“Post-genre means equity and inclusivity: every genre, every discipline, every community, has something valid to share.”

There are many very fun things happening in our neck of the woods and team Nothing Ever Happens are particularly excited about the upcoming retrospective slash dance party REWIND. It’s the 10th birthday party spectacular of Dots+Loops, who are celebrating this momentous milestone with a birthday party spectacular, presented as part of ΩHM Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse.

Nonsemble premiering Go Seigen vs. Fujisawa Kuranosuke by Chris Perren at the first Dots+Loops show in 2014. Image: Jeannie Wong.

March 2014: the date of Dots+Loops’ very first concert “From The Concert Hall to the Dance Floor” in an East Brisbane warehouse. March 2024 marks the tenth anniversary of the post-genre concert series, and to celebrate this milestone they’re hosting REWIND, a concert-slash-party that celebrates, recreates and reinterprets some memorable moments from across the past decade The decorations are up, the cake is in the oven, and Dots+Loops have invited some of their favourite artists to join them for this special occasion. The event features performances by Meanjin/Brisbane locals Nonsemble and Helge Quartet, immersive visuals by Jaymis Loveday and Helene Papageorgiou, and an afterparty featuring Naarm/Melbourne legend HipHopHoe.

We spoke to Kieran Welch, Australian violist, curator, manager, DJ, educator and writer, and founding director of Dots+Loops.

Dots+Loops has been described as Australia’s post-genre music and arts series. What does "post-genre" mean to you, and how does it influence the curation of your events?

To me, post-genre means equity and inclusivity. It means that every genre, every discipline, every community, has something valid to share. That when facilitated in a non-hierarchical, effectively curated way, everyone learns and gains from collaboration. And it means that everyone is equally important in the music making process, from creators, to performers, to the audience.

Dots+Loops began as a way for me to combine what felt like disparate aspects of my life. I was training as a classical violist, and particularly in my Bachelor of Music, that meant fully embracing the core aspects of classical music. Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Sitting and being quiet in a concert hall, listening to “important” pieces. Practicing for hours and hours to perfect five minutes of music. It’s a very particular approach to music creation and participation.

Helge Quartet performing Attention by Pamela Z at Dots+Loops Feedback in 2019. Image: Daniel Lopez.

While I spent my days studiously committed to becoming this ideal classical violist, the musical experiences I found myself enjoying more were increasingly outside of the classical world. Saturday nights would find me on a musty couch in a converted Queenslander, watching a friend’s indie rock band, at festivals with friends, or searching out club nights devoted to underground electronic music. The music I listened to was much more likely to be Björk, Burial or Boards of Canada than the other “three “B”s” I was studying at Uni.

I didn’t feel like I belonged where I was. But I was sure that my festival-going friends could find something to really enjoy in aspects of my classical life, if presented in a welcoming, non-hierarchical way (screw concepts of "high" and "low" art!). Similarly, I was certain that my classical music friends stood a lot to gain from experiencing other ways of sharing and creating music. Turns out I was onto something.

Flora Wong, Benjamin Shannon, Cara Tran and Ken Thomson performing Fatal Strangers by Kate Moore at Dots+Loops Nonstop 2019. Image: Reuben Fenemore.

Dots+Loops grew from just merging contemporary classical, indie rock and electronica, when I realised the (unexpected) success of our first few shows wasn’t just because of the music itself, but more largely, due to the concept behind it—our post-genre ethos.

You've created a unique space that blends elements of classical concerts, underground gigs, and experimental art shows. How do you balance these different influences to create a cohesive and engaging experience for your audience?

It was struggling with this question which led to me realising what actually made Dots+Loops special! Though combining classical music with underground indie scenes and contemporary art was super fun for the first few shows, I feel like my curation levelled-up when I realised our “post-genre” framework could apply to anything.

