Mesmerism: The Vaporisation of The Vastness

It takes a lot of stillness and silence, to be with the deafening fragile vastness…

Immerse yourself in an atmospheric and elemental installation for the main space of Liberty Theatre.
And bathe within several accompanying live music-scape performances.

THE VAPORISATION OF THE VASTNESS is the next installment in a suite of multi-sensory, full-bodied atmospheric ‘weather events’ that artist Luke Jaaniste (Mesmerism Studio) has been creating around Australia, both outdoors and inside. His work is highly experiential. It can feel like you are inside a cinematic event, a dreamscape, a ceremonial memory, or the birth of some part of the universe.

This new work has been developed by the artist working on site, across several weeks and into the wee hours of the night, in the lead up to Strange. The resulting ethereal forms of THE VASTNESS — which uses fog, light, architectural sculpture and spatialised sound — have emerged from the geometries, acoustics, surface textures and micro-climate of this abandoned old cinema space.

The artist will also perform live spatialised music, in a series of activations within the installation that push and pull the ongoing music-scape into heightened ecstasy and intricacy.

Installation schedule:

Fri 14 June 4-10 PM
Sat 15 June 4-10 PM
Sun 16 June 12-8 PM
Wed 19 June 12-8 PM
Thur 20 June 4-8 PM
Fri 21 June 4-10 PM
Sat 22 June 4-10 PM
Sun 23 June 12-6 PM + 7-8 PM

Live performances:
Sun 16 June 4-5 PM
Sun 23 June 4-5 PM

Entrance via 81 Barrack Street, between Presotea and Main Street Ryui. See Front of House staff for wheelchair access.

About the Artist

Luke Jaaniste is a sonic, visual and social artist who creates immersive, ambient and atmospheric experiences. He recently moved to Perth, and was previously based in Brisbane and Byron Bay area.

He studied post-classical music composition at the Qld Conservatorium in the late 1990s, during which time he was also developing his installation and performance art practice. He then completed a PhD at QUT in the early 2000s on the topic of ambient experience, installation art and spatial phenomenology.

Since that time he has worked both individually and in collaborations on a wide range of projects that focus on the experience of palpably-being-present in full-bodied-vastness, which has become the primary medium of his art practice and life-long exploration.

His work has been featured in festivals, galleries, exhibitions and on radio, across Australia, and in the US and UK, including FuturEverything (Manchester), APT8 GOMA (Brisbane), Grand Central Arts Centre and OCMA (Los Angeles), CUSP (Australian Design Centre), Make Music New York, Now or Never (Melbourne), Sonic Social (The Performance Space and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney), Cementa (Kandos), Festival of Landscape Architecture MPavilion (Melbourne) and Renew Fest (Mullumbimby).

Luke composes and performs live music as piano soloist, and as electronica producer under the moniker of HHAARRPP. He has been involved in various long-term multi-disciplinary artistic collaborations, including THEATRE OF THUNDER (sonically-infused Butoh performance group, 2014-currently), BLACK RAINBOW (ambient doom long-form improvising trio, 2019-currently), SUPER CRITICAL MASS (participatory site-specific sound project, 2007-2017), and the SONIC BODY COLLECTIVE (creative research in sonic-drone whole-body focusing process, 2013-2015).

MESMERISM STUDIOS is the research, development and production house of Luke Jaaniste, and it presents large-scale atmospheric immersive installations in public spaces.

Recently presentations by Mesmerism include THE MESMERISATION OF EVERYTHING (Botanica 2023, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, and Now or Never Festival 2023, Melbourne Docklands Promenade), LOST PARADISE (Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane 2023), and a work-in-progress showing of THE DISSOLUTION OF ALL THINGS (in a large warehouse, Perth during the ISPA Congress 2024).

Check out Mesmerism’s next major work, THE UNFURLING OF THE COSMOS, commissioned by Artrage for a carpark rooftop in Northbridge for the new Re//Perth winter arts festival July 2024.