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Caleb Kelly

Date 
b. 1972

Caleb Kelly is an academic, event director and curator working in the area of the sound arts. He lectures at Sydney College of the Arts, at the University of Sydney. In 2009 he published his first book, entitled Cracked Media: The Sound of Malfunction, through MIT Press. He has also edited Sound (MIT Press and Whitechapel Gallery in London), part of the Documents of Contemporary Art series.

In 2011 he gave a keynote presentation at the symposium Marginalia: Towards the Invisible College held at Whitechapel Gallery in London. In 2010 he produced a project for ISSUE Project Room in New York, including a talk, the programming of a music event and the curating of an exhibition.

He also guest programmed at the Sydney Biennale 2010 as part of the Superdeluxe events at Artspace. Kelly has curated sound exhibitions at Artspace, the Performance Space and ICAN. He was also the director of the sound gallery Pelt and director of the series impermanent.audio, which ran for six years. This event is often referenced as the turning point in the Sydney sound scene as audiences were directed to listen closely to abstract audio.

He co-directed the national experimental music festival What is Music?, bringing to Australia numerous experimental musicians from Japan, New Zealand, Europe, America and Canada.

Kelly's research interests are focused in the sound arts, contemporary art, media arts and art theory. His research has led to a rethinking of how art is listened to, historically and in contemporary practice. Kelly is currently researching in the area of sound in art and in the practices of experimental music.