2015 » Australia » Section of Countries and Regions

A-MASS

The works gathered in the Australian exhibit are all, in various ways, participatory works. Few fit neatly into categories of theater, the visual arts or music, and few of them hold to a traditional top-down creative structure. Presented through video artifacts and supported by interactive sites and live actions and events, the exhibit celebrates and embraces design as an interactive and organic action that does not stand apart from but slithers through the creative event.

What these works share is empathy for the here and now, for the lived experience, the visceral effect. They recognize theater as an event that requires the capitulation of the masses and that while we might rail against mass consumption, mass desire, mass cultivation, mass extinction as a mass, we also create beauty and we create community. We might make storms but we also make shelter from them.

Back to Back’s The Democratic Set is a single set that has now housed 28 different performances in 28 different locations created by hundreds of individuals. Super Critical Mass gathers together numerous voices for sublime musical experiments. For Yawn, Renae Shadler links individuals by repetition of a simple, raw and very human action, and the amassed footage draws the viewer into an unavoidable physical participation. Mass as a physical force is presented in PVI’s Resist. It is a live tug-of-war aimed at testing the notion of conflict. A different notion of physical endurance can be witnessed in Whelping Box. An act of endurance that transcends the confines of normality, it is an experience that consumes the audience on a visceral and sensorial level.

From New South Wales, we present artifacts from an exploration of homelessness in Northern Rivers Performing Arts’ Home Project, and from much further to the north-west we include the films intertwined in Malthouse Theatre’s The Shadow King. Shot on location in Katherine and Beswick, these films brought to the stage the gritty vastness, grandeur and fragility of the Australian outback and evoked the reality of the people living within it.

And from all corners of Australia comes The Colour of the Sky Today, a collection made by artists, designers and theater makers showcasing the specific textures, tones and changing colors of the Australian sky. Collected over the six months leading up to PQ, it toys with the notion that the opening hours of PQ (daylight) are the dark night of Australia, where a mass of artificial light rules.

AUPQ'15 has been supported by The Australia Council for the Arts and Creative Victoria. We are grateful for the support of The Association of Optimism and Insite Arts.

The Australian Exhibit features works by: Back to Back Branch Nebular Malthouse Theatre Northern Rivers Performing Arts PVI Collective *** Renae Shadler and Collaborators.*** Super Critical Mass ** Renae Shadler will be at PQ15 making a new version for the “Yawn” series that will then be added to the Australian exhibit. Check with the Australian exhibit for dates and times. ** Also live at PQ15 we will be seeking out the issues of the day, which the PVI team will resolve by tugs-of-war back in Australia; the outcomes of these events will then be transferred back to Prague for screening.

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Malthouse Theatre

Specialization: Theatre Company
Participation in other important exhibitions: The Shadow King Premiere Season: Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne Festival) October 2013.  Subsequent seasons: Sydney Festival 2014, Adelaide Festival 2014, Perth International Arts Festival 2014, Darwin Festival 2014, Katherine 2014, Brisbane Festival 2014.
Awards: Awards for the Shadow King: Victorian Greenroom Association Awards for Best Direction. Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play (Michael Kantor)
Additional information: Malthouse Theatre is a theatre company, creative site and engine for change. It produces thrilling multi-form works that tackle the big questions. Based in Melbourne, Australia, it provokes audiences locally, nationally and internationally.

Exhibiting works

• spolupráce autorů/co-created by Michael Kantor, Tom E. Lewis: (The Shadow King), Malthouse Theatre (Malthouse Theatre), 2013, Director: režie/directed by Michael Kantor, asistent režie/associate director: Melodie Reynolds-Diarra scéna/set design: Paul Jackson, Michael Kantor & David Miller kostýmy a rekvizity/costume & props design: Ruby Langton-Batty světelný design/lighting design: Paul Jackson zvukový design/sound design: Kelly Ryall Film: Natasha Gadd, Rhys Graham & Murray Lui hudební spolupráce/music consultant: Iain Grandage dramaturgie/dramaturgy: Marion Potts ; Identification of exhibit: video, others, interactive site ;
  Comments: Majestic and timeless reworking of Shakespeare’s
  King Lear that speaks to the history and current
  circumstances of Indigenous Australia.
• Branch Nebula

Sydney, Australia
Specialization: Immediate, risky, physical, visceral and challenging performance.
Collaboration with theatres: My Darling Patricia, Branch Nebula, Performance Space, Carriageworks. The premiere of “Whelping Box” was supported by Performance Space and by the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body. Its development was assisted by Critical Path and HotHouse Theatre’s A Month in the Country residential program, a project delivered in partnership with Albury City. Branch Nebula is supported by Managing and Producing Services (MAPS) for Artists NSW, a joint initiative of the Australia Council and Arts NSW, managed by Performing Lines.
Awards: “Whelping Box”: winner, Helpmann Award, Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production, 2014; Victorian Green Room Association Award, Outstanding Contemporary Performance, 2014.   ● Matt Prest & Clare Britton: winners, Victorian Green Room Association Award, Best Production Design for a Hybrid Work for “Hole in the Wall”, 2010.  ● My Darling Patricia (Clare Britton): “Politely Savage” won Best Theatre Act at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2007, Outstanding Production and Best Design at the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2006 and Best Independent Theatre Show at the Sydney Theatre Critics’ Award in 2006; “Africa” won the Malcolm Robertson Prize 2009; “The Piper” won the Sydney Theatre Awards, Best Production for Children, 2014.
Additional information: In 2012, Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson and Mirabelle Wouters) collaborated with Clare Britton and Matt Prest to create Whelping Box, an experience that is immediate, risky, physical, visceral and challenging. Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson, Mirabelle Wouters).

