ALPHA60 X JEN VALENDER
Stormborne
A Moving Image Installation
30 May – 30 June 2025 | Alpha60 Chapter House, MelbourneEnter the wild sonic landscapes of contemporary artist Jen Valender at Alpha60's Chapter House, an atmospheric and historic venue adjacent to St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne’s city centre.
Filmed during a winter residency at Police Point on the Mornington Peninsula, Stormborne captures a season of storms and rising winds along Australia’s vulnerable coastline.
At its centre are sculptural drums, built from recycled local materials and an antique weather map. These instruments are played not by hand, but by the wind and rain—activated during inclement weather to translate atmospheric forces and generate haunting, percussive sound.
Projected across the walls of Alpha60’s Chapter House, the dual-channel film installation draws audiences into a visceral meditation on ecological fragility, climate history and the intensifying rhythm of coastal change.
The exhibition opens with a one-night-only performance event on Friday 30 May 6–8pm featuring live jazz percussionist Alastair Kerr & Associates (6pm) and the thunderous Wadaiko Rindo Taiko drumming troupe (6.30pm), extending the elemental experience into live movement and sound.
Stormborne is accompanied by the Stormborne Artist Series, a limited-edition collection of weatherproof garments created by Alpha60 and Jen Valender, inspired by the sculptural forms and storm-worn textures of the work.
Opening Night Friday 30 May, 6–8pm
Venue Alpha60 Chapter House, Level 2, 195 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Exhibition Dates 30 May – 30 June 2025
Mon – Sat 10am – 6pm, Sun 11am – 5pm
Admission Free | No RSVP required
Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Gants & Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery’s Artist in Residence Program. Produced in partnership with Centre for Projection Art & Alpha60.
Also don’t miss:
ACMI Art + Film: Jen Valender Thursday 29 May 2025 6.30pm
A special in-conversation event at ACMI, where Valender will screen recent films and discuss her interdisciplinary practice exploring sound, weather and sculptural encounters. Info + tickets
TIDAL MOVEMENTS FILM COMMISSION
Clearfell
Lorne Sculpture Biennale
01– 30 March 2025Clearfell documents the transformation of an antique ABC TV satellite tripod into an Aeolian harp, a sculptural instrument activated by the wind. The materials used reflect the site’s layered history as a former clearfell logging tramway, referencing archival photographs. Harp bow horsehair and a brass amplifier materially echo the harnesses of these horse-drawn trams, while steel elements mirror the fittings used on timber trolleys, and salvaged wood recalls the felled Otway forests. The film features a performance between harpist Genevieve Fry and the sculpture, offering audiences a cinematic experience of the dynamic interplay between performer, artwork and site. In Clearfell, the wind becomes both performer and sound-maker, collaborating with live performers in an ephemeral exchange of sound and movement. The project renders the intangible—air currents and harmonic frequencies—tangible, fostering deep listening to the airscape and landscape.
16mm film capture: Ursula Woods.
Jen Valender, Clearfell, 2025, excerpt from single channel, colour film. Courtesy of the artist.
16mm film capture: Ursula Woods.
Jen Valender, Clearfell, 2025, excerpt from single channel, colour film. Courtesy of the artist.
Clearfell
Lorne Sculpture Biennale
timber, steel, aluminium, brass, nylon, horsehair
Clearfell transforms an antique ABC TV satellite tripod into an Aeolian harp, a sculptural instrument activated by the wind. The materials used reflect the site’s layered history as a former clearfell logging tramway, referencing archival photographs. Harp bow horsehair and a brass amplifier materially echo the harnesses of these horse-drawn trams, while steel elements mirror the fittings used on timber trolleys, and salvaged wood recalls the felled Otway forests. In Clearfell, the wind becomes both performer and sound-maker, collaborating with live performers in an ephemeral exchange of sound and movement. The project renders the intangible—air currents and harmonic frequencies—tangible, fostering deep listening to the airscape and landscape.
March 2025
Lorne Sculpture Biennale
timber, steel, aluminium, brass, nylon, horsehair
Clearfell transforms an antique ABC TV satellite tripod into an Aeolian harp, a sculptural instrument activated by the wind. The materials used reflect the site’s layered history as a former clearfell logging tramway, referencing archival photographs. Harp bow horsehair and a brass amplifier materially echo the harnesses of these horse-drawn trams, while steel elements mirror the fittings used on timber trolleys, and salvaged wood recalls the felled Otway forests. In Clearfell, the wind becomes both performer and sound-maker, collaborating with live performers in an ephemeral exchange of sound and movement. The project renders the intangible—air currents and harmonic frequencies—tangible, fostering deep listening to the airscape and landscape.
March 2025
Documentation: Christian Capurro
Recounting Lore
2024, single channel film, 5min30sec
Recounting Lore captures the act of reading David Wallace-Wells' "The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming" to an unconventional audience of macaques and monarchs in Indonesia. The work visually manifests the absurdity and gravity of communicating human-induced climate shifts to non-human listeners, reflecting on the surreal intersection of environmental crises and tourist-driven spectacle in a fragile natural paradise. By employing the filmic device of subtitles, Valender alters and rewrites Wallace-Wells’ words to create a fictional dialogue between species.
Director of Photography: Dr D
May 2024
Recounting Lore captures the act of reading David Wallace-Wells' "The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming" to an unconventional audience of macaques and monarchs in Indonesia. The work visually manifests the absurdity and gravity of communicating human-induced climate shifts to non-human listeners, reflecting on the surreal intersection of environmental crises and tourist-driven spectacle in a fragile natural paradise. By employing the filmic device of subtitles, Valender alters and rewrites Wallace-Wells’ words to create a fictional dialogue between species.
Director of Photography: Dr D
May 2024
Re/search, 2024, five-channel video, 4min.
Taking on the role of a sacrificed animal, Re-search sees Valender undertake an endurance performance in the science labs at Dookie Agricultural College. Valender lies on a growth rack within a temperature-controlled room, surrounded by the school’s diverse collection of biospecimens housed in chemical wombs. As the camera pans over her body and the murky jars, Valender in turn becomes a specimen for research and observation.
Director of Photography: Gene Alberts
April 2024
Taking on the role of a sacrificed animal, Re-search sees Valender undertake an endurance performance in the science labs at Dookie Agricultural College. Valender lies on a growth rack within a temperature-controlled room, surrounded by the school’s diverse collection of biospecimens housed in chemical wombs. As the camera pans over her body and the murky jars, Valender in turn becomes a specimen for research and observation.
Director of Photography: Gene Alberts
April 2024
Installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2024. Photo: Leon Schoots.