Personal
- Name
- Professor Julian Knowles
- Position(s)
- Professor of Music
Creative Industries Faculty,
School of Media, Entertainment, Creative Arts,
Music and Sound - Discipline *
- Performing Arts and Creative Writing
- Phone
- +61 7 3138 3397
- Fax
- +61 7 3138 3734
- julian.knowles@qut.edu.au
- Location
- View location details (QUT staff and student access only)
- Qualifications
-
Doctor of Creative Arts (University of Tech., Sydney), BA(Hons) Class 1 (University of Sydney)
- Professional memberships
and associations - Chair – Q Music
- Deputy Chair – National Council of Tertiary Music Schools
- Director – Music Council of Australia
Past board memberships
- Australian Network for Art and Technology
- Sydney Olympic Park Arts Development Advisory Committee
- Australasian Computer Music Association
- NAISDA Dance College Academic Advisory Board.
Editorial board and advisory committees
- External Advisory Committee – Centre for Media Arts Innovation - University of Technology, Sydney
- Editorial Board – Australian Sound Design Project
- Artist reference group – The Studio, Sydney Opera House.
Biography
Background
Julian Knowles is a composer and performer, specialising in new and emerging technologies. His creative work spans the fields of composition for theatre, dance, film and television, electronic music, sound and new media arts, popular music and record production. Since the mid 1980s, he has established himself as a leading artist in the area of electronic and new music, achieving significant critical praise and international recognition for his performances and recordings.
His creative work is published and available internationally via a variety of a number of record labels and has received numerous reviews in both the national and international press. In the course of his career Julian has received three awards and nominations at international festivals for his work in the area of screen music and sound design.
His work receives frequent broadcasts internationally and he has been invited to perform live to air for ABC Radio, BBC Radio and many other specialist radio programs. He has been a frequent recipient of competitive grants from the Australia Council for the Arts, the NSW Ministry for the Arts and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including
- composer commissions
- artist residencies
- development projects
- performance projects
- international touring
- innovative projects grants.
In the past 2 years, Julian has won 4 competitive grants from state and federal arts funding agencies.
As a composer, Julian’s work is represented in various curated online databases such as the Australian Sound Design Project and the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art at Cornell University.
In recent years, Julian’s music and audio/visual work has been presented at events and venues such as
- the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Experimental Intermedia in New York City
- the Seoul International Performance Art Festival
- What is Music?
- Australian Perspecta
- Melbourne International Film Festival
- the Sydney Opera House.
- STEIM, Holland
Julian also has an extensive background in the contemporary popular music area, having been involved in the Australian independent music scene from the 1980s onwards. During this period, he was a member of Australian bands Shrinking Violets and Even As We Speak, with the latter band achieving significant chart success in the UK following radio sessions with the prominent British DJ, John Peel. Most recently, Julian worked with the band Big Heavy Stuff on the ARIA nominated album ‘Size of the Ocean’.
In addition to his ongoing work as a composer and performer, he spent a period working with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a Sound Designer and Editor, during which time his soundtracks were nominated for several awards.
Julian is frequently employed as a consultant to various arts organizations and institutions and his current professional appointments include
- Chair of the Queensland Music Industry Network (QMusic)
- the Sydney Olympic Park Arts Advisory Panel
- the Board of the Australian Network for Art and Technology.
In 2004 he was appointed to the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, the federal government’s arts funding and advisory body.
Creative projects in 2010-11 include an Australia Council funded audio-visual work in collaboration with Tim Bruniges and David Trumpmanis from The Dead Sea, and the development of a new work for guitar and digital signal processing entitled ‘The Flashcard Sequences’, funded by Arts Queensland. Other projects include engineering and co-producing recordings for esteemed Australian musicians Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey, founding members of The Saints, and solo tracks for Ed Kuepper. In December 2010, Julian Knowles and Donna Hewitt undertook an Australia Council funded residency at STEIM in Holland to pursue research on a new vocal interface for electronic music.
You can listen to Julian’s work on his MySpace.
