Point #5 by Performance Space

PERFORMANCE SPACE

POINT #5

Published by Performance Space, Sydney, Australia p performancespace.com.au p ISSN 1837-7084 Design by Blood & Thunder Printed by MPD Cover stock 250gsm Envirocare

CO-DIRECTORS’ NOTE

Performance Space doesn’t so much sail into this year as explode. This edition of POINT covers three major seasons of work plus a series of residencies, artist talks and special events. To kick off the year, we’re delighted to announce our first major partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art. Local Positioning Systems is curated by Performance Space and has been specially commissioned by the MCA to coincide with the re-opening of the museum’s expanded new premises at Circular Quay. We responded to their invitation by considering how the reconfigured architecture of the museum might open up new possibilities for the MCA and the art it houses to connect with audiences in new ways – something that’s always been close to our heart. We’ve loved bringing what we do to the MCA through Local Positioning Systems, and hope you enjoy it as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.

Our first season of the year at Carriageworks happens soon after. Dimension Crossing encompasses five major interdisciplinary works, and promises to envelop you in a mesmerising space of transformation and transition. As a whole, Dimension Crossing explores states of in-betweenness, and our movement across disparate cultures, histories, and physical states. Victoria Hunt’s Copper Promises: Hinemihi Haka poignantly explores Hunt’s Maori ancestral heritage and its erosion over years of colonisation through a captivating fusion of dance, light, sound and atmosphere. Blood Policy’s Computer Boy cleverly fuses live performance, puppetry, sound and animation to explore our culture’s anxiety over our younger generation’s everincreasing immersion in virtual worlds. EnTrance is Yumi Umiumare’s stunning solo dance work, exploring the jostle between ancient and modern worlds in her native

Japanese and adoptive Western cultures. Michaela Gleave’s Our Frozen Moment creates a meditative and exhilarating space through the subtle manipulation of mist, light and staging. Finally, Robyn Backen’s architecturally-scaled installation Whisper Pitch situates the parabolic form of a whispering wall in the Carriageworks foyer, presenting a means by which to transmit quiet sounds and private communications over distance through a kind of sonic alchemy. Performance Space is also delighted to be hosting our first Indigespace residency of the year, which offers a supportive context for the development of new, interdisciplinary work by contemporary Indigenous artists. In July we are producing Vicki Van Hout’s inventive, dexterous dance work Briwyant at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne which premiered at Performance Space last year. At the end of the month we present a short but action-packed season at Carriageworks called Show On, including a triumvirate of works from the Mobile States tour, a new work by Applespiel and a collaborative masterclass with Force Majeure called Culminate.

Before, during, and after these major presentation seasons, Performance Space is presenting a host of residencies, artist talks, special events and public programs. We’re also thrilled to be able to offer green matinees for the first time, providing free tickets to selected performances for those who arrive at Carriageworks via environmentally friendly means of transport. All of the details are provided in the following pages, and we invite you to join us for a contemplative, adventurous and exciting start to 2012. Bec Dean and Jeff Khan Co-Directors

CONTENTS Local Positioning Systems

What Else Is Happening 22

Briwyant

ClubHouse

Indigespace

Season overview

Dimension Crossing 8

Our Fozen Moment

Whisper Pitch

EnTrance

Copper Promises:

Words + Pictures 42

Democratic Set

Hinemihi

Artists Zoë Walker & Neil Bromwich In Conversation With Emma Nicolson

Michaela Gleave

Hinemihi Haka 12

Computer Boy

Show On 14

Culminate

Appelspiel…

The Democratic Set

Pin Drop

RRAMP – The Collector, The Archivist, and The Electrocrat

Thrashing Without Looking

All The Other Stuff 52

Green Matinees

Book Tickets Find Us

Credits

Calendar

Supporters

Membership

29 March - 3 June

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LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS PRESENTED BY THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AUSTRALIA CURATED BY PERFORMANCE SPACE Julie-Anne Long, Jason Maling, Bennett Miller, Stuart Ringholt, Latai Taumoepeau, Lara Thoms, Walker & Bromwich (UK)

29 MARCH – 3 JUNE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AUSTRALIA

Performance Space is thrilled to announce our first ever collaboration with the MCA. Curated specially for the re-opening of the newly-expanded Museum, Local Positioning Systems brings performance and live art to the MCA in many different guises and across several locations. The project takes as its starting point the newly-reconfigured architecture of the MCA, and the blurring of the threshold between the Museum and its surrounding environment and communities. Taking place in the Museum’s Square, first aid room, library, education facilities and the surrounding landscape of Sydney Harbour and The Rocks, Local Positioning Systems explores new ways audiences and artworks can relate to each other and how the MCA can engage with the broader social and built environment in which it is situated.