Exhibiting works

• spolutvůrci/co-creators: Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson, Mirabelle Wouters), Matt Prest, Clare Britton: (Whelping Box), Branch Nebula, Matt Prest & Clare Britton 2012, Director: spolutvůrci/co-creators: Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson, Mirabelle Wouters), Matt Prest, Clare Britton, Co-creators/performers: Lee Wilson & Matt Prest Co-creators/designers: Clare Britton & Mirabelle Wouters Sound artist: Jack Prest Premiere produced by: Viv Rosman and Katy Green for Performing Lines Further seasons produced by: Harley Stumm for Intimate Spectacle ; Identification of exhibit: video, others, interactive site ;
  Comments: “Whelping Box” is a place to test the body, the performer, and the spectator. It is a place of permission, of what we allow of each other. A breeding ground for wild things, for dogs and gods.  
• Back to Back Theatre

* 1987, Geelong
Specialization: Theatre Company
Participation in other important exhibitions: Back to Back Theatre’s works have been performed on tour at many major national and international theatres and festivals. “The Democratic Set” residency project, which is the focus of this exhibit, has so far been presented at 28 venues.
Continuing collaboration with directors: Bruce Gladwin
Awards: 2014: “Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” – Herald Angel 
Critics’ Award, Edinburgh International Festival; Inaugural Distinctive Work, Commendation, Council for the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, Australia; Alles Rund Preis (All Round Prize) Very Young Jury, Kunstfest Weimar; 2012: “Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” – Helpmann Award for Best Australian Play; Back to Back Theatre – Australian Disability Enterprise of Excellence Award; 2011:“Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” – The Age Critics’ Award for Best New Work, Melbourne Festival Green Room Award; Best Ensemble Performance (Alternative & Hybrid Performance); Victoria Green Room Award, Best Direction (Theatre); Victoria Green Room Award, Best Production (Theatre), Victoria; 2010: “Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” – Kit Denton Fellowship for Theatrical Courage, Australia; 2008: “Small Metal Objects” – Bessie Award, New York; 2007: “Small Metal Objects” Green Room Award, Best Theatre Production (New Form), Victoria; ZKB Appreciation Prize, Zurich Theatre Festival; 2005: “Small Metal Objects” – Inaugural Age Critics’ Special Commendation, Melbourne Festival; Back to Back Theatre – Sidney Myer Performing Arts Group Award, Australia; 2002: “Soft” – The Age Critics’ Award for Creative Excellence, Melbourne Festival
Additional information: Back to Back Theatre was found in 1987 in Geelong. It creates new forms of contemporary theatre imagined from the minds and experiences of a unique ensemble of actors with a disability, giving voice to the social and political issues that speak to all people.

Exhibiting works

• původní koncept/original concept by Bruce Gladwin: (The Democratic Set), Back to Back Theatre 2008 scéna/set design: Bruce Gladwin původní scéna a konstrukce/original set design & construction: Mark Cuthbertson původní videografie/original videography: Rhian Hinkley Ve spolupráci s účastníky z místních komunit./ In collaboration with participants from local communities ; Identification of exhibit: video, interactive site ;
  Comments: It is a residency model for creating short films and performances,
  for exploring the belief that all people are,
  in principle, equal and should enjoy social, political and
  economic rights and opportunities. The Democratic Set
  uses a custom-made film set, a neutral room with two
  opposing doors.
• Super Critical Mass

*
Specialization: conductor, sound artist, Participatory musical works
Collaboration with theatres: This work was originally commissioned and presented as part of Sonic Social, a season of participatory sound performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia curated by Performance Space.
Participation in other important exhibitions: In operation since 2008, Super Critical Mass has worked across Australia and internationally: Sydney (from 2008), Brisbane (from 2009), Melbourne (from 2010) and The Hague, Manchester, New York (from 2011) and London (from 2012).
Continuing collaboration with directors: This Super Critical Mass performance was commissioned and curated by Tulleah Pearce and Jeff Khan for Performance Space.
Additional information: Super Critical Mass is an ongoing project by Julian Day, Luke Jaaniste and Janet McKay that engages groups of individuals to create music works that respond to the architecture and space where they are located and that create temporary communities.

