Giosuè Prochilo's unorthodox path from NCAT to The Fringe Festival's 'The Häxan Curse'

Giosuè Prochilo

Former NCAT Folio Preparation student Giosuè Prochilo has taken a rather unorthodox path in his search for a holistic kind of creativity, spread across many areas of the creative arts. Arriving at NCAT Folio Preparation (Then NDS) with a strong passion for visual art and design, he initially focused on a graphic design pathway. As he recalls, “NCAT Folio Preparation was to that point, the best year of schooling in my life. For the first time I was surrounded by similar creative people; in a specialized program, with teachers who really helped draw the best out of me and set a solid foundation for building everything creative that’s come since. I only have the best memories and real gratitude for having been able to study there.”

From NCAT he entered Monash University’s Visual Communication (now Communication Design) program in 2000, eventually completing an Honours Degree. He excelled in the academic setting, with a few final year awards and taking positions of leadership amongst his peers. Alongside his focus as a graphic designer sat equally passionate dedication to writing, language and music, and he applied much of his free time growing and crafting skills also in those areas.

Upon completing Honours at Monash, Giosuè worked for over 6 years as a graphic designer for several successful studios including Storm (now Truly Deeply), Interbrand and Didonato, finding a specific appetite for crafting complete brand identities from small business to multinational companies including Kirin Japan, Spring Valley, Schweppes and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. However, to him what was “the inevitable creative compromise which comes with a dollar tag”, led him away from a design industry he never really felt part of.

After spending some time in Europe and retracing his ancestral trail back Italy, he chanced upon a change in career soon after his return to Melbourne. On a whim he reconnected with old lecturers at Monash and after expressing an interest he’d had since being a student there, found himself as a sessional teacher at Monash College, which soon evolved into an opportunity to lecture and tutor at Monash University. He has gone full circle, beginning as a student and now teaching in various subjects in the Monash Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture where he currently works part-time. For Giosuè, the university setting, filled with eager young talent, full of ideas was a return to the endless creative possibilities he’d felt as a student himself, and a release from the deadlines, budgets and long hours that is the design studio reality.

Alongside his sessional teaching, he began his own version of a design business, with the oddly named Metafork, where he works at building brands from an unconventional perspective. Embracing his love of ideas, communication, visual design, moving images, sound and music, Giosuè has created a holistic approach to brand identity where he works through multiple senses to engage an audience and deliver deep messages in the brands he builds and transforms. His recent work with Metafork has slowly but surely begun to grow with more and more clients joining his new approach to creating “more human brands which are not built to exploit and manipulate, but rather emotionally connect with and offer something highly valuable to anyone they come in contact with, irrespective of whether any money changes hands”.  He also tries to work closely with other musicians and artists, designing, animating and illustrating whenever he can. He came to a realisation where he saw his creative purpose as multidimensional in expression, but essentially unified as that of a storyteller.

His most recent creative venture may just be his ‘magnum opus’ to this stage of his life. Also on a whim (he appears to do much in this way), he decided to test his capabilities as a director, writer, video artist and musician by creating an experimental multisensory show The Häxan Curse for the 2012 Melbourne Fringe Festival. 

The Häxan Curse is his take on a concept initially explored by the 19^th century composer and philosophic director Richard Wagner, dubbed the (German) ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ or ‘total artwork’, whereby the artist is responsible for a fusion of many artforms into a singular expression and presentation. The Häxan Curse is the theatrical presentation of a reworked silent Swedish/Danish 1922 film Häxan: Witchcraft through the Ages that he has radically transformed. Writing a new black comedy storyline with an absurdist edge and sharp social commentary, here he tackles some big issues including gender inequality, mass consumerism, ageing and kebab ethics. Yes that’s right, the ethics of kebabs. He has also written and will co-perform a new experimental electro rock musical score with the theatrical screening of the new, almost unrecognisable recut of the film. Premiering at Revolt Artspace Melbourne for a run of shows from Thursday October 4^th, The Häxan Curse also features a haunting introduction by friend and also former NCAT student Frank Rettore, in character with a monologue to raise hair on even the baldest head.

As for the future and where it may lead him, Giosuè is filled with enthusiasm. “It’s all completely open, which is exciting. Whatever happens from hereon in, I’m certain my personal path as an artist will never be compromised, regardless of however crooked or narrow that path may become.”

The Häxan Curse premieries this week at Revolt Melbourne, 12 Elizabeth Street, Kensington. 

For more info check out: http://thehaexancurse.com

A preview to the show can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHhXzkZzXxUMetafork:

Metafork: Brand identity for the New: http://metafork.com.au

* All images reproduced with kind permission. © Giosuè Prochilo 2012