18 April - 26 May

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OUR FROZEN MOMENT, MICHAELA GLEAVE 20 APRIL – 19 MAY 10AM – 6PM OPEN DAILY FREE OPEN LATE ON PERFORMANCE EVENINGS ARTIST TALK 2PM 21 APRIL CARRIAGEWORKS

Our Frozen Moment is an atmospheric-based installation by Michaela Gleave, a large-scale experiment in space, light and the possibilities that shape our perception of the universe. Presented as a stage-like set, the viewer is invited to step into a ‘field of stars’ as a mass of tiny droplets spark briefly into existence before disappearing from view. Our Frozen Moment references optical phenomena such as ‘prisoner’s cinema’, the atmospheric condition ‘diamond dust’, and ‘frozen’ stars thought to be fuelled by dark matter. The installation places the viewer at the centre of a universe, a performer in their own theatrical set, their own unique presence in the space-time continuum held up for view.

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WHISPER PITCH, ROBYN BACKEN 20 APRIL – 19 MAY 10AM – 6PM OPEN DAILY FREE OPEN LATE ON PERFORMANCE EVENINGS ARTIST TALK 3PM 21 APRIL CARRIAGEWORKS

Robyn Backen’s Whisper Pitch is a site-specific installation for the foyer of Carriageworks. Drawing on her architectural research into resonant structures and whispering walls, Whisper Pitch makes reference to visual, structural and material elements within the environment and draws them into conversation with parabolic forms of the kind found in churches, mosques and other places of worship and contemplation. Amid the ambient noise and bustle of public buildings, whispering walls offer the possibility for discretion and secrecy in the open. Backen’s gently performative installation invites public activation and is infused with the possibility for mass communication within a private act.

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ENTRANCE, YUMI UMIUMARE David Anderson, Moira Finucane, Kerry Ireland, Ian Kitney, Bambang Nurcahyadi, Naomi Ota, Yumi Umiumare

18–21 APRIL 8PM 21 APRIL 2PM PREVIEW 18 APRIL POST SHOW ARTIST TALK 20 APRIL CARRIAGEWORKS

Performance Space is thrilled to be bringing Yumi Umiumare’s critically-acclaimed solo performance EnTrance to Sydney, showcasing her unique blend of butoh, cabaret and devised performance amidst a mesmerising succession of large-scale video projections, electronic costumes, and installation. EnTrance explores the Japanese metaphor of the ‘near shore’ of life and the ‘far shore’ of death, drawing audiences into the ‘crack’— the moment of transformation where the spirit and the body are propelled into another world or existence. EnTrance is a wonderfully expressive union of music and text, image and movement, bound together by the irresistible logic of dreams. The Age

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COPPER PROMISES: HINEMIHI HAKA, VICTORIA HUNT Densil Cabrere, Annemaree Dalziel, Tess de Quincey, David Ferguson, Hedge, Horomona Horo, Victoria Hunt, Charles Koroneho, Maureen Lander, Bob Scott, Clytie Smith, Chris Wilson, Fiona Winning

4 MAY 8PM 5 MAY 6PM 8–12 MAY 8PM 12 MAY 2PM POST SHOW ARTIST TALK 11 MAY CARRIAGEWORKS

I am the house and the house is me. I dance the history of the house and the house reveals my history. Copper Promises is a new solo dance work by Victoria Hunt exploring the cultural and physical journey of Hinemihi: a female ancestor and a ceremonial space connected with Hunt’s Maori cultural heritage. Hinemihi’s story is interwoven with Hunt’s own journey: of finding family, of reconnecting with her culture and of learning from land, ancestors and peers. A collaboration with Hunt’s extended family and other artists, Copper Promises creates distinctive movement and imagery, merging feeling and gesture as they echo across landscape and through time. It is a lament, a pilgrimage, a protest for ancestral treasures – Taonga. A Weather Exchange Project

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COMPUTER BOY, BLOOD POLICY & APHIDS Bryony Anderson, Martyn Coutts, DJ TR!P, Sam Routledge, Willoh S. Weiland

23–26 MAY 8PM 26 MAY 2PM PREVIEW 23 MAY POST SHOW ARTIST TALK 25 MAY CARRIAGEWORKS

Computer Boy is a puppet with a 12-inch LCD screen for a face. Sometimes he is alive, other times he’s the kind of zombie we’d expect from fat, DVD-fed children. Using contemporary performance, puppetry and machinima animation, Computer Boy is created within the 3D virtual environment of sandboxstyle games like Grand Theft Auto, and evokes our culture’s anxiety about a younger generation’s increasing immersion in – and dependence on – virtual worlds. With an original score made with video game consoles by renowned electronic composer DJ TR!P, Computer Boy is a sensationalised popular media story about the cult of youth degeneracy.

25 July - 4 August

Show ON

14 Show On

CULMINATE A Force Majeure project, co-presented with Performance Space and Carriageworks

FREE PUBLIC SHOWINGS 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4 AUGUST CARRIAGEWORKS

In 2011 Force Majeure partnered with Performance Space to bring together a diverse and talented group of emerging directors, choreographers and dancers. Titled Cultivate, these workshops gave them the opportunity to explore Force Majeureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s devising process. In 2012, the same group will reunite for Culminate where participants will further develop and ultimately present a season of new dance-theatre work at Carriageworks.

