Vanessa Tomlinson

Vanessa Tomlinson is a percussionist-composer with a long history in experimental music. For the past 25 years she has been Co-Artistic Director with Erik Griswold of Clocked Out, making bold sonic events that propose new futures for 21st century music.

Central to all her work is listening – opening our ears to paying attention to the world around us as we consider space and place, the human and the more-than-human. Driven by the unknown, her speculative text-based compositions, object-based re-purposing, and deep sonic gatherings stimulate our im-agination as we listen in a climate-transforming world.

Her work orbits around broadly around extended approaches, site-specific investigations, minimalist reductions and a visceral sense of embodied play. She has toured the world for 30 years, premiering hundreds of works, musicking with scores of improvisers, presenting work at major international festivals, and sharing her knowledge as a teacher, mentor, director and arts advocate. She is Professor of Music, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

Key works include curating Easter at the Piano Mill since 2016, The Listening Museum, Beacons, and The Immersive Guitar.