interview by Simon Sellars
‘Housing Is A Human Right: An Interview with Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
In August 2006, the PILCH Homeless Person’s Legal Clinic held a consumer forum for people who are homeless or who have experienced homelessness. The idea was to invite this particular demographic […]
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interview by Simon Sellars & Anna Krien
‘Music Is Not A Bloody Race’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
There are two music groups for the benefit of clients at the Ozanam Community Centre. There’s one on Mondays, run by Alan Pavlikas, which is more of a rock-band affair, and one on Tuesdays, run […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
‘Whatever Goes into the Mix’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
Alan Pavlikas manages the Ozanam Community Centre’s band, Shallow Rabbit, which has released one CD and has had a documentary made about it (see Subetrrain #1). intrigued, I crashed one of their jam sessions and collared Alan, guitarist Keith […]
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John Foxx live at Shrewsbury, 1998. © Extreme Voice.
interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 2 September 2006.
This is part 2 of my interview with John Foxx, former lead singer of Ultravox before the band’s Midge Ure era, and an on-and-off solo artist for the past 25 years. Foxx’s Ultravox purveyed a damned, dreamy, […]
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Paul in Sweet Dreams; photo by Alison Huth
interview by Simon Sellars
‘Sweet Dreams: Shaken not Stirred’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
Theatremakers Nadja Kostich and Jeremy Angerson began a rewarding collaboration with Big Issue vendors after seeing a TV ad featuring several sellers singing for their supper. According to Jeremy, “we stopped to […]
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Kylie in Sweet Dreams; photo by Alison Huth
interviews by Simon Sellars
‘Sweet Dreams: Back to Waking Life’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
The play Sweet Dreams took an unflinching look at the battle that Big Issue vendors Paul, Kylie, Jim, Robert and Allan fought to survive drug addiction, physical disabilities, incarceration and the […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
‘Arnold Zable: Hazards of the Game’: originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
Arnold Zable is a Melbourne storyteller who writes about memory and history, displacement and community, the experience of the Jewish diaspora, Aboriginal issues and Indigenous education, and the multiplicity of cultures within Australia. In 2002, in conjunction with the […]
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Photo courtesy RecLink
interview by Simon Sellars
‘RecLink: Positive High’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
RecLink was established in Melbourne in 1990 to help people from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds enjoy sport and recreation on a therapeutic level, with knock-on benefits like improved health and well being. RecLink involves a network of agencies […]
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Street Socceroo Training
All photography by Simone Egger
interviews by Simon Sellars
‘Three Socceroos: Dave, Shane & Yousef’: originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
In 2005, for the first time, Australia fielded a team in the Homeless World Cup, led by Big Issue editor Martin Hughes. The Cup, founded as a way to create opportunities for homeless […]
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Allan and Kevin. Photo courtesy Age newspaper.
In 2006 SBS television produced a documentary series based on the Age newspaper’s ‘Two of Us’ column. I was very flattered that my contribution, below, was the only Melbourne story to be filmed.
Interviews by Simon Sellars
‘The Two of Us: Kevin Brophy and Allan Martin’. Originally published in the Age […]
by Simon Sellars
‘Free Radicals’. Originally published in The Big Issue, #228, May 2005.
It was quite a sight to watch sibling activists Jeff and Jill Sparrow launch their latest book recently. I wanted to chat to Jeff after his rousing speech but the path was blocked by a massed wedge of grannies, groovers, suits and students […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 October 2004.
Newton Armstrong is a composer/performer, ex of Melbourne, now ensconced in research at Princeton University in the US. His recent project for kids, SPACE MONKEYS, focused on interaction design and performance. It involves rethinking and reconfiguring generic game controllers as tools for facilitating alternative forms […]
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photo: Michael Shaw
interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 5 September 2004.
Melanie Chilianis, a Melbourne flautist, has sallied forth in recent times with a successful union between the instrument she made her name with, the flute, and technological mixes, patches and crunchy electronic treatments.
Melanie has an honours degree in music performance from Monash University […]
Jonathan Nix, ‘Hello’
by Simon Sellars
‘The Intricate Making of Animators’. Originally published in RealTime magazine, Aug-Sep 2004.
Australian animators are a hardy mob. Working in an industry that’s noticeably cramped, they are largely under resourced and mostly undervalued. I recently talked to a range of animators from around the country who have had one or 2 short […]
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Lawrence English & Philip Samartzis, LA4, 2003
by Simon Sellars
‘Watching While You Sleep’ by Simon Sellars. Originally published on the Liquid Architecture website, July 2004.
Melbourne’s festival of sound art, Liquid Architecture, originated in 2000 at RMIT University, when RMIT’s Union Arts offered the ((tRansMIT)) student sound collective the chance to stage a festival promoting the talents […]
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by Simon Sellars
‘The Making of a Tasmanian Film Industry’. Originally published in RealTime magazine #61, Jun-Jul 2004.
In RT58, I interviewed a group of Melbourne directors and producers about the environmental factors that influence their films. Besides the weather, the main aspect cited was Melbourne’s distance from Sydney: geographically and financially (most of the funding flies […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 11 May 2004.
Recently I was in Amsterdam on a writing assignment. I hadn’t been there for years and I had the usual backpacker’s memory of the place: hash, beer, Red Light District, canals…all the old cliches. This time around, however, I gained a deeper understanding of this […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 1 April 2004.
Gloria Dixon is Director of Investigations with BUFORA, the British UFO Research Organisation. She co-ordinates all reports that come into BUFORA, passing them on to teams of investigators throughout the UK.
Although BUFORA is now in its 40th year, building a reputation for solid research in […]
by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 1 March 2004.