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APPLESPIEL MAKE A BAND AND TAKE ON THE RECORDING INDUSTRY, APPLESPIEL Simon Binns, Nathan Harrison, Nikki Kennedy, Emma McManus, Joseph Parro, Troy Reid, Rachel Roberts, Mark Rogers

25–28 JULY CARRIAGEWORKS

Applespiel Make A Band And Take On The Recording Industry is the premiere of a brand new work developed at Performance Space in 2011 where this young performance collective transform into an earnest and dedicated rock band, documenting the process of making, promoting and performing an album — complete with the highs and lows of number one hits and battling egos. Applespiel Make A Band... continues Applespiel’s exploration of intersections of personal experience in popular culture – drawing upon long-held fantasies cultivated by the mythologies of popular music. The result is part documentary, part live ‘rockumentary’, and part rock concert.

16 Show On

What do you do with difference, in regard to equality? Ignore it, mark it, suppress it or smooth over it?

THE DEMOCRATIC SET, BACK TO BACK THEATRE Mark Cuthbertson, Bruce Gladwin

PUBLIC SCREENING: 4 AUGUST CARRIAGEWORKS

The award-winning Back to Back Theatre brings a visual soapbox to town: a 16-second timeframe, a grand theme of democracy and equality, and 25 years experience making extraordinary work. Made with local community members in each city it visits, the performances filmed inside The Democratic Set are edited together to create a single tracking shot through a series of identical rooms. Back to Back have taken The Democratic Set to communities around the world – from Bristol to Horsham, Denmark to Castlemaine – bringing to the screen performances that are insightful, funny, hard-hitting and heartfelt – but above all, that are deeply human. Occasionally it’s like a dream sequence in a David Lynch ﬁlm, disturbing, unstoppable… But mostly it’s full of laughter and hope, a feeling very much helped by the wide demographic of its contributors. RealTime

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A sudden noise that wakes you in the night. A shadowy movement glimpsed down a darkened alley. The sensation that there might be someone in the room with you. Waiting. Part documentary, part urban thriller, Pin Drop is an immersive audio-sensory work exploring the most private of experiences – fear.

PIN DROP, TAMARA SAULWICK Bluebottle (Ben Cobham & Frog Peck), Michelle Heaven, Peter Knight, Harriet Oxley, Tamara Saulwick

1–4 AUGUST CARRIAGEWORKS

Tapping into our primal urges and subconscious anxieties, Pin Drop draws on a series of interviews with people aged six to 92. Live voice mingles with the disembodied sounds of pre-recorded conversations, household objects are transformed into potential threats, and the most familiar of spaces become strange, as the mind plots the shortest route to a safe place to hide. Conjured into life by Tamara Saulwick’s riveting solo performance and Peter Knight’s visceral score, this award-winning production has left reviewers and punters alike breathless.

18 Show On

RRAMP – THE COLLECTOR, THE ARCHIVIST, THE ELECTROCRAT, CHRISTINE JOHNSTON, LISA O’NEILL AND PETER NELSON Selene Cochrane, Jaxzyn, Christine Johnston, Leila Maraun, Peter Nelson, Lisa O’Neill, Ahmarnya Price

1–4 AUGUST CARRIAGEWORKS

RRAMP is an eclectic mix of original music, dance, storytelling, humour and animation, featuring Christine Johnston as the Collector, a tall, lonesome lady-of-the-house; Lisa O’Neill as the dancing Archivist (her much shorter personal assistant); and Peter Nelson as the Electrocrat. Exquisitely animated by Ahmarnya Price, RRAMP is a hard-hitting electronica dance metal rock set, reflecting on unexpected and compelling stories of archives, collections, animal love, social commentary, childhood imaginings and human frailty. With their distinct vision, bittersweet stories and glorious musicianship, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry…you’ll ROCK.

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THRASHING WITHOUT LOOKING, APHIDS Martyn Coutts, Elizabeth Dunn, Tristan Meecham, Alan Nguyen, Lara Thoms, Willoh S.Weiland

1–4 AUGUST CARRIAGEWORKS This show has a strictly limited audience capacity — book early to avoid disappointment.

After wowing audiences at its premiere at Liveworks 2010, Thrashing Without Looking returns to Performance Space on a national tour. Performance and live cinema combine in an intimate sensory experience. Created by the audience, for the audience, it involves video goggles, champagne and a lot of loud music. Thrashing Without Looking is an unmissable 3am ride through loneliness, frenzy, banality and cliché. A performance you can watch, create, perform and control.

