QUADwrangle On View 13-16 August at Arts Centre Melbourne's Fairfax Theatre

Melbourne musician and sound artist Matt Ridgway aka Winterpark has joined forces with VCA's Interactive Composition students to create a free, participatory sound installation, QUADwrangle, on display from 13 -16 August at Arts Centre Melbourne's Fairfax Theatre foyer.

The work is inspired by the tensions and social interactions of high school life, explored in choreographer Shaun Parker's urban dance performance, The Yard, playing from 13-16 August at Fairfax Studio. The sound installation will be developed by Ridgeway and VCA students at Arts Centre Melbourne's Digital Learning Hub and designed by Kelsey Henderson.

Using electronic music production techniques to generate a range of sounds able to be looped, triggered and played over, the installation will explore how the performance, recording and manipulation of sound can evoke mood and impose a sense of space. Once complete, the installation will be on display for users to interact with and create their own sounds all day throughout the season of Shaun Parker's The Yard. Ridgeway said the work would become more melodic as more people used it, echoing The Yard's themes of the harmony through collaboration.

Arts Centre Melbourne Youth programmer Dan West said the project would seek to create a more collaborative and interactive environment for young creatives that utilise technology based tools in their art-making. The project was made possible by Arts Centre Melbourne's participatory youth program which supports young people as active creators of culture.

With a history of playing in DIY punk bands, Matt Ridgway formed Winterpark in 2005 as a studio project where he could collaborate with musical friends and create his own brand of immersive, atmospheric electronica. Combining an obsession with FX pedals with a love of melody, Matt creates cinematic soundscapes and emotive textures that lend themselves well to soundtracks and TV Sync placement.

Ridgway has toured nationally and internationally with Winterpark and his music has been played on television including Underbelly, Offspring and Dance Academy. He also runs a VET Music Industry and Technical Production course for senior level high school students at Sydney Road Community School, does sessional lecturing for JMC Academy and teaches electronic music performance to final year students.

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