Arts House Listening Program: Recent Episodes
Arts House Listening Program
Arts House is Melbourne’s home for contemporary performance.
With a year-round program of dance, theatre, music, sound, new technologies and community projects, Arts House is one of the major forces shaping Melbourne’s cultural and social landscape. We cultivate diverse new audiences for independent artists’ ambitious new work, and we build relationships at both local and international levels.
This is a house where change happens. From the crisis of extinction to the rapid transformations of technology, we know that the futures of humanity and art are entwined. We want to be hopeful.
As part of Melbourne’s cultural landscape, Arts House expresses the deep forces that shape that terrain. Our programming pays respect to Traditional Owners and the land on which our work takes place, and reflects Australia’s ongoing history of migration and displacement.
Arts House also seeks to ask questions about power: who has the power to speak, and what is the power of listening? We explore new ways of distributing curatorial power, and commit to an artistic vision that is transparent and connected.
Audio Description: When Your Number’s Up Installation Space by Arts House Listening Program
This clip speaks to the importance of sharing and connecting to other women in the Blak Women’s Healing program, and how it’s enabled the creation of a warm dynamic that fosters love, support and solidarity.
This audio clip reflects Dr Paola Balla’s first experiences of bush dyeing as a creative practice, and how it has become a collective process that enables connections to Country and community collaboration.
This audio clip conveys the connections and bonds made through the Blak Women’s Healing program, and importance of Aboriginal women’s connections.
This audio clip conveys reflections about bush dyeing as an arts and cultural practice, and how Bush dyeing has become a reclaiming, healing and collective process.
This clip conveys “The ripple effect of lateral love”, the importance of having self- love, and standing strong together as Aboriginal people.
This audio clip speaks to the need for community, the importance of the next generation, and learning from the past in order to move forward.
This audio clip conveys the inspirations behind the bush-dyeing practice for the women, with details of how banners created reflect the intimate and community strength of Blak women, and how exhibition has become a way to display the courage and power of Blak women’s stories.
This clip speaks to how the Black Women’s Healing program supported women in healing trauma relationally, releasing shame through the work, and the “sistahood” built within the space.
This audio clip conveys dialogue between the women from the Blak Women’s Healing program speaking about how Country continues to reveal itself and thrive. Safety of the group This audio clip speaks of how the Blak Women’s Healing program formed a safe space to connect, and the importance of place in coming together as Aboriginal women
This audio clip speaks to the ways the Blak Women’s Healing program has enabled cultural strength and understanding of women’s individual journeys of healing, and how this has also furthered connections to their communities and children.
to the divine we return (portability of ritual ii) - Shareeka Helaluddin by Arts House Listening Program
towards unfoldment and reciprocity (portability of ritual ii) - Shareeka Helaluddin by Arts House Listening Program
Expressions of Interest (EOI) submissions for The Warehouse Residency between July 2025 and June 2026 will open Thursday 5 September and close Wednesday 23 October 2024. More information can be found here:www.artshouse.com.au/artist-opportunities/the-warehouse-residency
Expressions of Interest (EOI) submissions for CultureLAB residencies between July 2025 and June 2026 will open Wednesday 18 September and close Wednesday 23 October.More information can be found here:www.artshouse.com.au/artist-opportunities/culturelab/
ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala (‘from the depths of one’s being’) brings together Australian and international artists to examine histories of caste, migration, gender and sexuality through contemporary expression. Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy.Image: Caste-pital, durational performance 9.30 hours, 2017, Haus der Kunst Munich, Photo by Marion Vogel, Courtesy of the artist and Haus der Kunst
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala (‘from the depths of one’s being’) brings together Australian and international artists to examine histories of caste, migration, gender and sexuality through contemporary expression. Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy.Image: Caste-pital, durational performance 9.30 hours, 2017, Haus der Kunst Munich, Photo by Marion Vogel, Courtesy of the artist and Haus der Kunst
ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala (‘from the depths of one’s being’) brings together Australian and international artists to examine histories of caste, migration, gender and sexuality through contemporary expression. Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy.Image: Caste-pital, durational performance 9.30 hours, 2017, Haus der Kunst Munich, Photo by Marion Vogel, Courtesy of the artist and Haus der Kunst
ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala (‘from the depths of one’s being’) brings together Australian and international artists to examine histories of caste, migration, gender and sexuality through contemporary expression. Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy.Image: Caste-pital, durational performance 9.30 hours, 2017, Haus der Kunst Munich, Photo by Marion Vogel, Courtesy of the artist and Haus der Kunst
ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala (‘from the depths of one’s being’) brings together Australian and international artists to examine histories of caste, migration, gender and sexuality through contemporary expression. Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy.Image: Caste-pital, durational performance 9.30 hours, 2017, Haus der Kunst Munich, Photo by Marion Vogel, Courtesy of the artist and Haus der Kunst
ಒಡಲಾಳ Odalala (‘from the depths of one’s being’) brings together Australian and international artists to examine histories of caste, migration, gender and sexuality through contemporary expression. Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy.Image: Caste-pital, durational performance 9.30 hours, 2017, Haus der Kunst Munich, Photo by Marion Vogel, Courtesy of the artist and Haus der Kunst
ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಣೆ nireekshane (‘the act of seeing’) showcases a range of traditional and expanded image-making practices from South Asia and the diaspora.Curated by Vishal Kumaraswamy as part of PHOTO 2024.Image: Millenia of Oppression, 2016, Arun Vijai Mathavan
By Rainbow Chan 陳雋然. To accompany 'The novice, fry and fledging 我全未曉', the lament is reworked into an electronic composition using vocal manipulation, field-recordings and conversation fragments with Weitou elders. 'The novice, fry and fledging 我全未曉' is free to view at Arts House 6-24 May 2024.
Expressions of Interest (EOI) submissions for CultureLAB residencies between July 2024 and June 2025 will open Thursday 16 November and close Tuesday 23 January 2024. Find out more here https://www.artshouse.com.au/artist-opportunities/culturelab/
The Warehouse Residency is Arts House’s main commissioning pathway for Deaf and Disability led projects developed at North Melbourne Town Hall.Expression of Interests (EOIs) will open Thursday 16 November 2023 for projects taking place between June 2024 – June 2025, and close Tuesday 23 January 2024. Find out more here https://www.artshouse.com.au/artist-opportunities/the-warehouse-residency/
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
This is a summary of Arts House’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023 – 2028 narrated by Kath Duncan.This plan is available in alternative formats on the Arts House website: www.artshouse.com.au
(suspended brain, projections): Are you projecting other people’s ideas all over my neurology? Head in the clouds, raising my consciousness with the help of the tech team, making my MRI 3D.---Society can project a lot of harmful stereotypes onto the autistic community. We commonly experience a world where people don’t understand our responses.I want to project a future where autism is valued and stimming is seen as beautiful. I want to project my values of inclusivity onto you.I hope this is a visual stim for you, or a conceptual stim - if such a thing exists. I think it does! I think that’s why I like theoretical ideas and poetry. In other words, I hope you are co-regulating with my art - and if you are, I’m co-regulating with you.One of the reasons I like art so much is it is a way we can co-regulate with minorities, or with people in very different demographics, and collectively take responsibility for reconstructing and updating our society.Concept, Filming & Editing: MishkaFilm Contributor/ Model: Catherine Smyth-McMullenCollaborating Video Editor: Mish Szekelyhidi
(Self-portrait as both ape and topless woman) wild and tame, strong and vulnerable, stupid and smart, masc and femme, masking and unable to mask: I can’t make a world without discrimination, I can’t end all ableism, I CAN draw a picture that holds us in the face of everything.---Sometimes it’s so raw when you can’t regulate - if you’re under pressure, or out in society. I judge myself so much, forgetting not to feel all the things my early carers said to me. Please, don’t judge me for things out of my control.I want our society to change, and stop shaming and pathologising children that are born like me. I want stimming to be normalised, so our bodies can be free.I was diagnosed with ‘Polarised Intelligences’. In my childhood, this diagnosis was called idiot savant. They didn’t explain what the word savant meant (it means smart - I found that out at 32).My teachers’ aide also used the word ‘retarded’, which I preferred to ‘learning difficulties’ as it seemed more open-ended, and I didn’t have any problems learning art and things I was interested in. I didn’t see a need to talk or behave like other children. Now I like the term alternative processing abilities.I was privileged to go to the third most expensive private school in Melbourne. This meant that I was segregated with a Special Ed teacher, away from the other children, my entire education. This practice is now illegal. Instead of learning the curriculum, I learned a lot of weird stuff about me. I was tested a lot - around four times a year from grade five to grade 12, and once in my adult life. Even though I did the same test over and over, I could never learn to do things my brain hasn’t developed to do.I come out consistently around the 64th percentile on a two-week long neurological test. You could think that’s pretty average, I’m actually in 0.5% of the population - as half my areas of intelligence are below the 4th percentile, and the other half are in the 98th percentile or immeasurably good. Things that might be automatic or obvious for most people can be incredibly complex or impossible for me.On the other hand, I solved a block puzzle that hadn’t been solved for forty years at Melbourne Clinic, in under 40 seconds, to the amazement of the neuroscientists testing me!I think of the parts of my brain that haven’t developed like a beautiful instinctive apelike-feeling body. There can be something unconstrained, unfiltered and raw about the immediacy I experience. This part of me is so vulnerable and wounded, it’s also the most beautiful part of me.I think of the parts of my brain that are immeasurably intelligent as the parts that can protect me. This part of me appears and disappears with my capacity. Like my speech. It allows me to see things many people in my community can’t see. It allows me to comprehend things 99% of the population will never conceive.There’s a real strength in my vulnerability. There’s a real skill in my specialisation. There’s something fantastic about me that statistics could never quantify!Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(Mermaid deer mask painting): Don’t look at my mystical mermaid deer winged body. I’m totally a regular norm-core human, that masks real good.---Masking is a terminology for hiding or suppressing one’s attributes. Many autistic people develop this skill in response to discrimination. It can be hard to know what you want, if you’re pretending your needs don’t matter.It’s really hard to know when to mask. It’s still occasionally important for reasons of safety for me to repress my needs to stim and regulate freely because sometimes I rely on ableist strangers, ableist doctors, and the occasional ableism from people trying to help me.Sometimes I find myself smiling and gritting my teeth as people slow their speech for me. Sometimes I have to keep quiet when I hear agencies talk about exploitation, theft and violence that could have left people in my communities to die. When I get into a safe place I make all the noises, hand gestures, bird-like arm flaps and jumps that I need to feel better and understand my body in space.When I mask with people, I get more tired and have more meltdowns. Prue Stevenson says, “We should listen to our meltdowns, they’re wise.” I agree with them. I don’t always know, but my meltdowns know. When I realise I am safe, masking becomes silly.When I mask I often talk overly formally, just like how my grandmother was taught in finishing school in the 1930s. I potentially don’t pass as ‘norm-core’ as I feel I do.Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(blob painting): sometimes I like it when my executive functions drop. I can like being over stimulated, sometimes it’s funny and confusing. I can get sound to touch synesthesia; it can tickle me in weird places, like my organs.