A TASTE OF THE SENSES
Series III: INTO THE DARK
12 July 2024
contrapuntal Studio Fitzroy, Melbourne

A Taste of the Senses III: Into the Dark marked the first Australian edition of Benjamin Skepper’s Tokyo-born series. Presented inside a decommissioned printing factory in Fitzroy, this one-night-only ritual dinner salon introduced Melbourne to contrapuntal’s emerging multi-arts studio framework: an independent space for cutting edge spatial sound, performance, art, and gastronomy.

The evening opened with a five-course Kaiseki-style Japanese degustation by award-winning Komeyui, paired with live performance art, movement, and spatial sound with L-Acoustics L-ISA in its Australian premiere. Guests gathered at a long table as Skepper wove together electroacoustic performances, Shinto Shamanic Ritual, and immersive installations.

The theme Into the Dark invited participants to move inward, tracing winter’s stillness, shadow, and introspection through food, music and sensory design.

Following dinner, the ritual transitioned into Shadowplay, a secret warehouse art rave featuring deep electronic performance and experimental sounds of the underground. Powered by a 15.4 ch L-Acoustics spatial sound system, the rave brought together Melbourne’s underground community in a celebration of rhythm, collective dance.

Series III introduced contrapuntal’s artist-led vision to Australian audiences: gastronomy, spatial sound, movement, and installation crafted into a unified transformative experience.

Shadowplay – Warehouse Art Rave

12 July 2024 

Shadowplay extended the themes of Series III into a high-energy, late-night performance environment. Featuring live sets by Benjamin Skepper, Kiki Ando (Butoh movement collaboration), TANZER (NYC) and Simon Winkler (Triple R), the event transformed the warehouse into a multi-sensory playground of deep bass, projection, and performance.

As a grassroots fundraiser for contrapuntal’s Fitzroy studio, Shadowplay brought together Melbourne’s creative underground,  with community, independence, and radical experimentation as core pillars of the evolving contrapuntal ecosystem.

LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Benjamin Skepper: Live Performance, Composition + Sound Design
Jessica Skepper: Floral Installation
Kiki Ando: Butoh Dance Performance
DJ Simon Winkler
DJ Tanzer
Scott Harrison: Sound Design + Programming
Jono Trawn: Live Sound Engineering

SOUND PARTNERS

L-ACOUSTICS
NORWEST
LSS PRODUCTIONS
GOOD MOOD MELBOURNE

BEVERAGES SUPPORTED BY

Champagne Laurent Perrier (France)
Tsuki no Katsura Sake (Kyoto)
COEDO Craft Brewery (Tokyo)
Casperrin Gin (Melbourne)
Foretell Vodka (Melbourne)

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO

NELSON WINE CO.
HERON BEVERAGES
DEJA VU SAKE