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Lillian Star #betablockers [performance]
DAY FOR NIGHT PRESENTED BY PERFORMANCE SPACE, SYDNEY GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS 2014, CARRIAGEWORKS AND ACON
Day for Night is an exhibition of live performance exploring the intersections of gender, sexuality and the body. On the exhibition’s final day – as day becomes night – the space transforms into a large-scale dance party, in which the performances are re-presented in an electric new context.
Frances Barrett with Samuell Bruce Flagging
Day for Night explores the differing and multi-directional kinds of space and time that queer cultures create: and in turn, how these alternative constructions of space and time produce different kinds of bodies, identities, and sexualities. The seven artworks commissioned for the project mobilise different modes of performance to transform the exhibition space and create an immersive environment for visitors.
Martin del Amo NQR Justin Shoulder Sissy Cyclo
Dean Walsh Plasticity
Our collaborators Stereogamous (Paul Mac and Jonny Seymour) have worked with each artist to create a sonic score for their performance. These compositions pulse and converge through the exhibition, further connecting the works with each other, and with exhibition visitors. Alex Claphan and Penelope Benton Great Expectations
Lillian Star #betablockers [interactive installation]
This project speaks to connections between day and night; between high and low culture; and between the gallery, theatre and nightclub: distinctions that queer culture has historically dissolved, merged and re-imagined. This process of re-imagining creates new possibilities for being in the world, and invites us to step inside and lose ourselves.
Hissy Fit Episode [performance]
Jeff Khan and Emma Price, curators Exhibition, Thursday 13 - Friday 14 February, 12pm - 8pm Saturday 15 February, 10am - 3pm
Hissy Fit Episode [video]
Party Saturday 15, February 6pm - 11pm
CARRIAGEWORKS FOYER
EXHIBITION ENTRY
Join us at the Day for Night Party from 6pm Tickets available at www.performancespace.com.au
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About the works alexANDRA clapham and penelope benton Alexandra Clapham and Penelope Benton work across sculpture, performance and installation. Their collaborative practice considers tools employed by architecture and spatial design in perishable and ephemeral mediums. The focus of their work is on people and space, spectacle, the domestic, modes of exchange and the (un)limits of the imagination. Great Expectations Great Expectations is part of an ongoing series of works drawing from the origins of the ‘tableau vivant’, which was a popular form of entertainment at early Mardi Gras balls and parties in the 1800s. It is said that the tableau vivant marries art forms of the stage with those of painting or photography, presenting what is essentially a living picture. Tableau is also from the French diminutive of “table”. This project is a further exploration into the spectacular set around the dining table, through installation, performance, costume and the concept of living sculpture. This new piece for Day For Night, symbolically encapsulates both our working relationship and romantic partnership, a rhythm one could say was synonymous with many couples. The days, the nights, the stillness, the nothing, the expectations, the boredom, the waiting, the brewing, the growth of ideas, the clashes, the tension, the conflict, the noise, the intensity, the passion, the moments, the magic. Materialistically on a broader level, the surfaces in this tableau intend to exaggerate an idea of opposites in mirror image, whilst reflecting on the vanity of self-portraiture. The sequins, glitter and flutter in this work illustrate that moment of magic when things align, expressed in a medium inspired by queer celebratory and political expression in art, in the club, and on the street.
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dean walsh Dean Walsh is a dancer and choreographer who has toured nationally and internationally. His 23-year career has seen him collaborate with many renowned Australian, Dutch and British companies including DV8 Physical Theatre, London to create thirty-six solo and group works. Walsh is creating a new movement system – PrimeOrderly – influenced by his scuba diving, sub-aquatic space research (physics, biology and physiology) and connections with marine scientists. He leads workshops for professional companies, tertiary institutions, general public and people who live with disabilities. Walsh received the Helpmann Scholarship in 2002 and an Australia Council Dance Fellowship in 2011.
