A collective evocation of the air, the very foundation of the pipe organ – Earth Works offers a liberation and extension of the pipe organ’s possibilities. This is whole body listening – an absorbing experience of sound’s tactility and intimacy – from breath-like gestures through to a tectonic, architectural summoning. Curgenven will present the world premiere of a new work for the UQ Art Museum’s recently refurbished grand pipe organ alongside Australian premieres of intricately shimmering works, engulfing the audience in sonic textures.

Following a series of sold out shows for AGENESIS with Kat McDowall, at the 2025 Dark Mofo festival – Earth Works  will transform the pipe organ at UQ Art Museum, with its 3,283 pipes, into an instrument that breathes at an architectural scale.

Robert Curgenven produces albums, performances and installations that emphasize physicality, our embodied response to sound and its correspondence to location, air, weather and architecture. His recorded output spans pipe organ works Tailte Cré-Umha (Bronze Lands) and SIRÈNE, through to Climata, recorded in fifteen Turrell Skyspaces across nine countries. Curgenven’s work with pipe organs has seen him recognised as a leading proponent of the contemporary reimagination of this instrument, including commissions for New Music Dublin (Ireland) and Richard Thomas Foundation (UK) with presentations for Sydney Festival (Sydney Town Hall), Stavanger Konserthus Norway), Cork Midsummer Festival and Organ Sound Art Festival (Copenhagen). Curgenven has produced a diversity of sound and spatial works for National Gallery of Australia, Musée du Quai Branly (Paris), National Museum of Poland (Krakow), MONOM/4DSound (Berlin), Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw), Palazzo Grassi (Venice), Modern Art Museum of Medellin (Columbia), National Sculpture Factory (Ireland) and festival performances including Maerzmusik (Kraftwerk Berlin), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), Ultrahang (Budapest) and Insomnia Festival (Tromsø/Norway). 

Repertoire
1.. Unstable Steady States (A/B/C) - Duration: 13mins - for live pipe organ & 4.2 channel soundsystem
Composed in even temperament, meantone 1/4 comma & Neidhardt Große Stadt tunings. Richard Thomas Foundation (RTF) commission (UK/EU)
2. Earth Works (Aria 3) - Duration: 17mins. - for live pipe organ + recorded meantone pipe organ + 8 channel electronics
New commission for UQ Art Museum (QLD), Newcastle Conservatorium of Music (NSW) & RMIT Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory (SIAL) sound studios (Australia)
3. Bronze Lands (Tailte Cré-Umha) Part 1 - Duration: 11mins
for live pipe organ & 4.2 channel soundsystem. Developed for Cork Midsummer Festival 2018 (Ireland)
4. Unstable Steady States (C/D/F) - Duration: 13mins
for live pipe organ & 4.2 channel soundsystem. Composed in even temperament, Neidhardt Große Stadt & open tunings

Acknowledgements
Presented by UQ Arts
USS A/B/C commissioned by Richard Thomas Foundation and supported by APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund (Australia) and Arts Council of Ireland's Music Commission Award.
Earth Works (Aria 3) commissioned by University of Queensland Art Museum in co-operation with Newcastle Conservatorium of Music and RMIT SIAL (Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory) Sound Studios.

Media Quotes
“…a marvel. Massive sonic textures, tectonic plates of intricate beating, and a stringent, minimal and conceptually honest approach to material. It was as close to a spiritual experience as any I’ve had with sound for a long time”  - Mikkel Schou (Copenhagen-based artist and co-director of the yearly festival MINU), - review of 2023 Struer Tracks Biennial, Denmark for P/A Magazine
“Curgenven's powerful set could perhaps best be described as a colossal sound bath that engulfed every nook and cranny of [the venue] KoncertKirken. To say it was an impressive performance is an understatement.” - Ivna Franic, Review of 2023 Copenhagen Sound Art Organ festival for Forkert

PROGRAMME DETAILS

UNSTABLE STEADY STATES (A/B/C) - Richard Thomas Foundation (RTF) commission (2021-23)
With the support of the Arts Council of Ireland through the Music Commission Award and the APRA Arts Music Fund, the Richard Thomas Foundation has commissioned Robert Curgenven to create the third in the series of New Organ Works, following commissions for Kali Malone and Claire M Singer. Curgenven's compositions had their premieres for live pipe organ with soundsystem in 2023. In addition a 33.4 channel presentation was given at 4DSound showcase in London (UK) on the 4DSound system and a 48.9channel presentation will be given in 2025 at MONOM (DE). The live presentations included: the world premiere for New Music Dublin (IRL) at All That Is Solid Melts Into...; Danish premiere at Struer Tracks Festival; Norwegian premiere at Stavanger Konserthus' Orgelnatt; and at Copenhagen's Organ Sound Art Festival. The three parts comprising three different tuning systems create vivid interference patterns and beating frequencies within the concert hall and a starkly physical experience for audiences.