---It’s nice to show myself without a mouth when I can’t talk. With no eyes, when I can’t process the visual information I’m getting. With no head, when I can’t catch a thought or remember what’s happening. And all the hands when I’m doing so much sensing.I tried to show you my mystical blob body.When I look in the mirror this is what I think I will see. My beautiful monstrous form. I’m always surprised by my reflection when I see a human looking back at me.This is my body dysmorphia’s morphic form.When you have been dehumanised, you can choose to reclaim not feeling human as a beautiful identity. That’s not very popular with the humanistic far left, but it works for me. I don’t want to be “othered”. I can never be your equal, as long as I am the other. No one can ever be anyone’s equal. Structural dehumanisation can feel like a group with pitchforks is coming for you, simultaneously feeling like a monster. I love feeling like an ethical monster. Safe to those who love me, like a wolf mother to her puppies. And feeling my metaphoric fur.Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(Questionnaire): “I’m not testing your responses, it’s only because I’m not a qualified neurologist and it hasn’t been passed by an ethics board” - and the other barriers between us… I made a game where I secretly test people’s global abstract reasoning. Although it’s not so secret because I have no filter and I tell everyone that’s what I’m doing.”---I want to invite you to imagine what it’s like to have your neurology examined, and share the most beautiful part of being tested - which is deepening your understanding of your own psyche, and creating vocabulary for your own perceptivity.The recent Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability found Australia is in breach of its international obligations, committing “grave and systemic human rights violations for people with disability.” Other reports indicate a power imbalance created by the current top-down NDIS approach to autism. I’ve made this questionnaire artwork to include myself in the conversation, so my voice becomes part of the narrative.I want to bring awareness to the history of testing and experimenting on the autistic community. And ask whether or not Australia’s history of testing minorities has been good for people in those groups (for example, the White Australia Policy).Sometimes my community ask me why I think something is ableist. Then I ask them to imagine what it would be like if someone did the same thing to a person of colour or a trans person 20 years ago, and to sub in the disabled identity. 90% of the time, this is all people need to understand my perspective, and why it’s important we have difficult conversations that raise awareness for people that experience marginalisation or identify with having a disability.I’ve had five support coordinators who have been through NDIS training and didn’t know the meaning of the word ableism. I know the meaning, the person scribing for me knows the meaning. If you don’t know the meaning, just ask someone to explain it for you. It’s nice to learn new words.Sometimes there’s something really beautiful that comes out of not being able to do something. Sometimes, from oppression, we understand the true meaning of freedom. Sometimes, when you go without, you get to have a special relationship with the void. I don’t believe there is a ‘better’ or a ‘worse’ way to be human. I don’t believe smarter is ‘better’. I don’t believe being verbal is ‘better’. I don’t believe being more functional, or happier, is ever ‘better’.In my questionnaire, and when I test people, it’s outside right and wrong, and all answers are unconditionally valid: they’re descriptions, like different colours, or different songs. However you were born, in whatever kind of body, and whatever kind of brain, I unconditionally respect you.Well done for reading or listening to this whole thing, and thanks for coming to my show!Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(brain canvases)In collection we gestalt:A flock of birds in the windA school of fish in the oceanResponding to water and windLike minds moving in collection, together we gestalt---Because these are the artworks of around 50 contributing artists it is a bit weird to title it for everyone.I don’t feel an ownership over my ideas or artworks. I do not believe in my identity as separate from society. I don’t believe my psychology is separate from my ancestry. I believe everything I make is informed by artists and psychologists I love. And stands on the shoulders of every social justice warrior that has fought for human rights.I acknowledge all the disabled and autistic people that wished they could have had an opportunity like this and died before they did. I acknowledge those that came before me who were institutionalised for life or lobotomised for my diagnosis. And all the autistic youth and adults currently living in nursing homes in Australia.In reality, there’s a lot of disagreement about what autism is. In my utopia the collective consciousness moves forward embracing a positive idea of autism that feels safe for everyone.Gestalt is a German word meaning whole. Where all the parts are integrated into the whole, and the whole is integrated into all of the parts.A memory of elephants.A paddle of platypus.A shadow of jaguars.A wisdom of wombats.A tower of giraffes.A bloat of hippopotamus.A mob of kangaroos.A parliament of owls.A parade of echidnas.A smack of jellyfish.A crackle of cockatoos.I like animal collective nouns. Do you? I imagine you in my collective society. Do you imagine me in a collective with you?Concept & Workshop Facilitation: MishkaBrain Artwork Contributors: Sophia Constantine, Irit Rozenfeld, Melody Shotade, Milly Cooper, Erin Vivian, Adam Seymour, Lucy Crossett, Mohamed Chamas, Tyrone, River Romano-Leuzzi, Mika Dick, Celia King, Ayesha Tauseef, Leah Pavlidis, Resin Alyssia, Patrick Fox, Antonia Green, Charlie Major, Luci Spectre, Lara Bardsley, Jacqueline Beckmann, Stav Shaul, Swann Biguet, Mia Pandji Sakti, Katina Anaipakos, Ben Dynan, Monika Andrew Poray, Asher Glass, Sam Petersen, Joshua Lynzaat, Sunny Short, Masoumeh Ahmadi, Rob Deguara, Sarah Rowbottam, Aarti Jadu, Goldie Barry, Mishka, Zoe, Sheshtin H, Stephen O, Alice B, Breanna F, Daniele C, Freya T, Kane S, Sinead S, Tallula B, Bryan J, Cheryl, Alison T, Cat S, Daniel C, Eza B, Patricia T, Jenny B, Mark D, Robert C.
(braille book): Seeing through fingers with the eyes of my body feels good---One of the wonderful things about this project was finding out that some people who are partially sighted or have low vision have a strong relationship with stimming. It is sad to find out that they have experienced similar forms of shaming and restraining to me.I love to rock my body and use proprioception to sense where I am in space. I have 20/20 vision and the backs of my retinas are enlarged. I’m very light sensitive. I can see the flicker of electricity in LED bars, hospitals and supermarkets look strobe-lit to me, and I see slightly better at night. Just like a cat.When I was a child, I didn’t respond the way other children might. My year one teacher at Albert Park Primary School thought I might be blind. It was the 80s and she was doing her best to help me.I liked her.I was placed in a class a few days a week where I got to learn to read braille and work with a braille typewriter. I’m very dyslexic and it turns out that reading braille is a similar level of difficulty to letters,if you’re not blind.I remember those classes fondly. It was one of my most beautiful schooling experiences. I remember moving my fingers over the braille and the beautiful boy with vision and hearing impairment next to me. Our lovely teacher let us stim our hearts out.She was always fighting the force of sticky. She would check our pockets for candy to protect the braille typewriter (and my hair, following annoyed reports from my mother after a number of bubblegum incidents…)That sweet brown-haired boy was always texturally seeking; mixing furry pocket fluff with water and hard sugar candy into sticky, and mushing flowers into paste to smear on my body. Even sharing their chewed chewing gum with me. They made comforting sounds flailing their arms and rocking their body. They loved to lick their lips and drool on everything, the braille, and me.It was the first time I felt safe to stim with others. There was a wonderful joy between us, even though we didn’t speak in words. The different kinds of pastes and mushes that we could get onto the braille and each other was our naughty and secret language.Concept & Content: MishkaBraille Typer: Marisa SposaroTranscriber: Sarah Rowbottam
(Film): Culture expressed through gesture, sensations all over, and the way the world understands itself: we don’t want to put anything in here that doesn’t make it better.---I wanted to obscure the meaning for the audience, because my experience of autism feels obscure for me.I asked everyone the hardest political questions that I don’t know the answer to. Many of them are not even in my minority. They all reported being put on the spot was quite confronting for them. Even though they understand deeply what autism and stimming means, under the lens of examination and the glare of the spotlights, they found it hard to find the words to answer these questions. That’s why there is so much giggling.I didn’t want to tell anyone what to think. It’s easy to have a closed conversation, I want to open the conversation. I want to express culture through gesture, the words are secondary to me. Because when I hear people talk in real life I listen first to their body.I asked a neuroscientist, OT, support workers and some autistic people. I cut all the cute apolitical bits out. Where I feel like I am seeing their humanity and an aspect of autistic culture. I don’t know if it’s politically correct for you to guess who is autistic. I want people to identify my culture. I don’t want people to pathologise me.I want everyone to feel through the bodies of my community and participate in our collective stim.Concept, Director, Camera Operator & Interviewer: MishkaCollaborating Camera Operator, Video & Sound Editor: Mish SzekelyhidiFilm Contributors: Aarti Jadu, Mish Szekelyhidi, Zoë Barry, Evelyn Ida Morris, Lia Dewey Morgan, Alyes Brown, Natalie Pawlus, Edith Gilfedder, Prue Stevenson, Stella Schiftan, Cynthia Sobraty, Rouana Barber, Catherine Smyth-McMullen, Anna Dylag, Emily Kostos
(third sound cone, chin hair recording): Chin Hair is the name of our new band.---Chin Hair is improvisational lyrical abstractionist, dada Da Da dada daa-ists, non-modern modernist in a post-post-post-modernist city, deconstructing slime, pixels, stim vocabularies, and other ephemeral and mutable mediums. Recontextualising recycled and household objects as art supplies and renegade instruments, in combination with traditional artistic techniques and practices.Chin Hair is new-wave Fluxist, non-moralist, striving for deep ecological perspective on politics that is in a constant state of redefining its values. Contradictorily, the group remains stable in its revering of congruence and a pervasive drive for autonomy.Chin Hair is also an artist collective comprised of both autistic and non-autistic members.In the way biologists value every plant in biodiversity as a vital and interconnective part of each micro climate and the whole world, Chin Hair values the neurodiversity of all humans as an important aspect of society and humanity.Every plant has its own beauty.Every person has potential for growth.Collaborating Musicians: Mishka, Aarti Jadu, Mish Szekelyhidi,Zoë Barry, Evelyn Ida MorrisSound Recording & Editing: Mish Szekelyhidi
(Sound cone that goes with sensory stim brain): I was thinking about you, lovely member of the general public. There’s probably nothing general about you. I don’t believe that normal exists.---I have sound to touch synesthesia and audio sensory issues. It’s like the volume of the world has been turned up way too high. Inside me it is always quiet. I can’t talk in my head. I can’t read in my head. I can’t sing or play music in my head, and when I dream it is always silent.Chelle Destefano is a deaf person, and a talented artist. Chelle and I trade day and night, in and out. Chelle can think in her head before they speak in Auslan. They have internal sound responses, from visuals and movements. They can read in their head, and their dreams are loud. One time Chelle had a dream of a rain storm, it was so loud it woke them from their sleep.Do your dreams match your waking reality? Do your internal senses match your external experiences? Do you have any internal senses that you trade, like Chelle and me?Concept & Voice: MishkaSound Recording & Editing: Mish Szekelyhidi
(suspended brain, projections): Are you projecting other people’s ideas all over my neurology? Head in the clouds, raising my consciousness with the help of the tech team, making my MRI 3D. ---A papier mache top-down MRI scan of a brain, approximately 2M high by 1M wide. It is suspended high in the space. One side is smooth. The other has contours and textured grooves that are the MRI scans in a 3D form. Both sides have unique projections on them.The textured side has a mixture of:-Shadowy browns, blues, yellow that leave the top and bottom segments of the brain without projection-Rorschach like shapes of purple, brown, orange and blue. The shapes and colours shift. On the flat side of the brain:-Close ups of oily looking fingers. The image is cut into portions by wavy lines. -It shifts to a bright pink and purple background as the fingers reveal clear goop. There is a triangular tattoo on one finger and honeycomb patterned nail polish on all fingers. Neary is an accompanying audio piece. The three speakers are covered in black card and wrapped to become cone shaped.