Plasticity Inextricably linked, in equal measure, to all that is biological - a multimillennial marine ancestry - we are of the world of nature, it is not of us. Future bound: we are inextricably bound to our waste - owning our shit - and the conservation of all that is queer animalistically, subaquatically and sub-culturally...from queer to eternity. Let the healing begin.
frances barrett with samuel bruce Frances Barrett Frances Barrett is a Sydney-based artist whose practice includes individual, curatorial and collaborative projects. She is a founding member of performance and video collective Brown Council, who in 2014 will be presenting projects at Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane) and Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney). Between 2009-2013 she was Co-Director of Serial Space, who in 2012 curated and produced Time Machine, a festival of experimental time-based art. In 2013 Frances undertook an Australia Council for the Arts studio residency in Liverpool (UK) and presented two new works: The 12-Hour Revolution at The Sydney Guild and Box Set (in collaboration with Kate Blackmore) as part of Emma Ramsay and Alex White’s curatorial project Tele Visions at
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Performance Space. In 2014 Frances will be presenting new work as part of Tiny Stadiums (Sydney), SafARI (Sydney), and as part of Restaging Restaging at Alaska (Sydney). She is currently undertaking an Australia Council funded research and development period towards a collaborative curatorial project called Extreme Actions with Kate Blackmore, Merindah Donnelly and Pia van Gelder.
hissy fit
samuel bruce Samuel Bruce is an artist and musician whose practice encompasses generative audiovisual abstraction, handmade electronics, a catalogue of garage sale signs and endurance karaoke. Current work involves making electronic devices either as musical instruments for use in performance, or functioning autonomously as installed works. He performs cryptooccult sonic ritual under the name Black Math, and shambolic circuitbent techno as Knife Crimes; recordings are available from the futuristic virtual record label, Crypt Designers Guild.
Episode Hissy Fit’s Episode is the first installment of an ongoing investigation into representations of the deviant woman identity. The work aims to critically respond to notions of 19th Century hysteria in psychoanalysis through a repositioning of hysteric gesture in a contemporary context. Episode is a video installation and live performance of a six minute and forty second head-banging routine on loop, the average time of an hysteric episode. This routine draws influence from the aesthetic of rock and punk culture.
Flagging Flagging is a queer manifesto performed in semaphore. Performed at the beginning and ending of each day of Day For Night, Flagging heralds a queer time and space. The term ‘flagging’ refers to the hanky-code, which is a visual form of communication between queers. The hankycode consists of coloured and/or patterned handkerchiefs that are worn (traditionally) in the belt loop or the back left or right pant pocket. To ‘flag’ or to be ‘flagging’ a particular handkerchief in a specific pocket signifies your sexual desire and preferred power dynamics. Frances has aligned the term ‘flagging’ to semaphore, a system of sending messages by positioning the arms or two flags according to an alphabetic code. Semaphore is used to communicate to another body – to warn, to welcome, to direct. The hanky-code communicates between bodies – to fuck, to bottom, to top. In this performance the hanky has become the flag, and in doing so, transfers the code of queer desire to a choreographic sequence of signaling. In Flagging desire takes the form of a manifesto for queer action – as performance, as revolution. As Frances performs each letter, a sound is triggered through the specific positioning of her body and flags. Programmed and composed by Samuel Bruce, the flag choreography becomes an aural composition. Performative action fills the space with sound: bodies, desire and duration resound in this performance.
Hissy Fit is a collaboration between Jade Muratore, Emily O’Connor and Nat Randall, making work across video, performance and sound. Their work investigates the notion of the deviant woman, a transgressive character symbolic of an unapologetic breed of feminism. The hysteric, the outlaw, the criminal, the queer.
Over the course of rock and punk’s evolution, live concerts have emerged as unique arenas for losing control, permissible spaces where the hysteric can cut loose. Moshing, thrashing, po-go’ing and headbanging: these are the gestures that grind up against propriety and decorum, performative lynchpins in the ideal of a contained and civilized world. In its 19th century context, the hysterical woman came to life in the photographic studios and lecture theatres of prominent asylums like Jean-Martin Charcot’s Salpetriere in Paris. These spaces became a primary site for the emergence of hysteria as performance where female patients perpetually presented, represented, and reproduced hysterical gestures in the name of scientific research. The hysterical woman tears through the fabric of social expectation and heteronormative notions of gender, sex and sexuality. The hysterical woman is feminist, anti-capitalist, decentralist, and gender nonconforming. She is impulsive and spontaneous, yet rhythmic and cyclical. Hissy Fit will channel the frenzied energy of these gestures into their work as they celebrate the defiant power and ferocity of the hysteric woman.
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justin shoulder
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LILLIAN STARR
Justin Shoulder is a multi-disciplinary artist, who creates and disseminates contemporary mythologies. These stories are realized physically in the construction of full-body, highly sculptural ‘Fantastic Creature’ avatars. These avatars possess their own gestural physicality expressed in live performance, video and photography.