IMAGE CREDITS LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS Image ©Walker & Bromwich Celestial Radio (2011) Photo: Mark Pinder DIMENSION CROSSING OUR FROZEN MOMENT Image ©Michaela Gleave Alles ist Möglich (Anything is Possible) (2010) courtesy of the Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne Photo: Romy Pocztaruk WHISPER PITCH Image ©Robyn Backen End of the line (2010) Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre Photo: Ian Hobbs ENTRANCE Image ©Yumi Umiumare EnTrance (2009) Photo: Jeff Busby COPPER PROMISES Image ©Victoria Hunt Copper Promises: Hinemihi Haka (2012) Photo: Heidrun Löhr COMPUTER BOY Image ©Blood Policy Computer Boy (2012) Photo: Bryony Jackson, WhoaaMariaa7, Willoh S.Weiland

SHOW ON CULMINATE Image ©Force Majeure Photo: Byron Perry APPLESPIEL MAKE A BAND AND TAKE ON THE RECORDING INDUSTRY Image ©Applespiel (2012) Photo: Applespiel THE DEMOCRATIC SET Image ©Back to Back Theatre The Democratic Set Photo: Jeff Busby PIN DROP Image ©Tamara Saulwick Pin Drop Photo: Patrick Rodriguez RRAMP Image ©Christine Johnston, Lisa O’Neill and Peter Nelson Rramp – The Collector, the Archivist and the Electrocrat Photo: Sean Young THRASHING WITHOUT LOOKING Image ©Aphids Thrashing Without Looking (2010) Performance Space LiveWorks Festival, Sydney Photo: Lucy Parahkina WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING BRIWYANT Image ©Malthouse, Briwyant pictured Henrietta Baird, Mel Tyquin, Raghav Handa and Vicki Van Hout Photo: Garth Oriander

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BRIWYANT, VICKI VAN HOUT 4–14 JULY MALTHOUSE THEATRE Briwyant is Vicki Van Hout’s stunning dance work, which premiered at Performance Space in April 2011, and has since been presented at The Dreaming: Australia’s International Indigenous Festival. We are now delighted to announce that Briwyant will enjoy a two week season at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre this July. Bir’yun describes the brilliance, shimmer and shine of a pattern that seems to move before the eyes, animated by the essence of ancestral forces, in Yolgnu painting.

This is the inspiration for Briwyant, a work of extraordinary choreographic dexterity and interdisciplinary innovation that brings to the stage an experience both ageless and fleeting — a moment of connection. With a fresh and original vision, Van Hout evokes, with compelling conviction, a future for Indigenous Australian contemporary dance that teams humour, history and raw physicality. For full details of the Malthouse season go to malthousetheatre.com.au and stay tuned for more tour announcements.

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CLUBHOUSE ClubHouse is Performance Space’s home for critical dialogue, creative exchange, conversation and revelation about interdisciplinary arts. ClubHouse projects are often artist-led and range from small residencies, through workshops, to one-off forums, screenings and performance events. All the details for upcoming ClubHouse events are announced in our monthly e-news. Sign up at performancespace.com.au p p if you are interested in finding out more.

PUBLISHING PERFORMANCE 6PM, , 11 APRIL CARRIAGEWORKS Performance Space is thrilled to be launching two new publications, Transﬁgured Stages: Major Practitioners and Theatre Aesthetics in Australia and Staging the Audience: The Sydney Front. Both works capture and reflect the history of performance in Sydney in the 80’s and 90’s. The publications will be launched by Sarah Miller, Associate Dean at the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong and Keith Gallasch, Managing Editor, RealTime.

TRANSFIGURED STAGES BOOK LAUNCH – MARGARET HAMILTON Transﬁgured Stages: Major Practitioners and Theatre Aesthetics in Australia is the first book to identify the 1980s and 1990s and work by groups and practitioners such as Open City, The Sydney Front and Jenny Kemp as key to the emergence of postdramatic theatre in Australia. Margaret Hamilton is Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Wollongong, and for a number of years developed and managed a major program of Australian arts in Berlin. STAGING THE AUDIENCE: THE SYDNEY FRONT DVD LAUNCH – CLARE GRANT Staging the Audience: The Sydney Front is a 4-DVD series that presents the work of The Sydney Front (1986-1993), including footage of all five major works, interviews, commentary and original documents. Clare Grant was a founding member of The Sydney Front, and is currently Lecturer in Performance at UNSW. Grant is a freelance dramaturg and was Artistic Director of Playworks (1993-97).

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DACHSHUND BBQ Q AND INFO SESSION 2PM, , 14 APRIL CARRIAGEWORKS Come along with your dachshund to Carriageworks for a sausage or two (vegie included) and find out about how your pup can become a national delegate as part of Bennett Miller’s Dachshund U.N.. Bennett’s work is a large-scale architectural installation and a performance work that examines the role of the United Nations as a risk management organisation. A four level amphitheatre will be constructed in the forecourt of the MCA as part of Local Positioning Systems. On 3 & 4 June, this structure will play host to a meeting of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, wherein all 47 of the national delegates are live dachshunds, or ‘sausage dogs’.