(meltdown blob): It’s multiple things that collide in common, that’s also right and it’s very different. When my executive functions drop, I forget I have legs and I think I have so many hands because I get so many sensations from them. I’m a meltdown blob.A large sculpture made of paper mache with 4 human shaped arms extending out of it at odd angles. The work is all white, standing approximately a metre high and wide. There is a glow from inside it that is a warm light-flesh colour.The hard-lined shape of its structure is akin to clay that has been pushed at various angles. This effect produces a solid rock-like formation with mounds, ridges, and bumps. Its hollow semi-dome shape is off kilter. Some parts of the bottom edge sit flat on the floor and others are slightly raised. It is as though the sculpture has been captured mid-motion. There is partly transparent skin like paper that stretches across the outside surface of the dome. Between this paper skin are thick vein-like sticks, also wrapped in paper. These sticks appear to be connected to one another, creating the effect of a topographical map. We might be looking down at a river system with sections that fork, or cluster together, others that break off to form different bends and curves. Amongst this, at varying heights, the four arms splay at unusual angles and in unique positions. Two with their thumb facing to the ground. Another with a soft bent elbow and its palm facing to the floor. The final arm extends upwards with a graceful and gentle energy in its calm fingers.
You’re listening to the Sublime Stim Audio Description playlist. This is a running playlist that presents the works in Studio 1, then Studio 2, from left to right as you enter the room.
(Self-portrait as human black swan): What is assumed, what is expected, what is invisible, what is very clear: the air is more buzzy, things feel more expansive, there’s a lightness to the air molecules and a depth of feeling. A human with autism, or an autism with human, or a swan with hands? I’m definitely something…A drawing of a black swan. It is set in a brown rectangular frame approximately arms length by ¾ arm height.It is lying on its back with human arms in place of where its little feet would usually be. Proportionally the arms are the same size as the neck of the swan. At the base of each arm are three human fingers. The right arm rests on the crooked elbow of its left arm. The fingers that wrap around this elbow appear webbed, mimicking the shape of a swan's foot. The left hand hangs by the swan's feathery bottom. It is rigid in position, with each of the three fingers separated. The swan's feathers have black and white shaded patterning that start from the base of its neck. The feathery pattern transforms into soft rolls, reminiscent of folds of thin dough or reems of small thick material. The human arms in place of the swan’s legs are outlines, with no shading inside of them. The swan's face is at an angle. We are privy only to one side where a red-coloured eye looks beadily out.
(lamp): I have an idea what autism is: switched on, lighted up, plugged in, spark, light-bulb moment, illuminated, brilliant, a light in the darkness, fairy-light enlightened, glowing, luminous. And I can describe a lamp in lots of ways. ---Suspended from a high beam, approx 1.5m high by 1m wide, a large white conical lantern hangs, its shape similar to a 1920 art deco lamp.Lit from within, it has a diffused glow, revealing paper cutouts of flowers of lace and tulle paper. The light that spills in from above reveals cartoon-like images of: Pegasus with stars surrounding it, two snakes meeting head on, a bat with its fanged teeth and open mouth mid flight, a bird with a forked tail surrounded by music notes. Enclosed into the paper skin and along the skirt of the lamp are eight framed panels.Between each are decorative trimmings and white outlines of leaf fronds and abstracted flowers.At the bottom ridge of every panel are metallic sequins. On every second panel base, are golf ball sized fluffy round tufts that drape down and lacy trimming with tassels that run along the entirety of the shade’s base.Draped underneath, are layers upon layers of 2 and 3D objects: dozens of paper cut outs of eyes, droplets, a cartoon-like key. Linking these objects are strings and rows of cream pearls, plastic beads, and shells, interspersed with the occasional pop of brown colour from a fake coin and earthen looking beads. The only other splash of colour in the near-all white lantern is a vivid orange dangling decoration, hanging to one side. In the centre of its palm sized spiky exterior is a small gold glittery heart.
(brain canvases) In collection we gestalt: A flock of birds in the wind A school of fish in the ocean Responding to water and wind Like minds moving in collection, together we gestaltA collection of 62 painted canvases.Each is a cross-section of a human brain and shaped as such.Each brain canvas is about half a metre in length and height.They hang on black netting on opposing walls within the rectangular gallery space, from floor to ceiling. The larger collection, with 52 brains, is on the right. It wraps around two walls.The smaller collection of 10 brains is on the left.The arrangement of all the brain canvases mimic a flock of birds mid-flight. All are lit from above by theatre lights. Each canvas is uniquely painted by individual artists in a sensory map style.Each artist was encouraged to feel their sensations, imagined or real, and then invited to depict these in their own style. The brains are painted on raw gray linen, with a limited palette preferencing blue, orange, and flesh tones. Occasional canvasses have a metallic shine, with the addition of gold, bronze, and silver leaf.
(Questionnaire): “I’m not testing your responses, it’s only because I’m not a qualified neurologist and it hasn’t been passed by an ethics board” - and the other barriers between us… I made a game where I secretly test people’s global abstract reasoning. Although it’s not so secret because I have no filter and I tell everyone that’s what I’m doing.”----10 large sheets of paper are hung at roughly heigh height. Each is approximately a metre long by half a metre high. The paper is held on their top edges by pastel coloured clips with string that connects them to the railing above. They float in front of the black curtain. The words on the papers are hand written in sharpie pen in confident lines. Some words are emboldened, others softer. The spacing on each is meticulously placed.Each paper references a different page of a Questionnaire workshop booklet.A summary of each panel running left to right:●‘The Sublime Stim’ page features information about the context of the questionnaire. This includes information about the purpose and reference of the questionnaire. ●‘Prologue’ pages speak to reframing and reclaiming autistic tests.●‘Sensory Mapping’ invites the reader to answer felt-sense questions around sound, visual and touch prompts.●‘Proprioception’ and ‘Echolalia’ feature on this page. Proprioception is exemplified through the act of draping your body. Echolalia is the repetition of sounds.●‘Touch’ titles this page, asking questions around what types of movement the reader might like. What noises too.●‘Scent’ continues asking questions of the reader. This time about food or non-food smells, including experiences of foods texture and visual.●‘Sense memory’ speaks to the notion of senses sparking memories. Further questions about sensory seeking.●‘Movement, visual’ asks of object to person relationship both visually and physically. ●‘Any sense’ concludes the questionnaire by asking specifics of stimming - do you stim?