Experience
Funding Body Service
- 2004-2007: Music Board, Australia Council for the Arts
- 2005: Australia Council New Media Arts Scoping Study Reference Group
- 2007 – Present: Arts Queensland, Music and Dance, Industry Expert
- 2007 – Present: Arts Qld/Trade Qld Music Export Strategy Selection Panel.
Invited Keynotes
- 2010: Post-Punk in Australia. Circa 1979: Signal to Noise, Sydney Festival.
- 2009: Sustainability in the Sound Arts in Australia, Liquid Architecture 10,
Sydney - 2008: Music in Universities in the 21st Century: A Manifesto, Music.Sound.Design Symposium, University of Technology, Sydney
- 2005: On-Air, Vital Signs: Creative Practice and New Media Now Conference, RMIT, Australian Centre for Moving Image, Melbourne
- 2005: Aural Cinema and Laptop Pop: New Compositional Intentions, ANU Centre for New Media Arts Public Lecture Series, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
- 2005: Sound Source vs Sonority, Liquid Architecture 7, The Performance Space, Sydney.
Artist Residencies
- 2010: STEIM International Artist Residency. Amsterdam. Holland. Residency with Dr. Donna Hewitt to refine the development of a new vocal performance interface (the eMic) and to investigate performance gesture capture and data mapping strategies. Funded by the Australia Council Music Board.
Competitive Arts Agency Grants (Current)
- Australia Council Music Board, Skills and Arts Development grant – with Donna Hewitt (2010). STEIM Residency, Holland. Residency to refine the development of a new vocal performance interface (the eMic) and to investigate performance gesture capture and data mapping strategies. $9,480.
- Arts Queensland Development and Presentation Grant (2010-11). Development of guitar and electronics live performance system and the composition of ‘The Flashcard Sequences’ – a new work for guitar and live digital signal processing. $9,820.
- Australia Council Music Board New Work (New Media) Grant (2010-11). Album project with the Dead Sea. $11,380.
- Australia Council Visual Arts Board Grant. Dan Graham ‘Rock My Religion’ project (2010). Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne. $10,000.
Competitive Arts Agency Grants (Past)
- Australia Council Inter-Arts Synapse Grant, 2007 (with David Burraston)
- Australia Council New Media Arts Board New Work, 2004 (with Gail Priest)
- Australia Council Music Board New Work, 2001
- Australia Council New Media Arts Fund International Touring, 1999
- Australia Council New Media Arts Fund Creative Development, 1997
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Cultural Relations, 1995
- Australia Council Music Board International Touring, 1994
- NSW Ministry for the Arts Performance Project, 1994
- Australia Council Music Board International Touring, 1993
- Australia Council Dance/Music Creative Development, 1993
- Australia Council Music Board Composer Residency, 1993
- Australia Council Music Board Composer Commission, 1990
- Australia Council Music Board Performance Projects, 1989
- Australia Council Performing Arts Board Innovative Projects, 1988
Selected Discography
- 2007: “Spatial Circumference”, CD LP, Social Interiors, Endgame Records,
- 2006: “Amphibian”. Liquid Architecture 7, compilation CD
- 2003: “Sleeper”, International Computer Music Association CD, “Boundaryless Music”, Electronic Music Foundation, USA
- 2003: “Fingers”, included on “motion” a compilation of Australian electronic music, Preservation Records
- 2001: Big Heavy Stuff “Size of the Ocean”, Redline Records. Nominated for ARIA award, Best Alternative Release
- 2001: “under_tones” included on “Serpentine” compilation, Extreme Records
- 1999: “Silent Latitudes” included on “Time, Space and the Roaring Silence..” compilation (SoCA, UWS),
- 1999: Social Interiors “Untitled (mix)”, Extreme Records,
- 1998: Social Interiors “Traces of Mercury”, Extreme Records
- 1997: Social Interiors title track “Traces of Mercury” included on “Assemblage: Volume 2″, Extreme Records
- 1997: Merzbow “Decomposition 002″, Extreme Records – guest artist
- 1993: “Therefore, I… ” and “Heavy Industry” on “wattever” compilation CD, Tall Poppies
- 1993: Even As We Speak “One Step Forward” single, Sarah Records UK (highest chart position #4, Melody Maker/ #5 NME independent charts, UK)
- 1992: Even As We Speak “Beautiful Day” single, Sarah Records UK,(highest chart position #5, Melody Maker/ #6 NME independent charts, UK)
- 1993: Even As We Speak “Feral Pop Frenzy”, album, Sarah Records UK (highest chart position #4, Melody Maker/NME independent charts, UK)
- 1993: Even As We Speak “Blue Eyes/Air” CD single, Sarah Records UK
- 1992: Stevie Wishart “Wish”, Tall Poppies
- 1992: “Machine Messages”, a compilation of Australian electro-acoustic music. CD, ACMA
- 1989: Shrinking Violets “Mask”, 12″ LP Phantom Records (highest chart position #6, On the Street Independent Charts, Australia)
- 1988: Shrinking Violets “Everything/She Said” 7″ single, Phantom Records (highest chart position #3, On the Street Independent Charts, Australia).
