In the loop – july 17, quick picks and opportunities
realtime's advance word
Blaze Blue Oneline, Antony Hamilton
photo Byron Perry
Blaze Blue Oneline, Antony Hamilton
national screen dance initiative, carriageworks
The Australia Council has announced that Carriageworks will deliver the inaugural National Screen Dance Initiative. 24 Frames Per Second is a program commissioning 18 Australian-based works along with six international films. Chosen artists have experience in multi-disciplinary, intercultural and Indigenous practices and include Tony Albert, Alison Currie, Vicki Van Hout, James Newitt, Byron Perry and Antony Hamilton, Khaled Sabsabi, Aimee Smith, Latai Taumoepeau, Christian Thompson and Lee Wilson and Mirabelle Wouters. The international artists include Sriwhana Spong (New Zealand), Wit Pimkanchanapong (Thailand), Ming Wong (Singapore) and Nick Cave (USA—the visual artist, not the singer). Carriageworks plans to deliver the works via a number of media platforms over the next three years along with a major exhibition in 2015. ABC Television has come on board as a key partner, broadening the potential audience for the works. www.carriageworks.com.au/
mobile states cluster 2012
Thrashing Without Looking, Aphids
photo Ponch Hawkes
Thrashing Without Looking, Aphids
The annual Mobile States Touring Cluster is on the move. This year it includes shows that make the audience work for their pleasure, as in Aphids’ thoroughly experiential Thrashing Without Looking (see RT101; Jana Perkovic’s account in RT105; and John Bailey’s report also in RT105); and Back to Back’s participatory video project The Democratic Set (see Tim Atack’s account of the Bristol iteration). Gothic comedy can be expected from RRAMP (Christine Johnston, Lisa O’Neill and Peter Nelson) in The Collector, the Archivist & the Electrocrat, while Tamara Saulwick explores anxiety and anticipation through sound in her solo performance, Pin Drop. The touring schedule is rather complicated, but if you’re in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart, Launceston, Cairns, Campbelltown, Newcastle, Darwin, Goolwa or Mandurah, check out the Mobile States website—at least one of these innovative performance works is coming your way.
Mobile States Touring Cluster, major partners Performing Lines, Performance Space, North Melbourne Town Hall Arts House, Salamanca Arts Centre, Brisbane Powerhouse, PICA, July-August http://performinglines.org.au/productions/mobile-states-cluster-2012/
parallel universes, qut & monash university
Bill Viola, The Reflecting Pool, Collected Works 1977-80
Parallel Universes is a retrospective of seminal video works from both Australian and international artists made between 1970 and 1985. A curatorial collaboration between Dr Mark Pennings, Lubi Thomas and Rachael Parsons from QUT and Matthew Perkins from Monash University, the exhibition is divided into three thematic groupings: Performance, Identity, Video; Video as the Medium, and the medium is the Message; and Politics of Narrative. Artists include Bill Viola, Mike Parr, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Peter Callas, Stephen Jones, Joan Jonas and more. Lubi Thomas says of this period of experimentation, “… cultural and political barriers were falling, giving video art the opportunity to become truly global. This exhibition focuses on influences shared by Australian video artists in relation to ‘parallel’ video art practiced by their international peers” (press release). The exhibition will be framed by a series of talks and panel discussions including “After the Future: The History and Future of Video Art,” led by Dr Mark Pennings and Matthew Perkins.
Parallel Universes, QUT, July 24-Aug 4, The Block, QUT, www.ciprecinct.qut.edu.au/whatson/exhibitions/parallel.jsp
inject, herman kolgen, bristol, uk
Herman Kolgen, Inject
photo courtesy In Between Time
Herman Kolgen, Inject
For readers in the UK there’s a chance to experience a truly immersive work by “audiocinetic sculptor” Herman Kolgen. Inject will be projected onto a massive screen above the pool at Bristol’s Hengrove Park Leisure Centre, watched by an audience of happily bobbing bathers. But the content might make waves: an onscreen figure is also suspended in water and over 45 minutes the water pressure is increased and the oxygen decreased affecting the person’s nervous system. With a live-mixed soundtrack the piece explores “a loss of touch with reality and invites a floating audience to consider the relationship between human biology and emotion” (website).
Herman Kolgen, Inject, in partnership with In Between Time, Bristol City Council’s Art in the Public Realm, the Watershed and Picture This, Hengrove Park Leisure Centre, Bristol, UK, July 27; http://inbetweentime.co.uk/event/inject-piscine
opportunities
incubator residencies, vitalstatistix
While Port Adelaide-based Vitalstatistix is still informed by feminist and gender-aware perspectives, the company has, over the last few years, opened out from a women’s theatre company to become what they describe as a “boutique producer-presenter of contemporary theatre and interdisciplinary arts” (website). Vitalstatistix has recently announced a call for proposals for their 2013 Incubator residencies that offer rehearsal space at the atmospheric, heritage-listed Waterside Workers Hall, producing technical and other assistance and a $4,000 contribution to projects in the early stages of creative development. Artists from around Australia working in performance, live art or interdisciplinary art are welcome to apply.
Applications due Aug 31, 2012; www.vitalstatistix.com.au
queer residencies, stephen cummins bequest, performance space
Stephen Cummins (1960-1994) was a filmmaker, photographer and curator, perhaps best known for his beautiful and brutal dance film Resonance (1991, before dance film became a genre). On his death, funds were bequeathed to Performance Space. They are now being put towards a series of residencies for emerging queer artists. The residencies will assist performers to expand the predominantly short, cabaret/club act format into longer, more critically and dramaturgically rigorous works. There are three one-week residencies (starting Aug 20, Aug 27, Sept 3, 2012) and each includes mentoring with an established artist, technical support and artist fee. Applications close July 30, http://www.performancespace.com.au/2012/call-out-to-all-emerging-queer-performers/
australia council crowdfunding seminars
If you frequent Facebook or Twitter, you will by now have been asked by a variety of people to “crowdfund” their latest endeavour. While in some ways it seems a bit strange that we are all asking each other for money, it is rapidly proving to be a viable model for both large and smaller projects. In recognition of this the Australia Council is offering a series of seminars around the country to assist artists and organisations in their crowdfunding campaigns. Headed by Caroline Vu of the ArtSupport Australia team and Elliott Bledsoe, Digital Content Officer of the Australia Council, the seminars will offer tips for successful campaigns including case studies and the findings of a recent research project undertaken by Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries. Seminars will take place in Sydney, July 30; Canberra, July 31; Melbourne, Aug 1; Brisbane, Aug 2; Darwin, Aug 13; Perth, Aug 14; Adelaide, Aug 15; Hobart, Aug 16; Western Sydney, Aug 28.
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/events/2012/crowdfunding-seminars
Congratulations to media artist and creative producer Fee Plumley who has successfully overshot her crowdfunding target, raising $27,000 to buy a bus for her upcoming Really Big Roadtrip. She plans to travel Australia sharing the possibilities of digital arts in their many varied forms. http://www.reallybigroadtrip.com
RealTime issue #109 June-July 2012 pg. web