(sound cone that goes with projections): I was speaking out loud; I forgot you were there recording me. I was very busy pretending it was all in my head. I feel less awkward that way (which sometimes produces more awkward results).---Perception informs opinion on the world in general. 10% of our visual perception is made up and filled in by our brains; because of the way the vision from our two different eyes overlaps to form the sense of one vision.Some people call what our brains are filling in and making up - projections. Especially if you’re making up ideas, you’re projecting on others.If our perceptivity is deeply affected by our neurology, may we have unknown opinions and perspectives unique to us? You know your known unknowns, but your unknown unknowns are always unknown to you.If we look at our knowledge gathering apolitically, may there still be a variance between you and me?Are you projecting what you think I am trying to communicate to you while you’re listening or reading this? Are you projecting any preconceptions on my artworks?Concept & Voice: MishkaSound Recording & Editing: Mish Szekelyhidi
(Self-portrait as both ape and topless woman) wild and tame, strong and vulnerable, stupid and smart, masc and femme, masking and unable to mask: I can’t make a world without discrimination, I can’t end all ableism, I CAN draw a picture that holds us in the face of everything.---Sometimes it’s so raw when you can’t regulate - if you’re under pressure, or out in society. I judge myself so much, forgetting not to feel all the things my early carers said to me. Please, don’t judge me for things out of my control.I want our society to change, and stop shaming and pathologising children that are born like me. I want stimming to be normalised, so our bodies can be free.I was diagnosed with ‘Polarised Intelligences’. In my childhood, this diagnosis was called idiot savant. They didn’t explain what the word savant meant (it means smart - I found that out at 32).My teachers’ aide also used the word ‘retarded’, which I preferred to ‘learning difficulties’ as it seemed more open-ended, and I didn’t have any problems learning art and things I was interested in. I didn’t see a need to talk or behave like other children. Now I like the term alternative processing abilities.I was privileged to go to the third most expensive private school in Melbourne. This meant that I was segregated with a Special Ed teacher, away from the other children, my entire education. This practice is now illegal. Instead of learning the curriculum, I learned a lot of weird stuff about me. I was tested a lot - around four times a year from grade five to grade 12, and once in my adult life. Even though I did the same test over and over, I could never learn to do things my brain hasn’t developed to do.I come out consistently around the 64th percentile on a two-week long neurological test. You could think that’s pretty average, I’m actually in 0.5% of the population - as half my areas of intelligence are below the 4th percentile, and the other half are in the 98th percentile or immeasurably good. Things that might be automatic or obvious for most people can be incredibly complex or impossible for me.On the other hand, I solved a block puzzle that hadn’t been solved for forty years at Melbourne Clinic, in under 40 seconds, to the amazement of the neuroscientists testing me!I think of the parts of my brain that haven’t developed like a beautiful instinctive apelike-feeling body. There can be something unconstrained, unfiltered and raw about the immediacy I experience. This part of me is so vulnerable and wounded, it’s also the most beautiful part of me.I think of the parts of my brain that are immeasurably intelligent as the parts that can protect me. This part of me appears and disappears with my capacity. Like my speech. It allows me to see things many people in my community can’t see. It allows me to comprehend things 99% of the population will never conceive.There’s a real strength in my vulnerability. There’s a real skill in my specialisation. There’s something fantastic about me that statistics could never quantify!Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(Questionnaire): “I’m not testing your responses, it’s only because I’m not a qualified neurologist and it hasn’t been passed by an ethics board” - and the other barriers between us… I made a game where I secretly test people’s global abstract reasoning. Although it’s not so secret because I have no filter and I tell everyone that’s what I’m doing.”---I want to invite you to imagine what it’s like to have your neurology examined, and share the most beautiful part of being tested - which is deepening your understanding of your own psyche, and creating vocabulary for your own perceptivity.The recent Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability found Australia is in breach of its international obligations, committing “grave and systemic human rights violations for people with disability.” Other reports indicate a power imbalance created by the current top-down NDIS approach to autism. I’ve made this questionnaire artwork to include myself in the conversation, so my voice becomes part of the narrative.I want to bring awareness to the history of testing and experimenting on the autistic community. And ask whether or not Australia’s history of testing minorities has been good for people in those groups (for example, the White Australia Policy).Sometimes my community ask me why I think something is ableist. Then I ask them to imagine what it would be like if someone did the same thing to a person of colour or a trans person 20 years ago, and to sub in the disabled identity. 90% of the time, this is all people need to understand my perspective, and why it’s important we have difficult conversations that raise awareness for people that experience marginalisation or identify with having a disability.I’ve had five support coordinators who have been through NDIS training and didn’t know the meaning of the word ableism. I know the meaning, the person scribing for me knows the meaning. If you don’t know the meaning, just ask someone to explain it for you. It’s nice to learn new words.Sometimes there’s something really beautiful that comes out of not being able to do something. Sometimes, from oppression, we understand the true meaning of freedom. Sometimes, when you go without, you get to have a special relationship with the void. I don’t believe there is a ‘better’ or a ‘worse’ way to be human. I don’t believe smarter is ‘better’. I don’t believe being verbal is ‘better’. I don’t believe being more functional, or happier, is ever ‘better’.In my questionnaire, and when I test people, it’s outside right and wrong, and all answers are unconditionally valid: they’re descriptions, like different colours, or different songs. However you were born, in whatever kind of body, and whatever kind of brain, I unconditionally respect you.Well done for reading or listening to this whole thing, and thanks for coming to my show!Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(meltdown blob): It’s multiple things that collide in common, that’s also right and it’s very different. When my executive functions drop, I forget I have legs and I think I have so many hands because I get so many sensations from them. I’m a meltdown blob.---This is a self-portrait.It couldn’t be traditional because I’m not traditional.It couldn’t look like a person born into a female body, because my identity isn’t gendered, and doesn’t feel like it comes from my body. My identity comes from the choices that I make, and how I redefine my values.Sometimes I feel like a blob.Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(lamp): I have an idea what autism is: switched on, lighted up, plugged in, spark, light-bulb moment, illuminated, brilliant, a light in the darkness, fairy-light enlightened, glowing, luminous. And I can describe a lamp in lots of ways.---The lamp represents a fleeting moment of an idea where you can feel switched on to what Autism is.This is my idea of Autism:Everyone has their own ideas.It’s interesting to think about how ideas affect neurology. They say, “if you meet one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism”. I can’t quite remember who “they” is, I’m pretty sure it’s one of my friends.It’s hard to have a collective understanding of Autism because we are a group of very specialized people. The thing we have in common, is often feeling we do not have very much in common with anyone.Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(papier-mache glitter brain): I had an idea. I couldn’t good word, or word good. My laughing says everything.---There’s many things in my heart that I can’t squeeze out into words.It’s hard to understand the impact a life of ableist discrimination can have on a person. I wanted to open the door of my heart so you could feel everything I’ve experienced, so you could really know what I know.Good thing that’s impossible.It would probably be a bit much. I know living through it has been a bit much for me. I don’t want to overwhelm anybody, I want them to have lots of executive functions so they can process my shameless splendor and beauty.Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(sensory stim brain): When you touch the textured representation of my MRI, my brain representation touches you through the nerves in your fingers.---You can touch it.This project is modelled directly off a projection of my MRI.It’s a representation of my sensory profile. Using found objects from my everyday environments. I invite you to explore responding to textures I like.You can build you own sensory profile by documenting what bits you like and don’t like to touch - furry, rough, smooth, abrasive. Please feel my metaphorical brain.I haven’t lost my marbles... I’ve glued them on here.It was strange to be formally diagnosed with “sensory issues”. Finding out that my senses are heightened compared to non-autistic community (That is 98% of the population that surrounds me).I don’t know what sensations people will experience through touching this sculpture (Autistic people are 2% of the population). Many Autistic people will have a different sensory profile than me.After seeing the Sublime Stim film, Prue Stevenson said something like “your preference is for ‘wet’, I prefer dry”.Concept & Artwork: MishkaTextural Selection Artists: Mishka & Mish SzekelyhidiContributors: Aarti Jadu, Evelyn Ida Morris, Alyssia Resin Surace, Ania Dylag, Stella Schiftan, Bart Mangan, Sarah Rowbottam, Artemis Derlanea Muñoz.
(Self-portrait as human black swan): What is assumed, what is expected, what is invisible, what is very clear: the air is more buzzy, things feel more expansive, there’s a lightness to the air molecules and a depth of feeling. A human with autism, or an autism with human, or a swan with hands? I’m definitely something…-----Sometimes people separate themselves from animals. Sometimes I relate to animals more easily than creatures that identify as human. When I go non-verbal I can still talk without words. I’ve never needed words to talk with horses.I’ve been riding my bike around Albert Park Lake mimicking swan calls. I’m pretty sure I can make a call that says “the weeds over here are really nice”, and another one that says “I’m really confused. Are you a swan?” I can make some very good mating calls. One time I got 30 swans to swim over to me, they were excitedly flapping their wings along the top of the water and calling back to me. It was the most beautiful sound landscape of my life.Sometimes I’m not really sure how to let people know when I’m into them. I can always say in the coo and squawks of female and male identifying swans “I want to have sex and mate forever.” We all make life choices.Concept & Artwork: Mishka
(sensory stim brain): When you touch the textured representation of my MRI, my brain representation touches you through the nerves in your fingers.A papier mache top-down MRI scan of a brain, approximately 2M high by 1M wide. A bright textured artwork, with elements of glitter and other shiny surprises that pick up the light. The under layer is white. On it are raised contours that reflect the shapes captured when the brain was scanned. It is as though we have a birds eye view of the top of the brain. These contours are abundant as they twist around the canvas, a near symmetry on both sides. The brain looks tactile, with many touchable items placed on top of the multicolour palette. Some colours include cream, teal, pastel blue, deep vibrant oranges, with the occasional flickers of brown, yellow, red and gold. On top of the orange paint, there are circular cut outs of gold sparkly material. On top of the red paint there is velvet looking material that has hypnotic squares within squares within squares. Layered on to the raised sections of the contour ridges are strips of various fabrics. Many of these have tactile elements: shaggy bath mat like material, fake fur, fabric that is glittery, ridged, bristly, furry, and soft plastic spiky materials. Placed amongst the fabrics are touchable items like:fake banksia flowers, marbles, rocks, bright glitter strewn pom poms, various beads. Around the edges of the brain is black trimming that has silver peaked beads sewn in and looks like a studded belt. About a third of the way up on both sides of the edge of the brain are half a dozen fake sunflowers. When looked at from a few metres away, the patterning from the scan makes the work look like a maze.