INDIGESPACE Indigespace is a new Performance Space initiative to support the professional development and career pathways of mid-career Indigenous artists. Two NSW-based Indigenous artists will be selected from an open call to lead a team through a three-week interdisciplinary arts residency at Carriageworks. Indigespace is underpinned by four principles: a focus on mid-career artists; collaboration; encouraging cross artform working; and a commitment to pay artists’ fees. The residencies will also have the support of Performance Space’s Indigenous Projects Officer, Alison Murphy-Oates. Indigespace is part of a strategy to create stronger, sustainable connections between Indigenous artists and Performance Space’s presentation program. For updates on Indigespace see p performancespace.com.au p .

COLOUR PLATES Image ©Walker & Bromwich, Celestial Radio (2011) Photo: Simon Phipps

Image ©Yumi Umiumare, EnTrance (2009) Photo: Garth Oriander

Image ©Stuart Ringholt, Preceded by a tour of the show by artist Stuart Ringholt 4-5pm (the artist will be naked. Those who wish to join the tour must also be naked. Adults only) (2010) courtesy of Milani Gallery, Brisbane Photo: Nick McGrath

Image ©Victoria Hunt, Copper Promises: Hinemihi Haka (2012) Photo: Heidrun Löhr

Image ©Bennett Miller, Dachshund U.N. [performance documentation] (2010) Next Wave Festival, Melbourne. Photo: Jorge de Araujo Image ©Julie-Anne Long, The Invisibility Project [performance documentation] 2010. Performance Space LiveWorks Festival, Sydney. Photo: Heidrun Löhr Image ©Lara Thoms The Experts Project #32 Decorative Toilet Roll Holders (2010) Photo: Shirley Robinson Image ©Michaela Gleave Fog Bow (2008) courtesy of Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne Photo: Michaela Gleave Image ©Robyn Backen, Delicate Balance Ballast Point, Birchgrove, Sydney (2009) Photo: Ian Hobbs

Image ©Back to Back Theatre, The Democratic Set Photo: Jeff Busby Image ©Tamara Saulwick, Pin Drop Photo: Phil Greenwood Image ©Blood Policy, Computer Boy (2012) Photo: Bryony Jackson, WhoaaMariaa7, Willoh S.Weiland Image ©Applespiel, Applespiel Make a Band and Take On The Recording Industry residency showing at Performance Space Sydney (2011) Photo: Applespiel Image ©Christine Johnston, Lisa O’Neill, and Peter Nelson, Rramp – The Collector, the Archivist and the Electrocrat Photo: Sean Young Image ©Aphids, Thrashing Without Looking (2010) Performance Space LiveWorks Festival, Sydney Photo: Lucy Parahkina

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ÂŠBack to Back Theatre The Democratic Set (2009) Photos: Jeff Busby

HINEMIHI Victoria Hunt’s solo performance project Copper Promises has evolved over many years of the artist’s research back into her family and ancestral history. The central motif in this project is Hinemihi, her Maori tribe’s meeting house, which once saved many of her ancestors from the Mount Tarawera volcanic eruption in 1886. Later, Hinemihi was taken and reconstructed on the grounds of a manor, Clandon Park in the UK. Hinemihi is described by Hunt in an interview with Bec Dean. The meeting house in my tribe, “Hinemihi te Marae” is named after a distant female ancestress, which is quite unique in New Zealand, as most are named after men. Similarly our eating-house is named “Hinewai te Wharekai”, who is Hinemihi’s daughter. Hinemihi consists of 26 carvings. Each of these elaborate carvings represents atua, ancestors and historical motifs. They come from the trees, which in Maori culture connect to whakapapa, tangible and intangible stories of creation. So specific trees are selected and then felled as part of an elaborate ritual. Inscribing the features and shapes into the wood is one part of the embodiment of ancestral presences. So in that sense, Hinemihi the meeting house is a living entity for the tribe, able to be activated through ritualised encounters that connect to nature and signifies ‘essence’ among other things. The actual structure of the Maori meeting-house evolved over time. And the current structures of the meetinghouses are quite influenced by colonisation where they clearly became houses with roofs. Prior to European settlement, the ‘Marae’ or meeting place, was an area of land that became activated through ceremony and ritual. The carvings came to represent the ancestral body in a literal and metaphysical way. The carved head above, the side carvings as welcoming arms,

and the ridgepole represent the ancestral spine which is also the main line of descent. There are rafters as her ribs, which are also descent lines so the structure becomes ancestors within the ancestress. It was a place where people could gather and speak, where grievances could be resolved and where unions could be formed. The Tangihanga (funeral farewell), where the living and the dead can be together is most revered. There is a kind of dramaturgy within the ancestral house based on how it is activated through ceremony. All of the carvings have monumental concepts attached to them. For years I’ve been focusing on the ‘Pare’, or carved doorway. Doorways are thresholds and Hinemihi’s Pare represents a multi-dimensional threshold between the ‘Noa’, which is the profane, and the ‘Tapu’, which is the sacred. It reveals a passing through veils of time, between the living and the dead and an entrance into the belly of the ancestress. Back home I’ve witnessed funeral ceremonies whereby people lower their heads as they are passing through. It’s a point of contemplation I suppose, to consider what you are leaving behind, and what you are entering into. The biggest thing to ascertain about Hinemihi is that to reduce her to the status of an object is to misunderstand her being and her importance to the tribe. This semantic and cultural dislocation is one of the major obstructions for my tribe in petitioning to repatriate her.