Lillian Starr is a burlesque performer from Sydney. Her edgy and distinct acts straddle the high-glamour world of the international burlesque circuit and the dark, seedy underbelly of the queer club performance scene. She is known for her audacious, conceptual and layered routines that cross the divide between performance art and burlesque.
In 2013 Justin Shoulder & collaborators presented The River Eats at Performance Space, Shoulder’s first full-length theatre work. He debuted his avatar V in New York at Pussy Faggot and Spank: Primary, and created the first annual FSU (Fuck. Shit. Up.) League event at Addison Road Community Centre with collective The Glitta Militia.
Lillian has been performing in the Australian burlesque scene since 2005. She has represented Australia at the New York and Paris Burlesque Festivals (2011, 2013) and toured with the sell-out Star Wars Burlesque in Australia. She has taken her highly stylised and unique approach to her solo shows across to other mediums, stretching the reach of burlesque’s possibilities. Lillian has directed large stage performances at iconic events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras Sleaze Ball (2008, 2009). She has created thematic performances for the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ opening of Mad Love: Modernity in German Art (2011) and the National Gallery of Victoria, Salvador Dali Liquid Desire (2009).
SISSY - CYCLO Environment: MANGROVES & THE CLUB Food: OCEANIC FLORA Special Powers: TRANZFORM TRASH (HAT-PTERODACTYL-BROOCH) Fears: PHOTOGRAPHY Desires: THE WIND Ancestry: LOLO’S JEEPNEY & PETER TULLY sissy-cyclo CREDITS: Music by Stereogamous in collaboration with Justin Shoulder Vocal Elements by Nick Wales & Justin Shoulder Set/Costume Design and Construction: Justin Shoulder & Matthew Stegh Sissy Cyclo Mask: Designed by Justin Shoulder, constructed by Matthew Stegh, beading by Jasmina Black and Alistair Watts.
Lillian’s performance at the 2011 New York Burlesque Festival was celebrated by 21st Century Burlesque Magazine as one of the “Top 5 Performance Highlights of the Year.” For the last two years, she has taken the title at the Australian Burlesque Industry awards as the Most Innovative Performer in Australia, with the award of People’s Choice of NSW in 2013. #betablockers #betablockers explores the relationship between social anxiety and social media. Just like the self-administration of medication to calm the anxiety response, so too may we self-medicate with the connections and isolation of social media interaction. The avatar may stand in place of the self, broadcasting and updating a life online. Situated high up in a reflective prism away from the world of physical interaction, the ‘no-go’ dancer performs and poses to a soundtrack created by Stereogamous, with muffled filters, to a distancing effect. (St John’s Ambience mix.)
Dramaturgy: Victoria Spence Over the duration of the exhibition, Lillian will be taking ‘selfies’ of
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her carefully articulated poses and facial expressions. Her poses will strive for the perfect camera angle, yet inevitably disintegrate as the endurance performance fatigues. She will be wearing a latex skin, designed to gently compress and soothe her anxiety. She will also be wearing a prototype respirator, with turbines that capture her anxious hyperventilation and re-charge the battery in her smartphone. In this way, she becomes symbiotic with her avatar. The public is encouraged to interact with the Lillian through Instagram, a social media photo-sharing platform. You may take a ‘selfie’, a photo of the exhibition or a message for Lillian. Only here, is she able to respond to other humans. Photos uploaded to Instagram with the hashtag #betablockers will be fed to Lillian and inform her interactions with the world.This collection of images will be broadcast on a distant wall within the gallery. They may also be explored online separately to the exhibition, at any time.