(Self-portrait as both ape and topless woman) wild and tame, strong and vulnerable, stupid and smart, masc and femme, masking and unable to mask: I can’t make a world without discrimination, I can’t end all ableism, I CAN draw a picture that holds us in the face of everything. An A3 drawing set on bright orange paper of a female-appearing person being embraced by an ape. She is shirtless, breasts bare, with one breast being pressed against her body through their hug. She is statuesque in her consistent orange palette, her eyes without pupils, and the way her hair looks carved as opposed to organic. At her hips there looks to be the tops of peach pants, a belt running through its loops. She faces the viewer. The ape snuggles into her crevasses, wrapped around her left side. The left arm of the ape crosses her body, resting on the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her hand is lightly warped around its arm. Her other hand is visible through the fingertips that curve around the ape’s hunched back as she returns the embrace. The ape is as tall as her, and covered in blue fur. Its neck is tucked behind her head. The apes enormous head rests its chin on her left shoulder. It has a wide gaping mouth that reveals pink gums and sharp teeth. Its small yellow eyes look up, the perceived fear in them alluding to something only it can see.
(papier-mache glitter brain): I had an idea. I couldn’t good word, or word good. My laughing says everything.Placed on a white plinth sits a papier mache brain shaped sculpture. The brain is roughly the size of a microwave. It is covered in white paper with black words. The layers of ripped up pieces of paper have the draft didactic text of the Sublime Stim exhibition printed onto them. Some words are clear like ‘warrior, do, ableism, swan, what’.The majority of words are so layered that we see only the ends and beginnings but not them in entirety. The paper has different and varying fonts - some cursive, some tightly condensed, and some handwritten. On the top to one side of the brain is a strip of glittery colour. It is in the shape of a long tear drop or paisley. The strip is made of soft oranges and pinks. On the fringes of it are streaks of gold paint, and amongst patches of all these colours lie tiny glittery beads.
(Mermaid deer mask painting): Don’t look at my mystical mermaid deer winged body. I’m totally a regular norm-core human, that masks real good.An A4 painting on thin plywood. A night-sky landscape of a black background with white specks of different sizes. In the bottom right half of the painting are two mythical looking creatures who appear to be the same species. They have light green mermaid tails on their bottom halves. Their top halves of deer torsos, front legs and faces are pink and red. On their backs are light blue feathery wings. They are facing one another. The one on the left has a raised right leg, a sense of purposeful movement towards the other. The one on the right has its body facing away, with its neck turned to face its companion. On its face sits a cream coloured mask the shape of a human face.
(Film): Culture expressed through gesture, sensations all over, and the way the world understands itself: we don’t want to put anything in here that doesn’t make it better. A 20 minute film, played on loop, is projected on a large 3 by 4 metre wide screen which has been hung in front of a black curtain. The film presents diverse people sitting or standing in relaxed postures or stimming, all in front of a hand painted blue and orange abstract sky.At times the camera captures close-ups of their faces, torsos, in and out of focus.While the people discuss their lived experience of autism, they often express their stimming as they describe it, such as: eating various types of food, skin stroking, hair twirling, arm flailing, painting, palms pressing into one another, skin being pushed and manipulated, lips sucked, and fingers tapping. There are further glimpses of these physical details recorded through a macro lens, conveying extreme close up imagery of fingers, eyes, skin, hair, and other fragments of the interviewees stimming. After the interview, spoken section, when the music takes over, there are close ups of tactile and sensory interactions between human and environment - exploring ideas of stimming:A person dances.Hands rub a pea over lips.Hands touch fabric, tracing the patterns in decorative wool.Hands draw.Marbles are rubbed.Water drips down surfaces.Soft looking material tenderly rubbed.A face covered in vibrant blue and gold paint, the cracks and lines of their skin seen through the thick layers of paint.Polished covered nails that prod and pull.A series of moving images of the sea - corals of various shapes with the current pulling and pushing them, all within a neon blue and green light.Fabric being pulled over a face that bundles in thick golden piles, looking like ridges of great desert plains.
(blob painting): sometimes I like it when my executive functions drop. I can like being over stimulated, sometimes it’s funny and confusing. I can get sound to touch synesthesia; it can tickle me in weird places, like my organs.A human-like creature painted on gray linen canvas.The creature fills two thirds of the canvas. The creature is an entanglement of human-like body parts, entwined with more obscurely shaped parts.It seems the creature is folding in on itself protectively. The outstretched tentacle-like hands are maroon in tinge.The rest of the body has varying shades of pinky reds and oranges. While the creature has human-like hands, and suggestions of shoulder, elbows, arms, and legs, there is no head or face, nor eyes. The way the layers of the body come together makes it look as though three separate entities have formed into one.
Arts House’s Disability-led residency and commissioning program focuses on experimental projects presented at North Melbourne Town Hall.
The Warehouse Residency centres and celebrates D/deaf, Disabled, neurodiverse and chronically ill artists, curators, collectives and their collaborating allies.
EOIs close Thursday 20 October 2022, 5pm AEST https://www.artshouse.com.au/artist-opportunities/the-warehouse-residency/
Expressions of Interest (EOI) are currently open for CultureLAB.
CultureLAB is a creative development program that supports independent artists, collectives, and small-medium organisations to generate new work.
CultureLAB is one of the pathways through which Arts House commissions work for our presentation seasons.
EOI’s close: Thursday 20 October 2022, 5pm AEST Find out more here https://www.artshouse.com.au/artist-opportunities/culturelab/
You’re listening to a recording of “Talking In the Time of Refuge”, a conversation held at Arts House on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation Saturday 19 March 2022.
Refuge has been one of Arts House’s most significant undertakings – a multi-year project bringing together a range of people to explore how collaboration with community is critical for how we prepare for climate emergency.
In this conversation you’ll hear from Elders, artists, emergency services and researchers as they think through insights gathered over the last six years’ work.
Speakers: Jodie McVernon, Professor and Director of Doherty Epidemiology Steve Cameron, Manager – Community and Volunteer Development Emergency Management Victoria Faye Bendrups, SES Controller David Pledger, Author/Editor In the Time of Refuge Dr Jen Rae, Latai Taumoepeau, and Lorna Hannan, Refuge Artists
More information visit: https://www.artshouse.com.au/events/talking-in-the-time-of-refuge/
An in-depth chat about where it all began. FAMILI brings together 15 artists whose bloodlines hail from Pasifika, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, weaving together some of the most essential queer and Bla(c)k voices across Australia.
To experience ‘We Take Back Our Mother Tongues’ by FAMILI at Arts House on Fri 6 & Sat 7 May, 2022 visit https://www.artshouse.com.au/events/famili-we-take-back-our-mother-tongues/
Recorded, Produced and Edited by Guy Louis Faletolu Story by Ripley Kavara
Arts House’s new Disability-led residency and commissioning program focuses on experimental projects presented at North Melbourne Town Hall.
The Warehouse Residency centres and celebrates D/deaf, Disabled, neurodiverse and chronically ill artists, curators, collectives and their collaborating allies.
EOIs for the 2022 program close Thursday 14 October, 5pm. For more information visit www.artshouse.com.au
Vaka 10: Pilgrimage (4:35)
Audio excerpt of Rev Dr Jione Havea - Tongan Methodist Church - WCC 2016
Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Fonua OUTRO: Stop | Start (0:05)
Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound : Nina Buchanan
Vaka 4: Legend of the coconut (2:38)
From the book Po Fananga - Folk Tales of Tonga by Tupou Posesi Fanua Read in Tongan by Sis’uno Helu, Read in English by Tempest Fale’aka Taumoepeau Concept and Faiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Vaka 8: Longest Journey (4:40)
Stiff Gins with SistaNative Written by: Kaleen Briggs, Nardi Simpson and Seini SistaNative Taumoepeau "Courtesy & © the artists" Unpublished, demo recording at ABC Studios, Ultimo/Sydney. Languages sung: Tongan & English
Vaka 7: Promise (0:41)
Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound : Nina Buchanan
Vaka 6: Two Volcanoes (3:56)
Sound Selector/Mixer Lucreccia Quintanilla Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound : Nina Buchanan
Vaka 5: The Refinery (0.36)
Contains loud static noises that might be uncomfortable for some people. Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Vaka 2: River of Mists (6:16)
Audio excerpts of Parbin-ata Dr Carolyn Briggs - Water Futures (2017) Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Water Futures is an Asia Pacific knowledge exchange and trans-disciplinary laboratory focused on sustainable water futures presented by Arts House, Tipping Point Australia and Arts Centre Melbourne in association with Future Earth Australia, Griffith University's Australian Rivers Institute - Sustainable Water Future Program and with the support of the KMATS Endowment Fund.
Vaka 3: Coastal Life (1:58)
Field recordings from Jawbone Marine Sanctuary. Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Vaka 1: Folau: The Departure (5:09)
Me’etu’upaki performed by Sisi’uno Helu Concept & Faiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composer and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Vaka 9 Folau: The Arrival (2:36)
Sound Selector/Mixer Lucreccia Quintanilla Concept and Fāiva: Latai Taumoepeau Composition and Sound: Nina Buchanan
Step out of the time shallows and into the deep-water memory of Boonwurrung Country.
Experiencing this artwork - Listen on your personal device with headphones in a quiet place.
About this work - Developed in collaboration with Boonwurrung Elder N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs, Watershed is an essay and audio recording that delves into the deep history of Melbourne’s waterways.
This is not the first time this land has faced a climate crisis, and Watershed is an illuminating exploration of the resilience of Country and the meaning of change. From continental drift to the natural flooding of Nairm/Port Phillip Bay, explore the deep time perspective of Indigenous climate memory.
Boonwurrung words and history from ‘The Journey Cycles of the Boonwurrung’ by N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs. Permission to share and discuss Boonwurrung cultural heritage granted by N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs.
Artistic Credits - Audio performed by Cass Lynch and N’arweet Carolyn Briggs Writer – Cass Lynch Water Story Custodian and Guiding Boonwurrung Elder – N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs Sound Design – Theo McMahon Voice-over recording – Mei Swan Lim
Commissioned by Arts House for Refuge 2021
Supported by – Arts House is a key program of the City of Melbourne, and supported by the Australia Council for the Arts.