ARTISTS ZOĂ&#x2039; WALKER & NEIL BROMWICH IN CONVERSATION WITH EMMA NICOLSON EN: Can you tell me about the origins of the Celestial Radio project and how it came into being? ZW: Celestial Radio came into being in Essex. It was commissioned for a site between St. Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chapel and Bradwell Nuclear Power Station. It was positioned between these two symbols of seemingly opposing belief systems. We were interested in triangulating these two or finding a meeting point. We also discovered that one of the Radio Caroline ships, the Mi Amigo, had sunk off the shoreline there. So we were interested in re-kindling the idea of early pirate radio operating outside of licensing laws...We are often interested in rekindling these spirits of resistance to the mainstream... NB: Celestial Radio has become an actual radio station that moves around different places in the world and reflects the landscape that is passing. It is covered in mirrors and reflects the ideas that are coming out of a place. We are often looking at visionary thinking and people that are trying to change things. EN: Is there something in particular that attracts you to the medium of broadcast/the power of radio? NB: Like a lot of other people radio holds a very special place for me. I remember as a child this very old radio set my parents gave me. It had medium wave and along the dial were all these different names like Luxembourg, the Light Programme and Home Service. You

could turn this knob and could hear these different voices that were coming through and this very tangible thing which is the static that is constantly there between stations and you became very aware of this medium that is – radio waves. And actually, radio waves are all around us, the amazing thing is that we are actually walking through them, and fifty percent of them are the remnants of the big bang or the veil which is drawn over the big bang. It’s amazing that you’re not only listening to peoples’ voices in the here and now, you’re also listening to time, listening to the universe in some ways. It is a very magical medium I believe, and it paints pictures in your mind unlike a visual medium like film or television. EN: You made the first Celestial Radio in 2004. Now, eight years on, how do you feel the work has evolved or shifted over time? ZW: We didn’t make it as something that was going to tour but it has subsequently gained a life of its own and it has taken us to a lot of really amazing places. With each broadcast we respond to a new landscape. It is quite an organic process, meeting people, picking up on the atmosphere of a place, it’s almost like you are a radio wave yourself and trying to pick up on what is out there... part of that is through research and part through instinct and meeting people. Following a detective journey. NB: When we first did Celestial Radio we invented a story of how the boat came into being. We had this back story in our minds that in a way it was like an escape capsule from Radio Caroline when it broadcast its last broadcast from Mia Amigo, when the DJs were taken off in life boats. This myth of these DJs out there somewhere in the north sea over fifty miles off shore playing this music and really getting into this strange space on a ship which never comes into port. In a way it shows the power of stories because it’s almost become true. We had this idea that these DJs had been travelling around since the early seventies and had been searching for the answers to life’s big questions. In a way we became that myth.

EN: The Celeste is covered in tiny mirrors and this creates a fascinating dazzling visual effect, a fracturing and doubling of everything around the boat. What is the significance of the mirrors? ZW: The mirrors are there to reflect what is around them so the boat is often a dazzling object - if the sun is shining you can see if from miles away...when we were in Essex people drove right round from the other side of the estuary just to see what it was. But when it’s not sunny it reflects the landscape so it disappears. The mirrors are also symbolic, flashing out a Morse Code type message when the sun hits them. NB: Can I add the sound is the sound of human voices and music and the light is made by random forces of the universe and we felt that between those two things there might be some answers. ZW: The mirrors have been very carefully placed to fracture the image of the space around them. They convey the idea of going between two worlds and the mirror is a sort of portal. A lot of our work considers accessing two worlds, shifting between realities and finding ways to exaggerate that or allow people to enter into those other spaces. NB: One of the key influences was the Jean Cocteau film Orphée where there’s some amazing scenes. At the beginning of the film which is set during the war, someone tunes the radio dial in a car and they hear the voices of the dead, and you remember there was that surrealist poetry that was used during the war to transmit codes to British secret service or OSS from Germany and that idea of this strange surrealist poetry was there. Another amazing scene was when Orphée pushes his hand through a mirror into another world, and that was a very simple visual effect done with water. Emma Nicolson is director of ATLAS in the Isle of Skye, UK, where Walker & Bromich last presented Celestial Radio.