Looking at it this way, the most important aspects therefore weren’t just the pieces we programmed, or the particular genres involved, but how, and why, we do what we do. This realisation has given us so many more possibilities artistically, but also resulted in us curating using our values of social equity, non-hierarchical artistic collaboration, and celebrating community first. Programming this way around has resulted in some of the craziest, most exciting shows we’ve ever done, but the result has always stayed cohesively and engagingly “Dots+Loops”!

Community and social equity are core values for Dots+Loops. How do these values translate into your event planning and execution? 

Audience at the second night of the Dots+Loops Companions festival in 2017. Image: Keegan Nicholls

Our community is one of the best things about what we do! We curate because of, and for Meanjin/Brisbane and Australia’s amazing communities of adventurous art and music lovers. We aim to create a space where every single person will find something familiar and welcoming to them, but at the same time, also something new and exciting. Not everyone wants an adventurous artistic experience, and that’s fine. But if you’re the kind of person who, say, loves a day at GoMA, still can’t stop playing the last 100 Gecs album, or reads Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, I’m happy to guarantee you’ll have a blast. Our mission from there is to create a welcoming, safe and inclusive space for you to experience it all in!

Social equity is one of our primary curatorial values, so our commitment to this begins at the very start. We believe that diverse voices—particularly those from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds—are all equally capable of producing and facilitating important art. So we ensure this is equitably reflected in the concepts we’re working on, the productions we’re putting together, and the crews we hire. I strongly believe that since placing our priorities with this value at the top, our shows have become significantly better in every single aspect. However, it also implicitly and explicitly demonstrates that we are committed to creating safe spaces for everyone. I also want to stress that we do the above in as inclusive a way as possible. Just because we’re giving metaphorical slices of pizza to people who haven’t been offered them in the past doesn’t mean everyone else doesn’t get pizza! We’re just making sure everyone gets a slice before people go back for seconds.

Of course, the event planning and execution is a whole other ball game. I’ll be the first to admit that we’re still learning and growing on a path to diverse accessibility. However, we’re committed to it. We only use fully wheelchair accessible venues, unless we’re constrained by factors outside of our control. We’ve been working with some amazing arts access consultants to level-up our visual accessibility, from ensuring access is always clearly described, to changing fonts on our posters. And from the beginning, we’ve recognised that participation in the arts is often financially restrictive—hence most of our shows, including Rewind, are “pay-what-you-can-afford”.

Going back to the post-genre aspect of our shows, mixing worlds also allows for greater accessibility than either a traditional classical or club gig could afford. A big example is the way we lay out our shows, to always provide a variety of different vantage points. You can be right up the front in a chair to concentrate, opt for further back on a bar stool, perch on a couch to the side, or wheel yourself to a designated accessible viewing space. Doing so gives us the best of all worlds. You can really concentrate on a performance, as with a classical concert. Or you can dip in and out. If you’re not able to sit through a set, that’s totally fine! Go and look at some visual art, or grab a drink. Our shows aim to allow anyone who wants to be there to engage on their level.

Finally, how can people get involved with Dots+Loops and support your mission? Are there ways for the community to contribute or participate in future events?

Get tickets to join us at REWIND! And after you’ve done that, sign up to our email newsletter, and follow our socials from dotsandloops.com.au.

To make sure everyone can join in the party, tickets are Pay-What-You-Can-Afford, no minimum – Dots+Loops’ suggested ticket price is $40 if it is within your means. 

For emerging and early career creatives who are excited by twisting together different artistic worlds, we regularly run Performance and Composition Fellowship programs (https://www.dotsandloops.com.au/fellowship). Or for more established creatives, we also run a call-for-acts program most years, with our next round of submissions opening in the second quarter of this year.

Finally, if you have a few spare dollars (or know of someone who does and would be excited about what we do), head to dotsandloops.com.au/donate. Though we’re fully committed to providing adventurous, high-quality artistic experiences with as low a financial barrier as possible, it does make things significantly trickier for our day-to-day when we slave under late-stage capitalism…