Image - By Sarah Rowbottam
- Apply Principles Of Access And Inclusion To The Creative Program by Arts House Listening Program
- Achieve Tangible Change In Attitudes Which Discriminate Against Persons With A Disability by Arts House Listening Program
- Reduce Barriers To Persons With Disability Obtaining And Maintaining Employment by Arts House Listening Program
- Promote Inclusion And Participation In The Community Of Persons With Disability by Arts House Listening Program
- Identifying And Removing Barriers – Building And Digital by Arts House Listening Program
An audio version of overview information on the new Arts House Makeshift Publics program. Applications opens on Wednesday 11th November 2020 and close midday on Friday 4th December. For more information go to Artshouse.com.au
An audio version introduction to the ways into which the new Arts House program Makeshift Publics application process is accessible. Applications opens on Wednesday 11th November 2020 and close midday on Friday 4th December. For more information go to Artshouse.com.au
An aural and visual excursion into both the musical fugue and the psychological ‘fugue state’, While You Sleep by Sal Cooper & Kate Neal unites string quartet, piano, electronics, video and animation in a surreal counterpoint of music, movement and image where nothing is quite as it seems.
Showing at Arts House as part of Mere Mortals. 7 - 11 Nov 2018.
https://www.artshouse.com.au/events/while-you-sleep/
Two artists got on a cargo ship and retraced one of the routes of the Transatlantic Slave Triangle – from the UK to Ghana to Jamaica, and back. Their memories, their questions and their grief took them along the bottom of the Atlantic and through the realm of an imaginary past. It was a long journey backwards, in order to go forwards.
This show is what they brought back.
salt. is about grief, ancestry, home, forgetting and colonialism. It’s about where colonial history exists in the everyday, the politics of grief, and what happens inside Selina’s head whenever someone asks ‘Where are you from?’ and won’t take Birmingham or her mum’s uterus for an answer. It’s about being part of a diaspora.
salt. creates a space for us to talk about all of these things, to see where we fit and to think about the changing and healing that is still to come
Both interdisciplinary and intercultural, Exhale is about Indigeneity, accountability and trauma. It explores the relationships and boundaries forged between Indigenous cultures on foreign lands; negotiations between environmental and urban lifestyles; and the ability to heal through storytelling.
Exhale is the creation of Black Birds – a Sydney collective fast gaining kudos for energetic, uplifting performances that astutely dissect the female Black and Brown experience in Australia. Incorporating art forms including spoken word, movement, dance, song and story, Black Birds’ work is at once intimate and unexpected, challenging and empowering.
There could be thousands of pictures of you online: photographic ‘selfies’ contrived to capture your best angles and features. How many really show how you feel about yourself and your body?
You’re invited to hear a collection of the audio portraits of strangers, who reveal the stories and the secrets of their bodies.
As an additional option, you can step into a private booth, undress and confess – contributing your own self-portrait to the growing archive at Arts House from 8 - 17 June, 2018.
There could be thousands of pictures of you online: photographic ‘selfies’ contrived to capture your best angles and features. How many really show how you feel about yourself and your body?
You’re invited to hear a collection of the audio portraits of strangers, who reveal the stories and the secrets of their bodies.
As an additional option, you can step into a private booth, undress and confess – contributing your own self-portrait to the growing archive at Arts House from 8 - 17 June, 2018.
There could be thousands of pictures of you online: photographic ‘selfies’ contrived to capture your best angles and features. How many really show how you feel about yourself and your body?
You’re invited to hear a collection of the audio portraits of strangers, who reveal the stories and the secrets of their bodies.
As an additional option, you can step into a private booth, undress and confess – contributing your own self-portrait to the growing archive at Arts House from 8 - 17 June, 2018.
There could be thousands of pictures of you online: photographic ‘selfies’ contrived to capture your best angles and features. How many really show how you feel about yourself and your body?
You’re invited to hear a collection of the audio portraits of strangers, who reveal the stories and the secrets of their bodies.
As an additional option, you can step into a private booth, undress and confess – contributing your own self-portrait to the growing archive at Arts House from 8 - 17 June, 2018.
There could be thousands of pictures of you online: photographic ‘selfies’ contrived to capture your best angles and features. How many really show how you feel about yourself and your body?
You’re invited to hear a collection of the audio portraits of strangers, who reveal the stories and the secrets of their bodies.
As an additional option, you can step into a private booth, undress and confess – contributing your own self-portrait to the growing archive at Arts House from 8 - 17 June, 2018.
Optimistic or downbeat? Confident or cynical? Ideas for reform? Capitalism works for me!True/false is both a provocation and a conversation. Listen to Steve Lambert, artist and founder of the Centre for Artistic Activism in conversation with host Emily Sexton as they talk about the art of democratic participation and talking politics on the street.
Kate and Adele in conversation about their upcoming works Worktable and Wowzzzeee, discussing themes around construction, destruction and reconstruction. Recorded for the Festival of Live Art 2018.
S. J. and Georgia in conversation about their upcoming works Rest Area and Stone Tape Theory (S. J.) and Intercourse with the Artist (Georgia), and exploring the changing notion of intimacy. Recorded for the Festival of Live Art 2018.
Arts House spoke with co-creator of WE ARE LIGHTNING!, JOF, about the role of live music and public spaces in society and why they are so important.
Jen Rae, Artist; Alison McMillian, Department of Health & Human Services & Alan March, University of Melbourne.
Jen Rae, Artist; Alison McMillian, Department of Health & Human Services & Alan March, University of Melbourne.
Jen Rae, Artist; Alison McMillian, Department of Health & Human Services & Alan March, University of Melbourne.
Supper Club: Place & Displacement is a facilitated exploration of our overlapping relationships to place.
Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy Wandin, urban planner Timmah Ball and natural history expert Gary Presland each frame their view of place through Indigenous culture, our natural environment and the ways that we design new spaces and transform place. Supper Clubbers can then grab a plate and join in hosted discussions examining wider concepts of place and displacement – ranging from homelessness, migration and ageing to space travel and the internet – designed to draw upon the expertise and experiences of all present.
Facilitated by human ecologist and artist Asha Bee Abraham (Invisible Cities) and purveyor of participatory art forms Dan Koop (The Stream/The Boat/The Shore/The Bridge), entry includes a delicious meal by Tamil Feasts.
How can art, actions and interventions create sites of resistance within colonial and institutionalised arts settings?
Hosted by Tania Cañas, an all-female panel including Sethembile Msezane, Odette Kelada and Mariaa Randall, explores the intersecting roles of race, gender and class in the lives of First Nations Women and Women of Colour navigating the arts sector.
In particular, discussion will focus on how First Nations Women and Women of Colour can use their arts practice to challenge systemic racism and oppression within the arts, including the whiteness of institutions; strengthening these knowledges to find better ways to work together.
Stephanie Lake (Pile of Bones) and Melanie Lane (Nightdance) - Long edit by Arts House Listening Program
Stephanie Lake (Pile of Bones) and Melanie Lane (Nightdance) - short by Arts House Listening Program
wāni (Tales of an Afronaut) and Tania Cañas (Art & Action) - long version by Arts House Listening Program
wāni (Tales of an Afronaut) and Tania Cañas (Art & Action) - short by Arts House Listening Program
Skin in the Game - Shian Law and Phillip Adams (Vanishing Point) by Arts House Listening Program
Skin in the Game - Rebecca Jensen (Deep Sea Dances) and Rhiannon Newton (Bodied Assemblies) by Arts House Listening Program
Skin in the Game - Mariaa Randall (Divercity) and Lucy Guerin (Split) by Arts House Listening Program
Skin in the Game - Lilian Steiner (Noise Quartet Meditation) and James Batchelor (Deepspace) by Arts House Listening Program
Skin in the Game - Lz Dunn (Aeon) and Martin Hansen (if it's all in my veins) by Arts House Listening Program
Arts House is a core program of the City of Melbourne and presents and develops the work of local, national and international experimental artists. In this introductory podcast, Angharad Wynne- Jones, Artistic Director of Arts House, explains the vision and focus of Arts House curatorial approach and the spectrum of work that is presented, stretching across form and discipline.
Arts House acknowledges that we are located on the land of the Kulin Nations and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future and extend that respect to other Aboriginal and First Nations people, for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Aboriginal Australia.
The two podcasts in this series follow the collaborative work of artists Lorna Hannon and Jen Rae, and their ongoing interest in visionary activist, Ruth Crow. Ruth Crow provided the artists a way to explore ideas surrounding community gathering and change in North Melbourne.
Commissioned by Arts House 2016 Amy McMurtrie – Artist & Deviser Michael Vescio – Consultant Sound Artist and Technician
The two podcasts in this series follow the collaborative work of artists Lorna Hannon and Jen Rae, and their ongoing interest in visionary activist, Ruth Crow. Ruth Crow provided the artists a way to explore ideas surrounding community gathering and change in North Melbourne.
Commissioned by Arts House 2016 Amy McMurtrie – Artist & Deviser Michael Vescio – Consultant Sound Artist and Technician
Silent Supper Club will look at expressive forms of non-spoken communication – Auslan, tactile experiences and live captioning.
Hosted by artist and director Jo Dunbar, guests include writer and poet Quinn Eades, co-founder of The Delta Project, Anna Seymour and photographer Kate Disher Quill.
Surrounded by delicious food, Silent Supper Club explores the types of silences saturating spaces of performances, and look at the role of audiological silence and how silencing translates in creative practice.
Silent Supper Club will look at expressive forms of non-spoken communication – Auslan, tactile experiences and live captioning.
Hosted by artist and director Jo Dunbar, guests include writer and poet Quinn Eades, co-founder of The Delta Project, Anna Seymour and photographer Kate Disher Quill.
Surrounded by delicious food, Silent Supper Club explores the types of silences saturating spaces of performances, and look at the role of audiological silence and how silencing translates in creative practice
This forum was recorded on 30th July 2016
“The question is, am I a monster, or am I myself a victim? And what if I am a victim?” One hundred and fifty years since Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, Crime and Punishment, we’ll be talking about our enduring obsessions with transgression, retribution and justice. What purpose does punishment play in society?