Over the past year, a sweet little film about a strange little man has been getting a lot of attention. Harvie Krumpet, director Adam Elliot’s 23-minute claymation, is up for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. And right beside Elliot on Oscar night will be […]
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by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 November 2003.
Trevor Blainey is enjoying himself. In 2003, the former accountant’s first film as producer, Matthew Saville’s Roy Hollsdotter Live, won everything in sight, with awards for best screenplay, best short film and best cinematography. But filmmaking in Australia is notoriously tough, and while awards give off […]
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still from The What If? Man, dir. Mark Atkin
interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 November 2003.
Mark Atkin is a Melbourne editor working in film and television. His first feature as director, The What If? Man: The Science Fictional Life of Peter Nicholls, looks at the life and career of Peter Nicholls, science […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 5 November 2003.
Matthew Saville is the writer/director of Roy Hollsdotter Live, one of the more successful of the recent batch of 50-minute short features funded by the Australian Film Commission, SBS Independent and Film Victoria. Starring standup comic Darren Casey and comedy titan John Clarke, it’s shot […]
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Adam Elliot: photo by Heath Missen.
by Simon Sellars
‘Questions for… Adam Elliot, Animator’. Originally published in A3, the Age newspaper, 3 Oct 2003.
Adam Elliot is being hailed as Australia’s most successful short filmmaker. His 23-minute claymation, Harvie Krumpet, won three of the four major prizes at Annecy, the world’s largest animation festival, and picked up Best […]
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Still from Roy Hollsdotter Live (2003; dir. Matthew Saville).
‘Radar: Matthew Saville’. Originally published in Inside Film magazine, August 2003.
Simon Sellars speaks with IF Award winner Matthew Saville, one of the shining stars of the year’s program of short features.
Roy Höllsdotter Live, Matthew Saville’s 52-minute “short feature”, was a hit at this year’s Melbourne International Film […]
Still from Harvie Krumpet (2003; dir. Adam Elliot).
‘Krumpet Wins!’ by Simon Sellars. Originally published in RealTime magazine, no. 57 Oct-Nov 2003.
Adam Elliot is being trumpeted as Australia’s most successful short filmmaker, and it’s hard to argue with that. In June, his 23-minute claymation, Harvie Krumpet, won three of the four major prizes at Annecy, the […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 20 October 2003.
There’s a unique sense of overload for the first-time visitor to Tokyo. Intricate layers-upon-layers of ever-shifting urban culture crush the hapless tourist, who’s invariably pressed up against the very bottom layer like a stuffed pheasant under glass.
If this is you, get on the web and […]
interview by Simon Sellars
screenshot from Untitled 2003, by Camilla Hannan & Cassandra Tytler
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 15 August 2003.
360 Degrees: Women In Sound was held as part of Liquid Architecture 4, the national sound art festival run by the ((tRansMIT)) collective. 360 Degrees was inspired by the need to address a perceived gender […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 6 August 2003.
Japanese culture, it would seem, has always contained a rich vein of magic, mysticism and mind power running through its myths and legends. Is there any connection between this tradition and modern-day UFO sightings? According to Junichi Kato, Director of OUR-J (The Organisation of UFO […]
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Cornerfold screenshot: I Am A Toaster: Courtney Collins/Allison Colpoys
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in RealTime magazine, no. 55 June–July 2003.
The New York Times recently posited that only two things succeed on the Internet: shopping, as perfected by Amazon, and searching, as perfected by Google (pornography could be added, too, perfected by everyone). The Times paints […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 20 June 2003.
NOTE: This is the full version of an interview that was published in various forms in the Age newspaper and RealTime magazine. Bear in mind that I interviewed Adam prior to his Oscar win for Harvie Krumpet. Neither of us had any idea of what […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 April 2003.
Melbourne artist Juan Ford is on a hot streak, his recent paintings blending innovative technique with spiritual enquiry, unlocking the unfathomable mysteries of human existence. Aligning his work with recent debates on the ethics of cloning, Ford attempts to bring religious debate into the – […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 5 January 2003.
In England, UK Garage has been sweeping the charts for some time now. But in London, typically, just when a sound breaks through, that’s when newer, virulent variants ferment, creating something totally unexpected from the ordinal ingredients. Kennington-based Steve Goodman splices the sexed-up vibe of […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 3 January 2003.
Do you remember ‘hardcore’?
As a style of dance music, it’s become a historical footnote, the sound of rave’s innocence: primitive, immature music for immature people. Supposedly we’ve all grown beyond that — haven’t we? Only gurners and E-monsters listen to hardcore, these days — apparently. […]
‘Machine Logic: An Interview with Kirsty Boyle’
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in Jargon, summer 2001.
Kirsty Boyle is a researcher at RMIT’s Interactive Information Institute (I-Cubed), where she is developing her ‘Tele Operated Puppetry System’(TOPS), a tool utilising the net as a medium for controlling robots. Her work – creative, informative and practical – is infused with […]
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Image by John Power.
When I was working as Special Events Coordinator at RMIT Union Arts, I co-edited the Union Arts newsletter with Fiona Parker. This was one of the interviews I conducted for it.
Originally published in Full Haus, vol. 15 No. 3, Sep-Oct 2000.
‘John Power: An Animated Guy’
Interview by Simon Sellars
The ‘Masters of New Media’ […]
Interview by Simon Sellars
This interview marks the first time I’d used the term ‘liquid architecture’, which would of course become the name of the sound-art festival I formed at RMIT University in 2000. It’s also a significant article in that it represents my very first published work, aside from university publications.
Originally published in TRM magazine, […]
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