Exhibiting works

• Julian Day, Luke Jaaniste and Janet McKay: (Super Critical Mass, 2014), Performance Space 2014, Director: Julian Day, Luke Jaaniste, Janet McKay, ; Identification of exhibit: video, others, interactive site ;
  Comments: Using the simple components of voices, percussion or
  masses of one type of instrument, Day and Jaaniste
  explore the aural and spatial qualities of diverse spaces.
  They create temporary, participatory, intangible
  experiences that are explorations of societies, sound
  and the „relational properties of spaces“.
• Northern Rivers Performing Arts

* 1993, Lismore, NSW, Australia
Specialization: Theatre Company
Continuing collaboration with directors: Julian Louis
Additional information: NORPA was found in 1993 in Lismore, NSW and they draw inspiration from this landscape, history, people and culture. Their original theatre works are created with the imagination and spirit of their community in mind, and they take them and us to new places.

Exhibiting works

• : (The Home Project), Northern Rivers Performing Arts 2013, Director: Julian Louis, Jedná se o dlouhodobý komunitní projekt, který vyžaduje spolupráci a generativní kreativní přístup/ This is long-term community-based project that took a collaborative and generative creative approach: NORPA ředitel/artistic director: Julian Louis (roky/years 1- 3) SCU SSAS štáb/staff: Grayson Cooke & Jim Hearn (roky/years 1- 3) SCU studetnti/students (roky/years 1 & 2) rok/year 3 ředitel projektu/project director: Bronwyn Purvis rok/year 3 rezidentní umělci ve workshopu/workshop artists in residence: Jamie Birrell, Karla Dickens, Jim Hearn, Peter Lehner, The Bridge Street Choir rok/year 3 NORPA kreativní producent/creative producer: Bethwynn Hackett rok/year 3 NORPA produkční tým/production team: Karl Johnson & Rich Morrod rok/year 3 programový design/ program design: Amy Shaw ; Identification of exhibit: video, others, interactive site ;
  Comments: An exploration of homelessness by Northern Rivers
  Performing Arts, Southern Cross University and The
  Winsome Hotel / Lismore Soup Kitchen. Consisting of an
  exhibition, story collecting and creative workshops, the
  project examined the themes of journey, food, hospitality
  and of course home.
• Renae Shadler & Collaborators

Specialization: director, actor, producer
Education: Bachelor of Dramatic Art, Victorian College of the Arts 2010
Collaboration with theatres: Actor with Australian experimental theatre companies; One Step at a Time Like This; Dee and Associates, and Maybe ( ) Together.
Participation in other important exhibitions: “WetubeLIVE”, artist: Ben Speth, National Gallery of Victoria, Dance Massive, 2013; “Hold”, artist: David Cross, Arts House, Melbourne Festival, 2012; “Where’s my Community?”, artist: Gabrielle De Vietri, Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, 2008
Continuing collaboration with directors: Susie Dee, Alex Desebroke, Suzanne Kersten
Additional information: Renae Shadler is an emerging performance artist and self-author of trans-disciplinary new work. Her interest lies in site-specific performance that is informed by theatre, contemporary dance, new media and audience interaction.

Exhibiting works

• Renae Shadler: (Yawn: In-ya-ear), (Supported by the City of Yarra, the Maribyrnong City Council, and the Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres.), 2013, Director: hlavní umělkyně/lead artist:  Renae Shadler, facilitátorky-spolupracovnice/facilitator-collaborator: Rebecca Jensen, Alicia Beckhurst, Virginia Francia koordinátor místa/site coordinator: Cameron Stewart zvukový design/sound design: Robert Jordan ; Identification of exhibit: video, others, interactive site ;
  Comments: “Yawn” is one of five interactive artworks that make up “In-ya-ear”, a public engagement project that has been presented at various Metro Stations in Melbourne, Australia. A new version of “Yawn” will be made on-site as part of PQ15.
• pvi collective

* 1999, Perth, Australia
Specialization: Performance and intervention makers of site specific, digital and participatory events.
Collaboration with theatres: Performance Space. PICA
Participation in other important exhibitions: ISEA, Sydney, 2014 Enlighten Festival, Canberra, 2014 [en]counters Festival, Mumbai, 2013 Surge Street Art Festival, Glasgow, 2012 The Biennale of Sydney, 2010 Splendid Arts Lab, Brisbane. 2010  “resist”: Chile, Mumbai, Perth and on a moving train.
Awards: “resist” – finalist for Australian Arts in Asia Awards; “deviator” – Best Game Award
Additional information: The pvi collective was found in Perth in 1999 and produces interdisciplinary artworks aimed at the creative disruption of everyday life. Every artwork aims to affect audiences on a personal and political level and is geared towards instigating tiny revolutions.

Exhibiting works

• pvi collective: (resist: prague), pvi collective 2008 pvi collective hlavní umělci/core artists: Kelli McCluskey, Steve Bull ; Identification of exhibit: video, others, interactive site ;
  Comments: “resist” is a live tug-of-war event aimed at testing the notion of conflict and the potential of people power to enact change. For PQ, pvi will canvas specific issues and then look to resolve these suggested conflicts remotely in Australia, with daily updates sent back.