion of its 60th birthday, the Con took this opportunity to reflect on its own recent history, in particular the large-scale events devised by New York sound artists, the late William Duckworth and Nora Farrell a decade ago.  They first came to the Brisbane Powerhouse in late 2002 for the MiniMax Festival of post-Minimal music, then returned in 2007 to create the...