Is punishment good for you? And what is the connection between punishment, justice, catharsis and redemption? The answers to these questions depend on who you ask. Facilitator Madeleine Morris will be joined by former Pentridge Prison chaplain Peter Norden, female inmate advocate Debbie Kilroy, actor Uncle Jack Charles and theatre maker J R Brennan. Brennan’s work, The Chat, is co-devised by artists and ex-offenders and was shown at Arts House in July 2016.
For this Insight-style forum, we’ll also hear from a range of other guests who are invested in these issues, from ex-offenders to criminologists to prison officers to dominatrixes to risk managers. Themes of crime and punishment have preoccupied Australians since 1788.
Presented in partnership with The Wheeler Centre
This post show Q&A was recorded on 28th July 2016
Devised by both artists and former prisoners, The Chat takes a dark and humorous look at the criminal justice system. Led by theatre maker and former parole officer, J R Brennan, with writer-performer David Woods (Ridiculusmus), The Chat is an administrative nightmare of comic proportions where offenders become parole officers, actors become criminals, and the parole board is played by you, the audience. How and when should crimes be forgiven? Who gets to decide? What happens if they get it wrong? Against the steely beauty of a heavily surveilled interview room, former prisoners share the stage with performers J R Brennan, David Woods and Ashley Dyer to build a new world order for ‘justice arts’ – a world of crime stories, interpretive dance and bleak, possibly horrific comedy.Radically disruptive, The Chat transforms the theatre into a tense and liminal space where offenders stand on the brink of freedom, taboos unravel, and all of us are put on trial.
Concept: J R Brennan Co-Creators: J R Brennan & David Woods Collaborator: Ashley Dyer Performers: Nick Apostolidis, Arthur Bolkas, J R Brennan, Ashley Dyer, Tye Luke, Nick Maltzahn, John Tjepkema & David Woods Lighting Design: Jennifer Hector Media & System Design: Alex Davies & Nick Roux
This postshow Q&A was recorded on 7/7/2016
Dance, video, poetry and song are breathtakingly combined in a major new work from intercultural and interdisciplinary company, Marrugeku.
In a burnt landscape a group of climate change refugees faces yet another extreme weather event. Propelled back and forward in time, they revisit conflict with mining companies, the destruction of fauna and the relegation of the marginalised, while contemplating the gift of life and the life-giving force of the sun. Butterflies swarm searching for water; dancers disintegrate into the light. A song is sung, calling for rain. Like climate change itself, Cut the Sky is both local and international – bringing together artists from Europe, Asia, Africa and remote and urban Australia. An ambitious and poignant meditation on humanity’s frailty in the face of our own actions, Cut the Sky showcases Marrugeku’s unique contemporary vision – restless, taut and unwavering.
and the earth sighed is a large scale immersive video and sound environment that focuses on desert, fire, flood and coral reefs. The audience is encouraged to ascend stairs to a platform where they view large-scale floor projections from above, and then descend into the floor projections where their bodies are immersed in the moving sea and landscapes. The ambient surround soundscape designed by Alex Davies fosters engagement and contemplation about the impact of climate change on natural ecologies.
This Work was presented by Arts House as part of Performed Climates Season, July, 2016. This project has been supported by a Creative Australia development grant from the Australia Council’s Emerging and Experimental Arts program and the City of Melbourne through Arts House.
This Artist Talk was recorded Saturday 25th June 2016
In this adventurous and celebratory performance event, Glasgow based artist Nic Green exuberantly examines feminism, inviting women of all ages and backgrounds to share the stage in an energetic tribute. Presented across the UK to wide acclaim, Trilogy now greets Melbourne with its bold and joyous proclamation.
Trilogy begins by celebratingwomen in today’s world – with all their complexities, in their skins and as they are. Footage from the landmark 1971 discussion Town Bloody Hall – in which Norman Mailer took on passionate feminists including Germaine Greer – kicks off the responses and reflections of five young performers; before an exuberant paean for womankind concludes an evening of eclectic style and rousing energy.
Honest and adventurous, Trilogy deftly weaves performance, participation, discussion, music and archival material; carving out new space for feminism and rallying the power and strength in women together.
This postshow Q&A was recorded on 9/6/16
Mira Fuchs is an expert. An expert private dancer. She’s also the public face of artist Melanie Jame Wolf’s eight-year private life as a stripper in a gentleman’s club. Mira wants to dance you through the myriad questions and contradictions of her work, that time and her world. In an intimate, in-the-round work, Wolf speaks, prances and twists her way through an abstracted memoir that trips between lap-danceand body politics. With humour, high heels and deep insight, she fashions a looking glass for our own reflections on the work of stripping. Leave your preconceptions with the coat-check and step into an oft-hidden economy of desire and exchange. Both entertaining and unflinchingly personal, MIRA FUCHS explores sexuality, gender, performance, intimacy, dance-as-labour, looking and being looked at, and pleasure, in a world where money is timeand timing is everything.
This postshow Q&A was Recorded on 2 June 2016.
We hold memeories in our blood. It connects us. It defines us. Blood on the Dance Floor explores the legacies and memories of our bloodlines, our need for community, and what blood means to each of us questioning how this most precious fluid unites and divides us. A choreographer , dancer and writer from the Narangaa and Kaurna Nations of South Australia, Jacob Boehme was diagnosed with HIV in 1998. In search of answers, he reached out to his ancestors. Through the powerful blend of theatre,image,text and choreography, Boehme pays homage to their ceromonies whilst dissecting the politics of gay, Blak and poz identities.Blood on the Dance Floor is an unapologetic, passionate and visceral narrative that traverseas time, space and characters. A story of our need to love and be loved, Boehme's stricking monologue reveals our secret identities and our deepest fears, seeking to invoke ancestral lineage in a contemporary quest for courage and hope.
Writer & Performer: Jacob Boehme Director: Isaac Drandic Choreographer: Mariaa Randall Movement Consultant: Rinske Ginsberg Dramaturge: Chris Mead Video Artist: Keith Deverell Sound Designer: James Henry Spatial Designer: Jenny Hector
From Luke George and Collaborators 'Erotic Dance' this sound score is one half of a duet between dancer (Luke George) and sound artist (Nick Roux). Exploring the sensuality of form, it summons an experience of art that is primitive and seductive, intimate and visceral.
This Work was presented by Arts House as part of The Festival of Live Art, March 2-5 2016
Created and performed live using an assortment of guitar effects pedals, a Gibson ES135 guitar resonated by an Ebow, two hand built sine wave oscillators, a microphone, a snare drum and all fed through two guitar amplifiers.
This postshow Q&A was recorded on 20/11/15
EDMUND. THE BEGINNING is both an exercise in distorted biography and a confessional torrent. Brian Lipson summons a disordered array of characters from the impatient past and the murky present: some are familiar, some are famous, some are known only to Lipson. None is comfortable.
Fifteen years ago Lipson’s acclaimed solo show, A Large Attendance in the Antechamber, won two Green Room Awards before touring the world for the next seven years. Brian is now considerably older and considerably less wise, but he can still talk very fast. EDMUND. THE BEGINNING is even more complex than its predecessor, and each of its many characters is both a real person and an imaginary figure. But who imagines whom? Who is Whom? Who is Alive? Who is Dead? And Why?
In EDMUND. THE BEGINNING, literary giants, sirens, reprobates and infants cavort in existential quadrille. A few you will recognise, others you won’t. All will ring bells.
This postshow Q&A was recorded Thursday 19th November 2015.
In a kitchen, somewhere in West Wales, a war veteran called Zach has withdrawn into a box. A friend called Ieuan arrives, o ering recovery in the form of dialogue and a capsule containing 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. He’s participated in trials for treating chronic PTSD with psychedelic drugs, and says he’s cured. What follows soars into a psychoactive dream of delirium, trauma and supermarket shopping as the two men are parachuted into their own fractured pasts – their symptoms expressing the pathologies of a disturbed world. Give Me Your Love is the second instalment of Ridiculusmus’s three-pronged investigation into innovative approaches to mental health. Informed by the latest scienti c research, it explores the healing potential in altered states of consciousness.
Written, Directed & Performed by David Woods and Jon Haynes
This postshow Q&A was recorded on the 12th November 2015.
Piece For Person and Ghetto Blaster is the story of a man, a woman and a duck. It is about the excruciating realms of human behaviour. It is an attempt to navigate the complexities of an ordinary person struggling to become a better human.
Preoccupied by how social conventions obstruct the possibility of personal liberation, Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster is a duet between physical action and spoken language, setting up a space for dialogue. Offering little comfortable optimism for the future unless we confront our own responsibility to make it better, it calls into question our very capacity to continue to make moral judgments and relate to others in an ethical way.
So what if, in the auditorium, all together, we created conflict? And what if we created conflict just so we could practice transformation? This new work from riveting, subversive creator/performer Nicola Gunn tries to understand how we can all get along.
Creator & Performer: Nicola Gunn Choreographer: Jo Lloyd Sound Artist & Composer: Kelly Ryall Dramaturge: Martyn Coutts Script Consultant: Jon Haynes Lighting Designer: Niklas Pajanti Tour Producer: Performing Lines
At the intersection of theatre, dance and visual art installation, Bronx Gothic gives palatable force to the charged relationship between two girls on the verge of adolescence in 1980s outer-borough New York City. Their world emerges through the clandestine and sometimes sex-saturated notes that are passed between them. Orchard Beach, Nathan’s hot dogs and Whitney Houston’s hair are all part of the landscape of Bronx Gothic.
Created by New-York-based writer, performer and choreographer, Okwui Okpokwasili, in collaboration with director and designer, Peter Born. Bronx Gothic is a partially-true chronicle of one woman’s past, and draws inspiration from both Victorian-era novels and West African griot storytelling. Okpokwasili’s intensely physical solo performance pushes against extremes, reverberating with a potency that threatens to break the body.