Martin del Amo Martin del Amo is a Sydney-based choreographer and dancer. He is best known for his full-length solos, fusing idiosyncratic movement and intimate storytelling. In recent years, Martin has also built a strong reputation as creator of dance works for others including Slow Dances For Fast Times (Carriageworks, 2013), Anatomy of an Afternoon (2012 Sydney Festival, Sydeny Opera House) and Mountains Never Meet (Parramatta Riverside, 2011). Martin regularly teaches for a wide range of arts organisations and companies and has extensively worked as mentor, consultant and dramaturg. He also writes and frequently contributes to RealTime magazine. Martin has been nominated for a Helpmann Award (Best Ballet or Dance Work, 2012) and two Australian Dance Awards (Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance, 2010 and Best Male Dancer, 2005). He is supported through MAPS NSW and Performing Lines. NQR
A man on a circular plinth, trapped in a pool of light – something is Not Quite Right. He’s wearing underpants, a T-Shirt, boots. What’s the story here? Did he just crawl out of bed, put on some shoes and go to the shops to grab a coffee? As you do. And did he then walk through
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a door and suddenly find himself on a candy-coloured stage set up just for him? As you do. Or is this, in fact, one of those late-nightsituations, where everyone has left, and most of the clothes have gone too, and you just keep on dancing? Or maybe this is an altogether different sce-nario – something much wilder or more sinister or more joyous or lonelier or happier or more fantastical. Or ... NQR celebrates falling through the cracks, into a world where expectations of what is right or wrong are curiously suspended. What you see is what you get. Or is it? “My point of departure for this work was to revisit some of the Queer Performance works I made in the Nineties and Noughties - at Performance Space, Pride Centre, Club Kooky and at Duckie in London. And yet, the resulting piece feels much more anchored in the present than the past. This is due to the irresistible here-and-now collaboration with Jonny and Paul. It also owes to the constructive feedback from Bhenji Ra who has been the most inspiring training partner imaginable. My great thanks to all three of them!” Martin Del Amo, 2014
STEREOGAMOUS Stereogamous, are a DJ and remixing collaboration between Sydney musicians Jonny Seymour and Paul Mac. Their remix credits include LCD Soundsystem, Sia, Kylie Minogue, George Michael and The Presets. They have also written songs for George Michael’s upcoming album. As DJ’s they have played festivals and clubs in London, Barcelona, New York, Toronto and San Francisco. Stereogamous have their own residency at TROUGH in Melbourne. They refuse to play at straight weddings. Until it’s equal, yo.
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CREDITS Curators: Jeff Khan and Emma Price composers: Stereogamous (Paul Mac and Johnny Seymour) artists: Alexandra Clapham and Penelope Benton, Dean Walsh, Frances Barrett with Samuel Bruce, Hissy Fit, Justin Shoulder, Lillian Starr, Martin del Amo. CATALOGUE EDITOR AND LAYOUT: Tulleah Pearce
ACON: Day for Night Community Partner A[TEST] Rapid HIV & STI testing for gay men, provided by those who know them best! Results in 30 minutes, free, 6 days a week
MARKETING: Nic Doward
A[TEST] will be open for 6 weeks at its special service on Oxford Street, during and after Mardi Gras from Monday 10th February.
PUBLICITY: Meaghan Meredith at Positive Feedback
Appointments and walk-ins will be available.
DEVELOPMENT: Karla Tatterson
Let’s test more to end HIV by 2020
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Emma Bedford
atest.org.au
TECHNICAL MANAGER: Aaron Clarke
Look out for the ACON Tradies and Claudes at the Day for Night party.
PROJECT COORDINATOR/STAGE MANAGER: Alison Murphy-Oates PRODUCER: Tanja Farman LIGHTING DESIGN AND HEAD ELECTRIC: Clytie Smith SOUND TECHNICIAN: Tim Lathouris (Grounded Sound) SET FABRICATION: Garth Knight TECHNICIANS: Grant Richards, Alex Torney and Richard Whitehouse PERFORMANCE SPACE STAFF: Aaron Clarke, Ashleigh Garwood, Alison Murphy-Oates, Bec Dean, Emma Bedford, Jeff Khan, Karla Tatterson, Rhanda Mansour, Steph Walker, Tanja Farman, Tulleah Pearce SPECIAL THANKS : Dan Strang and Harry Robertson at eventstagr.am Matthew at NEWTONE ENTERTAINMENT
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PSPACE MEMBERSHIP ISBN 978-0-9923990-1-6 © Performance Space, the artists and authors Editor: Tulleah Pearce Images: Leuver Design and Lucy Parakhina Published by PERFORMANCE SPACE Pty Ltd Performance Space 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh PO Box 461, Newtown NSW 2042, Australia www.performancepsace.com.au
Day for Night was commissioned and presented by Performance Space in partnership with Carriageworks, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2014 and ACON 13 - 15 February, 2014
Performance Space is Supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the New South Wales government through Arts NSW; and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the State and Territory Governments. Performance Space is a member of Contemporary Art Organisations Australia (CAOS) and Mobile States, Touring Contempory Performance Australia.
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