Fanatics: Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio, MESS
If you peer through the glass-walled atrium of Federation Square, directly across from The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, you’ll see something that leads to another dimension. It’s not a rift in the space-time continuum - though the hum of electricity might suggest otherwise - it’s MESS (Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio). Stepping inside is a bit of a sensory ambush. In every direction is a sprawling very well organised room full of synthesisers, drum machines, effects pedals, knobs, sliders, and patch cables.
In one corner sits a Theremin built by Leon Theremin himself; on the other side of the room are a couple of Fairlight CMI synthesisers and a rare video synthesiser from EMS, a rare Italian drum machine (Eko ComputeRhythm - famous for being used by Manuel Göttsching), just to name a few. The full list of equipment is available on the MESS website. It feels less like a studio and, at times, feels more like the cockpit of a spaceship.
Doepfer A100 Analog Modular
I have been wanting to document the life of the late Polish-Australian artist Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski for a while now and have been researching his creative life. A few years ago, I heard about Robin’s laser works and award-winning (Isao Tomita Special Prize at Ars Electronica 2023) Triptych production and learnt that he was inspired by Ostoja’s use of Colour, in his own productions in reference to Ostoja he says it was “really vivid almost you know you know, bordering on psychedelic kind of colour palettes”.
"When Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski was working from the mid-60s onwards," Robin explained, "he was encountering a pretty conservative Australian landscape." While the rest of the country was preoccupied with traditional arts, a small, disorganised underground was beginning to sizzle. Robin paints a picture of a 1960’s scene that sounds like a tech-noir novel. There was Derek Jolly, a philanthropist who visited the NY home of Bob and Shirleigh Moog and, after a night of Shirleigh’s legendary food and the drinking of Rye Whiskey, signed the paperwork to import one of the first Moog Modular Mk 3 synthesisers ever to leave the United States into Australia.
Moog Modular
Then there was the August 1971 conference in Melbourne, called "The State of the Art of Electronic Music in Australia," held at the Conservatorium of Music and the Grainger Centre which brought together a "who’s who" of nascent studios from Perth to Brisbane. "Adelaide’s always been at the centre," Robin says, noting that Dutch composer Henk Badings was teaching musique concrète and tape-deck wizardry there as early as 1963. While most people were listening to the Beatles, these guys were in dark rooms, manipulating oscillators and voltage.
The Ostoja Connection
The star of our conversation, however, is Stanisław Ostoja-Kotkowski. An artist who moved between photography, light, and sound, Ostoja was a connector, in many ways a pioneer and influencer of his time. "One of the images that really grabbed me in the archive (referring the State Library of South Australia Archive)," Robin says, gesturing toward the gear surrounding us, "was a picture of Stan in the studio with a (Moog) Sonic 6 and a (EMS) Synthi AKS." Robin points to a corner of the room. "That’s actually down there. And the (EMS) VCS3’s those had an enormous impact here." It’s a surreal moment: Robin is sitting down alongside some "contemporary" synthesizers, yet we are standing next to the same models Ostoja used to bridge the gap between fine art and electronic experimentation with Don Banks in Canberra as part of Synchronos '72 (which was a landmark event in Australian multimedia art, combining laser light, electronics, and live music).
History You Can Touch
The most "MESS" thing about MESS isn’t just the rarity of the gear; it’s the accessibility. In the 70’s, you had to be a "mad scientist" or a wealthy benefactor to use a Moog System 55. Today, via a membership program, anyone can walk in and play and record with the same types of synthesisers that Derek Jolly brought into the country sixty years ago. "We have the most contemporary synthesisers around today," Robin says, "but we also have the fabric of electronic music history right here." As I left the atrium and stepped back into the sun-drenched bustle of Melbourne, I wished I could turn around and go back in and spend the rest of the day there, unfortunately I had a flight to catch.
MESS Foundation was started in 2016 by Byron J Scullin and Dr Robin Fox. Last year, they moved from the North Melbourne Meat Market location to the much more accessible Federation Square site. MESS runs a lot of workshops and short courses for people of all ages. Some previous ‘In Conversation’ events have included Moritz Van Oswald and Suzanne Ciani.
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Postscript: I once met with Derick Jolly in the early 2000s. He was quite a character. He told me the often-repeated story about having a few drinks with Bob Moog and bringing it to Australia. He also used to own a Futuro House (a flying saucer-shaped building designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen) it was sold to a business located in Deep Creek conservation park in SA and can now be hired out as a yoga retreat (Naiko Retreat). For me, spaceships and synthesisers are intrinsically linked. I trace this back to a memory as a kid watching Close Encounters of The Third Kind. When the technician is playing the five-note melody on a giant ARP 2500 Modular. I learnt recently that George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic was approached to contribute music for the film. Also, when researching the history of the Moog Modular that Derek bought. The previous serial number was purchased by The Beatles (Serial #1095). The Moog modular (Serial #1096) is now part of the Elder Conservatorium at Adelaide University.
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Related links:
https://mess.foundation/
How the Fairlight CMI changed the course of music - watch on YouTube
https://naikoretreat.com.au/about-naiko-retreat/
Eko Computerhythm - watch on YouTube
https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/arts/music/2019/10/22/derek-jolly-moog-synthesiser-australia-adelaide/
Personal papers of Joseph Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski, PRG 919, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
http://www.moogarchives.com/modular.htm - It’s cool to see the name Jolly alongside (Gershon) Kingsley Sounds, Beatles and (Mort) Garson.
https://autopsyofadelaide.com/2017/08/29/derek-jollys-melbourne-street-futuro-house/
https://www.ourstate.com/cooking-with-moog/ - The Beatles, Keith Emerson, and John Cage all ate Shirleigh Moog's home cooking. Her out-of-print cookbook is one of the stranger artefacts of synthesiser history.
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MAIN PHOTO: Sonorous XI, source mess.foundation
MESS is having a fundraising campaign to help make their incredible collection and programs accessible to all. All donations over $2 are tax-deductible.