Publications
- Knowles JD, (2008) Liminal Electronic Musics: Post-Punk Experimentation in Australia in the 1970s-1980s, Sound : Space: Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2008 p37-45
- Knowles JD, (2008) Setting the scene: developments in Australian experimental music since the mid-1990s, Experimental Music: Audio Explorations in Australia p9-35
- Knowles JD, (2007) A Survey of Web 2.0 Music Trends and Some Implications for Tertiary Music Communities, Music in Australian Tertiary Institutions: Issues for the 21st Century p1-28
- Hewitt DG, Knowles JD, (2006) Nodule, International Computer Music Association Conference
- Knowles JD, Hewitt DG, (2006) Amphibian, track for compact disc, Liquid Architecture 7, Liquid Architecture Festival, LIQUID 01
- Knowles JD, Hewitt DG, (2006) Alvin, Australasian Computer Music Conference
- Knowles JD, (2005) Isolation/Saturation
- Knowles JD, Rue R, (2005) A Decade Between Ideas, The Performance Space, Liquid Architecture 6 National Festival of Sound Arts
- Knowles JD, (2003) Sleeper, work in group exhibition, Variable Resistance: 10 Hours of Sound from Australia, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
- Knowles JD, (2003) Sleeper II, track on compact disc, ICMA 2003, International Computer Music Association (ICMA), IC113-2
For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.
Awards
Awards and recognition
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2005
- Details
- Appointed as member of Australia Council for the Arts New Media Arts Scoping Study advisory group. I was one of 6 high level peers recruited to provide advice to the Australia Council on the restructure of their art form boards and the scoping study which followed.
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2004
- Details
- Music Board Member, Australia Council for the Arts. Selected by the Minister for Arts and Sport to be one of seven peers . Also, member of the Australia Council New Media Arts Scoping Study reference group - a peer expert group to advise on the restructure of the Australia Council. Also served as peer advisor to the Inter-Arts office.
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2003
- Details
- Member, Sydney Olympic Park Arts Development Advisory Committee. One of seven member board to provide expert advice to the CEO of Sydney Olympic Park on the development of art, events and culture. The committee also provides advice on the inclusion of public art within this extremely large scale development site. All artworks come to the committee for approval before sign-off by CEO. Other members include Lex Marinos OAM (broadcaster, writer and performer), Leon Paroissien AM (former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art), Fergus Linehan (Artistic Director, Sydney Festival), Professor Ross Gibson (Research Professor, UTS), Dr Dick Letts AM (Executive Director, Music Council of Australia), Kim Spinks (Manager, Theatre and Dance, Arts NSW).
Research projects
Grants and projects (Category 1: Australian Competitive Grants only)
- Title
- Remote Music Interactions through On-line Networks
- Primary fund type
- Australian Competitive Grants
- Project ID
- LP0989403
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Music Interactions, Online Networks, User Generated Content, Peer to Peer Interaction, Music Education,