ÂŠMichaela Gleave, preparatory drawings for Our Frozen Moment

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GREEN MATINEES

DATES 21 APRIL 2PM ENTRANCE CARRIAGEWORKS

Following the lead from our friends at Arts House in Melbourne, we’re bringing Green Matinees to Sydney! Cycle, walk, take public transport — travel green to Carriageworks for any of our Saturday matinee performances in 2012 and your ticket is FREE. Present your public transport ticket, show us your bike helmet or even your sweat when collecting your tickets at Box Office and the tickets are yours — free of charge! Even though your ticket is free you will need to book your seat in advance by booking online at p performancespace.com.au p or by phoning 8571 9111. First in best dressed!

12 MAY 2PM COPPER PROMISES: HINEMIHI HAKA CARRIAGEWORKS 26 MAY 2PM COMPUTER BOY CARRIAGEWORKS

PUBLIC TRANSPORT By TRAIN — Carriageworks is an eight-minute walk from Redfern Station. BY BUS – nearest bus stop is Codrington Street on City Road. BUSES 422, 423, 426, 428, 370 or 352.

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BOOK TICKETS

FIND US

$30 Full

WE’RE AT… Carriageworks 245 Wilson Street Eveleigh NSW 2015

$20 Concession* $15 Student Rush and Previews FREE GREEN Matinees* FREE entry to exhibitions and ClubHouse ONLINE p performancespace.com.au p or ticketmaster.com.au CALL UP Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 IN PERSON At all Ticketmaster outlets AT THE BOX OFFICE Carriageworks Box Office is open one hour prior to the show. *Concession tickets are available for fulltime students, prisoners, senior cardholders, unemployed and children under 14 *Student Rush tickets are available 1 hour prior to the show at the Box Office on the following dates: 20 April, 11 May, 25 May. *When booking through Ticketmaster, a booking fee of $4.30 will apply online and on the phone *Please refer to the GREEN Matinee terms and conditions for more information or see our website performancespace.com.au p p

SEND US A LETTER… PO Box 461 Newtown NSW 2042 SAY HELLO… 02 8571 9111 admin@performancespace.com.au p p FULL DETAILS AT… p performancespace.com.au p ELSEWHERE… Become a fan on Facebook follow us @pspace on Twitter watch us at vimeo.com/performancespace /p p

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PROGRAM CREDITS Performance Space is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its art funding and advisory body: the NSW Government through Arts NSW; and The Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.

Performance Space is supported by Carriageworks. Performance Space is a member of Contemporary Art Organisations of Australia (CAOS) and Mobile States, Touring Contemporary Performance Australia.

LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS Local Positioning Systems is presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and curated by Performance Space.

OUR FROZEN MOMENT This project is supported by the Australia Council through the Visual Arts Board.

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WHISPER PITCH Robyn Backen has been supported by an Australia Council Fellowship.

ENTRANCE EnTrance is being presented as part of Kultourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2011/12 Program in partnership with Multicultural Arts Victoria and supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

COPPER PROMISES: HINEMIHI HAKA This project has been financially supported by: the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the NSW Government through Arts NSW; Critical Path and Performance Space. It received development residencies at: Performance Space; Department of Performance Studies, University of Sydney; Creative Practice & Research Unit, School of English, Media and Performing Arts Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, UNSW; Queen Street Studio; and Ausdance NSW.

COMPUTER BOY Created with the assistance of the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Federation Square, Hothouse Theatre, Insite Arts, Playwriting Australia through the National Script Workshop and developed in the CultureLAB at Arts House.

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Force Majeure is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council and the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

APPLESPIEL MAKE A BAND AND TAKE ON THE RECORDING INDUSTRY This project has been financially supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

THE DEMOCRATIC SET Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States, with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and through the national performing arts touring program, Playing Australia.

PIN DROP Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States, with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and through the national performing arts touring program, Playing Australia.

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RRAMP A Brisbane Powerhouse commission. Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States, with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and through the national performing arts touring program, Playing Australia.

THRASHING WITHOUT LOOKING Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States, with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and through the national performing arts touring program, Playing Australia.

BRIWYANT Briwyant was developed with the support of the Australia Council, the Australian Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arts funding and advisory body, the NSW Government through Arts NSW, City of Sydney, Redfern Community Centre and Critical Path. Malthouse Theatreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Indigenous Theatre Program is made possible with the generous support of The Tom Kantor Fund.

