1pm – 1:45pm, Saturday 28 June
Toi Pōneke Gallery
Free
vegetable. machine. animal [Kieran Mongahan] and Andrew Faleatua
Kieran Mongahan will be in the gallery performing with vegetable.machine.animal 'trio', which involves plants, a synthesiser and live drumming. Joining him on keyboards and fagufagu will be GUEST recording artist Andrew Faleatua.
This concert is family friendly.
Artist’s Biographies
Kieran Monaghan (he/him) is predominantly, and persistently, a drummer and percussionist of found sounds. He calls Te Whanganui-a-Tara /Wellington home. His first crude musical steps were in the late 80’s, playing drums in southern punk rock bands. Heading north in the 90's opened new musical domains such as theatre with Red Mole, and it’s little sister Roadworks, and the diverse arrangements of ‘free-jazz’ that tumbled from venues such as The Space. While continuing to play assertive music, alongside developing confidence in improvisational arenas, necessity also dictated that income be made by playing multiple pub circuits in working bands.
His project, vegetable.machine.animal, is the newest iteration of ongoing musical expression. It explores the intersections between spontaneous playing, electronic music, and science-informed inter-species collaboration. He co-runs the Skirted Records label with domestic and performative partner Chrissie Butler. Together they were the core of the outsider punk group Mr Sterile Assembly, and Nick Bollinger named them as one of the 10 great rhythm sections of New Zealand. Monaghan has toured internationally many times with the Assembly, and more recently with VMA. He has a long catalogue of solo, band, and collaborative recordings. He is a semi-regular DJ on Radioactive.FM. He remains happily hitched, and is a father to three daughters and one mokopuna.
Andrew Faleatua - Andrew is a music educator, film composer, and jazz pianist. His commitment to teaching music is driven by a desire to help others discover their unique musical voice. He was also the 2024 NZSM Jazz Composer-in Residence at Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University.
His research interests lie in the music of Pasifika peoples. He is interested in how notions of cultural authenticity and identity affect compositional decision making, particularly in collaborative settings. He is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Huddersfield, delivering guest lectures to undergraduate and postgraduate students on his doctoral research and a short film he recently directed.
GUEST
Saturday 7 June - 4th July
Sonic artist Kieran Monaghan presents GUEST, an interdisciplinary exhibition of sound, image and organic matter, which offers up a sonic practice for the Anthropocene.
GUEST was developed during the 2024 Sonic Artist residency supported by Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand School of Music and Toi Pōneke Arts Centre.
