Jon Smeathers is an experimental musician, composer, and improviser based in nipaluna/Hobart.

Recognised for his versatility and cutting edge projects, Jon taps into the potential of algorithmic displacement, codecs and remix culture to enable a reimagination of one's spectral and rhythmic currents. His seminal music blends the radical aesthetics of bubblegum pop, noise, free jazz, techno, kpop, electro-acoustics and footwork into a mesh of lyrical dynamics, extreme tempos and emotional ecstasy that is strengthened by his collaborative efforts. Jon is a member of the hyperpop noisecore band Reptrillion culture club and is the founder of YouTube mix label 𝔈ℭ𝔅 Mixtapes through which Jon has developed a unique practice that utilises YouTube as sonic performance tool. He is a member of the punk duo Lil Ratso X, curator of Huh!pink, and has collaborated with Australia's leading electro-acoustic ensembles including the Splinter Orchestra, the Australian Art Orchestra and the Phonetic Orchestra. He is internationally recognised for his chopped and screwed music, film scores and no input mixing board performances as James Oakfield alongside his deconstructed DJ mixes as 𝔈ℭ𝔅.

Jon has exhibited and performed both internationally and across Australia, including at Soft Centre, Serralves em Fiesta, Melbourne Festival, the NOW now Festival, Dark Mofo & Mona Foma. Jon has had his music released through New Weird Australia, Insub and Ivory Tower Records and has worked with some of the world's leading improvisers and artists including Jim Denley, Lucy Bleach, Phonetic Orchestra, Julius Schwing and Alf Jackson. Furthermore, Jon is a dedicated mixing and mastering engineer and acoustic consultant through which he is intent on uncovering the depths of Tasmania's rich and fertile music scene in order to document its radical sonic shifts.

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SELECT EXHIBITIONS

Individual Exhibitions

2023 - Ability to Create: Elevate - Hobart Town Hall, Tasmania

2022 - Lost Futures of Me At the Zoo - SOFT CENTRE

2022 - Instrument Builders Project 6: Veronica Kent + Jon Smeathers. MONA FOMA

2020 - LFMZ: Workshop on Mark Fisher, Non-musicology & YouTube Mixtapes. Contemporary Art Tasmania

Group Exhibitions

2021 - Rehearsing the Future - Here Thru One General Assembly -

2018 - The Return, Hobart Penitentiary, Dark Mofo. Curated by Stephanie Han & Dark Mofo

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SELECT PERFORMANCES

Reptrillion Culture Club

2023 - Beakers St Festival @ LongHouse, Hobart

2023 - [levels 05] DARK FRINGE @ Simple Cider, Hobart

2023 - Echo & Bounce, Brisbane

2022 - MIUC @ Bar Open, Melbourne

2022 - Debut, Simple Cider, Hobart

The Phonetic Orchestra

2017 – PO: Residency Performance & Workshop, Sonoscopia, Porto, Portugal

2017 – A Single Stunning Gaze in the Place des Vosges, Serralves em Festa, Porto

2016 – Antechamber, Footscray Community Arts Centre Melbourne

2016 – Tilde New Music Festival, Melbourne

2015 – TouScene Performance Series, TouScene, Stavanger, Norway

2015 – Bus Projects Marathon Performance, Melbourne

The Australia Art Orchestra

2014 – Atlas, Herbal and Ritual, Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne

2013 – Electroacoustic AcousticElectro, Bennetts Lane, Melbourne

The Splinter Orchestra

2016 – Splinter Orchestra Concert Series, Tempe Jets, Sydney

Maddog w/Jim Denley & Andrew Butler

2017 – Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart

2016 – Colbourne Avenue, Sydney

2015 – Antechamber, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne

2015 – Conduit Arts, Melbourne

Speak Percussion

2015 – A Wave A Waves by Michael Pisaro, Melbourne Festival, Melbourne

Allan Browne’s Two Turks, Two Wasps W/ Scott Tinkler & Sam Pankhurst

2011 - Bennetts Lane Residency, Melbourne

Select Solo Performances

2017 – Calle Corredera Baja de San Pablo, Madrid, Spain

2017 – Residency Performance & Workshop, Sonoscopia, Porto, Portugal

2016 – Improvised Music Performance Series, MONA, Hobart

2016 – Colbourne Avenue, Sydney

2014 – The Now Now Festival, Sydney

AWARDS & GRANTS

2020 – Resilient Hobart Quick Response Grant, Hobart City Council

2017 – Tasmania Arts Honours Scholarship, University of Tasmania

2016 – Music Work for Large Ensemble, Creative Victoria

2016 – Project Development Grant for Groups, Australia Council

2016 – Wilderness Residency Program, Arts Tasmania

2015 – Early Career Residency for Groups, Australia Council

2014 – Performance Project Grant, New Music Network

2014 – JUMP mentoring program for Groups, Australia Council

2010 – Academic Excellence Scholarship, Victorian College of the Arts

2009 – Young Jazz Musician of the Year, Melbourne International Jazz Festival

RESIDENCIES

2017 – Eight-week individual residency at Lake St Clair, Tasmania

2017 – Two-week group residency at Sonoscopia, Porto, Portugal

2015 – Two-week group residency with The Kitchen Orchestra, Stavanger, Norway

CURATOR

2017 – Side A Constance ARI Sound Festival, Hobart.
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PUBLICATIONS

2017 – The Last Bastion: Outposts Catalogue Essay

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

2022 – Listening within the opacities of our time and places, Tomoko Momiyama Contemporary Art Tasmania

2022 – BIOGYM, Dark Mofo Contemporary Art Tasmania, Grace Gamage

2022 – Boundaries - Contemporary Art Tasmania, Sam Mountford & Tess Campbell

2021 – By This Lake - Rising Festival, Lucy Bleach (install assistant)

2021 – TarraWarra Biennial 2021: Slow Moving Waters, Lucy Bleach (assisted as sound tech)

2021 – To Companion A Companion, Fernando De Campo (assisted as install tech)

2020 – Mia Culpa, Daniel James & Ella Watkins (assisted as sound recordist)

2019 – Fossil, James Newitt (assisted as composer & mixing engineer)

2019 – Skitz Mode, 𝔈ℭ𝔅 Mixtapes (assisted as mastering engineer)

2018 – Phase Transition, Lucy Bleach (assisted as sound tech)

2018 – Delay, James Newitt (assisted as mixing engineer & surround sound tech)

2018 – Lone Ranger, Eternal Stranger, DRUM (assisted as mixing engineer)

2017 – Browser Solo, Wumpy (assisted as mastering engineer)