INDIGESPACE Indigespace is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

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CALENDAR

LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS Celestial Radio 29 March – 15 April The Experts Project 2 April – 13 May Val, the Invisible 7 – 23 April

AT = ARTIST TALK

Preceded by a tour of the show by artist Stuart Ringholt 6-8pm (the artist will be naked. Those who wish to join the tour must also be naked. Adults only) 27 – 29 April

0 = OPENING 6-8PM P = PREVIEW GM = GREEN MATINEE

Physician 5 – 18 May i-Land X-isle 26 & 27 May Dachshund U.N. 2 & 3 June

MARCH/APRIL / LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS CELESTIAL RADIO THE EXPERTS PROJECT VAL, THE INVISIBLE PRECEEDED BY A TOUR… DIMENSION CROSSING OUR FROZEN MOMENT WHISPER PITCH ENTRANCE CLUBHOUSE

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DIMENSION CROSSING

SHOW ON

One Frozen Moment 20 April – 19 May

Applespiel 25 – 28 July

Whisper Pitch 20 April – 19 May

Culminate 1 – 4 August

EnTrance 18 – 21 April

Pin Drop 1 – 4 August

Copper Promises: Hinemihi Haka 4 – 12 May

RRAMP 1 – 4 August Thrashing Without Looking 1 – 4 August

Computer Boy 23 – 26 May

The Democratic Set 4 August EVERYTHING ELSE ClubHouse 11 – 14 April Briwyant at Malthouse 4 – 14 July

AT 2PM AT 3PM

O O P

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MAY/JUNE /

DIMENSION CROSSING OUR FROZEN MOMENT WHISPER PITCH COPPER PROMISES:HINEMIHI HAKA

6PM

COMPUTER BOY LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS THE EXPERTS PROJECT PHYSICIAN I-LAND X-ISLE DASCHUND U.N.

JULY/AUGUST / BRIWYANT SHOW ON APPLESPIEL CULMINATE THE DEMOCRATIC SET PIN DROP RRAMP THRASHING WITHOUT LOOKING

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SUPPORTERS

Thanks to our amazing g

Major j Gifts and Bequests q

Kate Barnet, Amy Barrett-

Stephen Cummins Bequest

Lennard, Helen Bauer, Meredith Brooks, Martin Calvey, Barbara Campbell, Julieanne Campbell, Andrew Carriline, Debra Jensen & Geoff Cohen, Daniel Brine & Jonathan Cooper, Emma Dean, Bec Dean, Susan Donnelly, Rosalind Richards & Duffy, Paul Gazzola, Clare Grant, Lucy Guerin, Henry David York Lawyers, Clark Butler & Louise Herron, Henry Kember & Julia Holderness, Sam James, Talya Rubin & Nick James, Jeff Khan, Andrew Lorien & Cathy Kirkpatrick, Jann Kohlman, Derek Kreckler, Sandy Saxon & John Kron, Meaghan & Will Lewis, Rebecca Burdon & Jason Maling, Jane McDermott, Sarah Miller, Rebecca Chan & Nahum McLean, Annemaree Dalziel & Djon Mundine, Ian Enright & Linda Quatermass, Nat Randall, Chris Ryan, Sherman Foundation, Mark Stapleton, Ben & Suzy Strout, Yana Taylor, Leon Fink & Jennifer Turpin, Sarah Waterson, Dr. David Williams, Paul & Jennifer Winch, Fiona Winning and Angharad Wynne-Jones.

Major j Program g Supporters pp Australia Council For The Arts Arts NSW Carriageworks The Keir Foundation The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Corporate p Supporters pp The Nest Moritz

2011-12 individual donors

Many individual supporters prefer to remain anonymous. Performance Space thanks you for your generosity.

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SUPPORT US Individual contributions greatly assist Performance Space. Your donation small or large will help us extend our support for artists. We also have three donor categories to give you an idea of how larger donations will be invested. $250 EQUIPS AN ARTIST WITH A FEE $1000 ENABLES US TO HOST AN ARTIST IN RESIDENCE TO DEVELOP A NEW WORK $5,000 SUPPORTS A MAJOR PROJECT FROM INCEPTION TO REALISATION Visit performancespace.com.au p p for all the information you need to make a donation The Performance Space Development Fund is a tax-deductible fund listed on the Australian Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Register of Cultural Organisations maintained under Subdivision 30-B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. Donations over $2 to Performance Space are tax deductible.

2012 MEMBERSHIP AT PERFORMANCE SPACE

Becoming a Performance Space Member gives you exceptional value and access to our 2012 program. It’s also an opportunity to support our artists and their work. For $100, you’ll be able to enjoy free tickets to nine new Performance Space works over the year plus a bunch of other benefits. These include: ONE FREE TICKET FOR ALL PERFORMANCE SPACE PRESENTED PROJECTS AT CARRIAGEWORKS DISCOUNTED TICKETS FOR ONE GUEST TO ALL PERFORMANCE SPACE PRESENTED PROJECTS AT CARRIAGEWORKS DISCOUNTED TICKETS FOR ALL PERFORMANCE SPACE PRESENTED PROJECTS AT ‘OFF-SITE’ VENUES AND SITES PREFERENTIAL INVITATIONS TO RELEVANT RESIDENCY SHOWINGS A MEMBERSHIP MEMENTO INVITATIONS TO LAUNCH EVENTS $1 OFF DRINKS AT THE CARRIAGEWORKS BAR BEFORE OR AFTER A PERFORMANCE SPACE EVENT For more info on how to become a member visit p performancespace.com.au p