Bronx Gothic unfolds as a dark and powerful tale of sexual self-discovery and the (brown) body in transformation – and the humour, love, strangeness, and even terror, that accompany it.
This Postshow Q&A was recorded on Friday 9th October 2015.
Written & Performed by Okwui Okpokwasili Director/Scenic & Lighting Designer Peter Born Original Songs Okwui Okpokwasili Music Peter Born & Okwui Okpokwasili
This post show Q&A was recorded on the 12th September 2015.
The signs are there: over the past few decades, humanity’s 5000-year collaboration with the honey bee has been building toward a grim conclusion. If we fail to heed their warning, could we be casually swept into the fossil record alongside them? Dance of the Bee is a remarkable interspecies musical collaboration: a work performed by three pianists, the vocalists of the Astra Choir and a live swarm of bees, housed inside a sculpted, transparent hive. Woven through the mysterious song of the bees, the pieces range from soundscapes to intense virtuosic arrangements, punctuated by semi- improvised sonic excursions. As the bees sing, live video allows us to observe the marvel of the hive at work – and to ponder on the fragile connection between our world and theirs.
Composed by Martin Friedel Piano/Prepared Piano Michael Kieran Harvey, Peter Dumsday, Joy Lee The Astra Improvising Choir Directed by Joan Pollock The Astra Choir Directed by John McCaughey Sound Michael Hewes Video Mim Whiting Sculptural Consultation Robert Bridgewater Beekeeper Martin Friedel
New Zealand-born, Brussels-based artist, Kate McIntosh, creates an improvised laboratory for unusual recordings and acoustic experiments, using everyday objects and materials. Chairs are dragged, paper is torn, glasses are toppled; sounds are recorded and played back along the way.
As curious scientist, mischievous questioner and eclectic storyteller, McIntosh creates a distinctive journey made of parables, fragments and jokes: of human and animal behaviour, of crowd control and linguistics, politics and group dynamics, birds and traffic jams, societies and social interactions. In the silences in between, questions arise about who we are alone and how we are together; about what it might take to change a culture, and what we might miss in the push for self-sufficiency.
McIntosh is fascinated with destruction and creation, sense and nonsense, the whole and the fractured. With both lucidity and off-beat humour, All Ears beautifully balances on the thin line between experiment and entertainment.
This postshow Q&A was recorded on Friday 4th September 2015
Concept, Text & Performance Kate McIntosh Dramaturge Pascale Petralia, Tim Etchells Sound Design John Avery Lighting Design Chris Copland Technical Direction Simon Stenmans Production Coordination Ingrid Vranken Produced by SPIN Now score courtesy Tim Etchells
In this new work by Melbourne choreographer Jo Lloyd (Future Perfect, 2013), hypnotic tension is generated by three dancers as they negotiate a dysfunctional system of choreography. Navigating their physical histories, both recent and distant – from traces of folk dance to idiosyncratic body rhythms – the performers reveal a series of desperate encounters, in a destabilising flood of movement.
Confusion for Three uses complex choreographic parameters and a set of highly physical and mentally demanding tasks, exploring order/disorder in a progressively unravelling structure. The questions remain: can this confusion be sustained, and where does it lead us?
Lloyd has brought together some of Melbourne’s finest creatives for this fascinating work – including dancers Rebecca Jensen (OVERWORLD, Dance Massive 2015) and Shian Law (Personal Mythologies, Next Wave 2014).
This Postshow Q&A was recorded 27th August 2015
Choreographer: Jo Lloyd Performers: Rebecca Jensen, Shian Law, Jo Lloyd Composer: Duane Morrison Dramaturge: Nicola Gunn Lighting Designer: Jennifer Hector Producer: Kara Ward
Wesley Enoch, Playwright and Director
Tue 18 August, RECLAIM AUSTRALIA - with guest and co-host Deborah Cheetham. What are we trying to do as a nation - to legislate-out racism, or to remove racism from our central document - the Constitution? What does it look like and is it even possible? Join Wesley and Deborah and guests for this pertinent discussion.
Wesley Enoch, Playwright and Director
Tue 18 August, RECLAIM AUSTRALIA - with guest and co-host Deborah Cheetham. What are we trying to do as a nation - to legislate-out racism, or to remove racism from our central document - the Constitution? What does it look like and is it even possible? Join Wesley and Deborah and guests for this pertinent discussion.
Composer Kate Neal creates a compelling and intriguing multimedia exploration of signalling, communication and miscommunication in Semaphore.
Using physical, visual and aural encoding systems – Semaphore, Morse code, pennants, lights and binary code – three dancers and eight musicians synchronize in a complex coordinated choreography of bodies, music and illumination, to generate an immersive display of sound and vision.
Laura Sheedy’s direction, Jo Lloyd’s choreography, Sal Cooper’s animations, and archival recordings of World War II signalmen further augment Semaphore’s rich visual and aural composition. Regimented physical formations, outbreaks of cascading melody, intricate interplays of light and sound; Semaphore is an ingenious visual and sonic experience.
Composer: Kate Neal Choreographer: Jo Lloyd Animation: Sal Cooper Director: Laura Sheedy Lighting: Marco Respondeck Producer: Wally Gunn Dancers: Harrison Hall, Rebecca Jensen, Shian Law With an ensemble of eight musicians
Acclaimed performance maker Tamara Saulwick employs portable turntables, reel-to-reel tape players and live performance in a moving meditation on cycles and the ending of things. Featuring the voice of Paddy Mann (Grand Salvo), an electro-acoustic score by Peter Knight, and design by Ben Cobham, Endings explores the experiences – both ordinary and extraordinary – that cluster around death, dying and afterlife.
Endings is built, in part, from one-on-one interviews: real people’s stories, reflections and voices. Cut onto bespoke vinyl records, these voices are embedded in a richly textured sound design; operated, accompanied and extended through live performance and song.
Voices of the living emerge from the crackle of records turning, vintage reel-to-reels send tape loops round the space. Performers converse with recorded thoughts from the past…and a voice floats through this evocative sound-world, singing an ode to the recently departed…
“It’s remarkable theatre, executed with an exact brilliance that makes its sensual vividness all the more powerful.” Alison Croggon, on Pin Drop
This Postshow Q&A was recorded Thursday 14th May 2015
Concept, Writing & Performance: Tamara Saulwick Audio Design & Composition: Peter Knight Songwriting & Performance: Paddy Mann Set & Lighting Design: Ben Cobham (bluebottle) Dramaturgy: Margaret Trail Costume Design: Harriet Oxley Technical Management & Operation: Nick Roux Production Management: Emily O’Brien Producer: Freya Waterson (Insite Arts)
The highly charged and evocative sound and smell of a struck match provide the ignition point for A Small Prometheus; a new work for five dancers about the consequences of small actions and the fragility of physical systems. Combustion and transformation drive the unfolding choreography as dancers synchronise, mesh and collide. Fire-driven kinetic sculptures become part of live interactive sound-and-movement loops between dancer, sculpture and machine. Two of Australia’s most exciting and uncompromising artists, Stephanie Lake and Robin Fox, seamlessly interlace choreography, sound and objects to create rich tension in a work that swings deftly between chaotic, free-form experiments and mechanically intricate moments. A Small Prometheus creates a strange and enthralling world of darkness, light and the spark that mediates the two.
This postshow Q&A was recorded on Thursday 17th October 2013
Created by: Stephanie Lake and Robin Fox Choreographer: Stephanie Lake Composer and Sculpture Designer: Robin Fox Performers: Alana Everett, Lauren Langlois, Rennie McDougall, Lily Paskas, Lee Serle Lighting Designer: Jen Hector Costume Designer: Harriet Oxley Production Manager: Richard Dinnen, Megafun Producer: Insite Arts
The boxing gym: a place of dreams of glory, of a better life. The walls are covered in inspirational quotes; bodies are in constant motion; the stakes are high.
For 18 months theatre-maker Roslyn Oades and her trusty tape recorder followed a determined young boxer from Bankstown as he prepared for a world title fight. On the way she encountered past legends, up-and-comers and failed contenders whose lives have been irreversibly changed by the fight game. Behind this thrilling, brutal sport lies a compelling tale of courage and its cost.
I’m Your Man is no ordinary slice-of-life. The actors wear earpieces, taking their words directly from audio recordings to create a vivid, hyper-natural documentary theatre.
One thing is certain: even the high-flyer will eventually lose. A sweaty, adrenaline-fuelled study of a contemporary masculine drama, I’m Your Man challenges preconceived notions of the tough, testosterone-fuelled world of boxing, creating new ways to experience real-life stories in theatrical form.
This Postshow Q&A was recorded Thursday 5th September 2013
Creator/Director: Roslyn Oades Sound Designer: Bob Scott Lighting and Set Designer: Neil Simpson Movement Director: Lee Wilson – Branch Nebula Script Dramaturge: Raimondo Cortese Performers: Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Billy McPherson, Katia Molino, Justin Rosniak, John Shrimpton
When a large sports bag full of cash is brought into Peter’s very ordinary home, his family finds itself caught up in a sinister and disturbing chain of events. You are invited to step onto the floor and into this gripping thriller, experiencing first-hand the sordid betrayal and moral philandering that’s about to blanket this suburban dream. Devised by Zoe Pepper and Adriane Daff of award-winning young company, Side Pony Productions, The Confidence Man is performed by audience members, equipped with masks and headsets to play out the story. Those who prefer to watch can survey the action from the perimeter, eavesdropping on the characters’ most private thoughts and conversations. In The Confidence Man, Dogville meets Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. A morally complex tale complete with goodies, baddies, and a dose of good oldfashioned psychotic menace, The Confidence Man unfolds with the gripping intimacy of a tale whispered in your ear.
This Postshow Q&A was recorded Thursday 29th August 2013
Director: Zoe Pepper Writers: Zoe Pepper and Adriane Daff Composer: Ash Gibson Grieg Mask Designer: Rebecca Baumann Sound Designer: Sam Price Lighting Designer: Lucy Birkinshaw Producer: Gemma Pepper