POUAW! Is a concert of original music/noise/sound celebrating the 100th anniversary of Futurist Artist Luigi Russolo's manifesto L'arte Dei Rumori or The Art Of Noises.  Written by Mat Ward it features 12 Tasmanian performers from a range of disciplines; musicians, sound artists, voice artists and plant machinery operators, all of which play multiple instruments and machines. POUAW! also asks the audience to participate in the concert both vocally and with the use of instruments and devices handed out during the evening.

In The Art Of Noises Russolo proclaims that the contemporary symphony orchestra no longer represents the aural reality of the modern industrial world. He seeks to overthrow the established concept of Western music by inventing an ensemble of noise making machines called Intonarumori (noise-intoner) that simulate the atmosphere and noise of the early urban 20th Century. Russolo devised a set of six different noise families and built Intonarumori to suit each of them. He performed his compositions with and without orchestral accompaniment, generally to the disgust and bemusement of the audience.

The score for POUAW! Was composed for an ensemble of 6 Intonarumori and is accompanied by power tools, heavy machinery, domestic white goods, spoken word pieces, pitched and non pitched percussion, a variety of homemade instruments and the audience. To pay true homage to Russolo's vision POUAW! will abandon the use of 21st Century technology associated with modern Noise and Sound Art such as software and samplers, and focus on creating a program that perhaps Russolo could have composed and performed a century ago. 

Program notes January 2013 - MONA FOMA Festival

  Noise and sound art today are enjoying greater patronage and recognition than ever before. This stems, in part, from a culture that allows endless personal creativity and endless methods to disseminate art, largely thanks to information technology. As the information age replaces the industrial age it is apt to reflect on the origins of these art forms, and 100 years on Luigi Russolo stands up as the Grandfather of Noise and Sound Art. His influence on notable pioneers such as Pierre Henri, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Throbbing Gristle, as well as contemporary artists such as Mike Patton and Toshiya Tsunoda is profound and well documented yet he is not well known by modern practioners of sound and noise. I would like to help bring Russolo's contributions to contemporary art into the public domain through an original and encompassing musical tribute that is infectious and inspiring.

  Russolo's rousing text and subsequent performances were attacks on outdated and uninspired cultural norms, and the program takes his bravado as an aesthetic cue to celebrate his vision with gusto, confrontation and experimentation. The aim of the production is to be dynamic, joyous and confronting in an attempt to capture the energy, desire and spirit of the Futurist movement. 

Mat Ward Artist Statement Jan 2013 MONA FOMA festival

Live Recordings

POAUW! featured

Dylan Banks - Intonarumori/Scissor Lift Tanya Bosak - Percussion/Intonarumori/Voice Gus Smith -Intonarumori/Power Tools Matt Warren - Percussion/Intonarumori Carolyn Wigston - Pitched Percussion/Intonarumori/Voice Sally Rees - Voice Jorge Muñoz - Intonarumori/Voice Scot Cotterell - Intonarumori/1950’s Machine Sounds/Sheet Metal Patrick Neumayer - Percussion Phillipa Stafford - Voice Jack Robins - Intonarumori/Sheet Metal/Power Tools Andrew Harper - Voice/Crowd Agitation

Composition by Mat Ward Intonarumori construction by Dylan Banks and Gus Smith