BioGRAPHY
Born in Croatia, Ivan Mršić is an interdisciplinary visual artist, percussionist, composer and improviser living in New Zealand. He studied percussion at the Conservatory of Music, Montreux, Switzerland in 1983 and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland in 2012.
Mršić’s long running practice builds on the foundations of avant-garde music, performance and art. Part of his aural experimental practice explores the sonic potential of discarded everyday objects. He also builds instruments himself; his ‘Theareye Collection’ operates on the assumption that virtually anything can become a musical instrument under certain conditions. Mršić’s research and assemblage of contemporary music instruments (for example, kitchen sinks with springs) have been a signature sound for his compositions.
One of Mršić's primary fields of investigation is improvised musical collaboration. He is a regular performer at Vitamin S - Auckland's weekly improvised music gathering. In June 2017 he was one of the musicians selected to perform with the touring Korean group Bulgasari whose visit to New Zealand was funded by Creative New Zealand. He has performed in many of New Zealand's significant improvised music events and festivals including the Festival of Uncertainty (Auckland, 2014), Sounding Tiritiri Matangi curated by Phil Dadson (Tiritiri Matangi Island, 2013, 2014), the Vitamin S 10 year anniversary festival (Auckland, 2012) and the SoundInvention Convention Festival at the Wine Cellar (Auckland, 2010).
In 2016 Mršić developed the project Kakokarangaphonia, a time-scored orchestra of noise, for the Te Tuhi exhibition Share/Cheat/Unite. This exhibition went on to win an award for excellence at the Museums Aotearoa Conference. Mršić has subsequently presented Kako-Ōtautahi-phonia Orchestra at the Christchurch Art Gallery and is developing an iteration for Te Papa later this year. Mršić is founder of The Projection Band (2009-), a musical group influenced by Henry Bergson, the European avant garde and John Cage. In 2015 The Projection Band performed at the Ganz Novi Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. Mršić has also composed sound for the et.al. artworks 'De-cryption' 2013, commissioned by the Auckland Art Gallery for the exhibition Freedom Farmers and 'Trans–cryption' 2011, which is in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia. His sound work, Nothing is More Powerful Than Journey was installed on the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail in 2016.