In the loop 6 Nov: Quick picks

This is a Door, Pop-Up Playground

In two recent articles for RealTime Robert Reid has been preoccupied with play and now we know why (see RT117 & RT115). He is one of the core members of Pop-Up Playground presenting the This is a Door festival in Melbourne, a month-long program of participatory experiences and games. If you want to join the fun you can decide on the fate of the city with the Urban Codemakers (see the realtime tv interview with Troy Innocent about the ISEA instalment Zydnei); find and fight monsters in Pub Werewolf; make unicorns with the Nylon Zoo; or discover haiku bombs made by guerilla poets. On the final weekend, Theatreworks in St Kilda will be transformed into a massive “playroom” for back-to-back adventures. Just to be clear here, we’re not talking computer games—this is real world fun.
This is a Door, Pop-Up Playground, Theatreworks and various venues, St Kilda and Melbourne City; http://popupplayground.com.au/this-is-a-door-2013/

Belinda Middlebrook's Wood Bird, part of Wagnerlicht

Belinda Middlebrook’s Wood Bird, part of Wagnerlicht

courtesy the artists

Belinda Middlebrook’s Wood Bird, part of Wagnerlicht

Wagnerlicht, Arts Centre

Celebrating the bicentenary of Richard Wagner’s birth, Wagnerlicht is a multimedia installation inspired by his most famous opera Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle). Conceptualised by Michael Day this installation of light, sound and sculpture is realised with input from design and sound students from the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Applied Sciences in Ansbach, Germany. The interactive installation (especially for those who couldn’t afford or missed out on tickets for the Opera Australia production soon to premiere in Melbourne) allows audiences to re-intrepret the Ring Cycle and engage with the epic in new, intimate ways.
Wagnerlicht, Arts Centre Melbourne; 15 Nov-14 Dec; http://wagnerlicht.com

The Breadbeard Collective, R & J, La Boite Indie with QPAC

photo Al Caeiro

The Breadbeard Collective, R & J, La Boite Indie with QPAC

R&J, La Boite Indie

Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, every generation has to have their crack at it. The final La Boite Indie show sees ten young people (18-25) remixing the tale, “hanging new meat on the skeleton of the story” (website). Directed by Lucas Stibbard and devised with The Breadbeard Collective it looks like it’ll be a wild party.
La Boite Indie: R & J, La Boite Roundhouse Theatre; Brisbane, 13- 30 Nov; http://www.laboite.com.au/cms/page.asp?ID=21

Jacqui Claus, Standing Bird 2

courtesy the artist

Jacqui Claus, Standing Bird 2

Standing Bird Two & Verge, The Blue Room

Perth’s The Blue Room is presenting a micro-season of dance featuring Sally Richardson’s Standing Bird 2 and Patrice Smith’s Verge. Standing Bird Two, performed by Jacqui Claus, continues to explore the struggle of transformation seen in the first installment of Standing Bird at Fringeworld 2012 (see Maggie Philips review RT108.) For this piece the performance leaves the theatre to be sited around the Blue Room venue. Verge, performed by Claus with Laura Boynes and Bernadette Lewis, plays with ideas of tension and release, “unease and the quiet discomfort before someone loses control” (website).
Standing Bird Two, director, concept Sally Richardson, movement director Danielle Micich, 12-29 Nov; Verge, choreographer Patrice Smith; 13-30 Nov; The Blue Room; http://blueroom.org.au/

Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Stranger Visions 2012, Trace Recordings

courtesy the artist

Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Stranger Visions 2012, Trace Recordings

Trace Recordings, UTS Gallery

Curated by Holly Williams and Chris Gaul, Trace Recording features 11 artists’ responses to the increasing pervasiveness of surveillance in the everyday. Heather Dewey-Hagborg (US) uses DNA sampled from discarded cigarette butts and chewing gum to generate 3D printed portraits. Recently featured in ISEA2013, Italian artist Paulo Cirio’s Street Ghosts haunt the streets—featured in life size posters of people taken from Streetview, pasted-up in situ. Adam Harvey (US) plays with the idea of urban camouflage via “dazzle” techniques to trick facial recognition software. Denis Beaubois (Australia) is vengeful, turning the surveillance technology back on itself using mirrors to create a closed loop. There is also a program of workshops and talks.
Trace Recordings, artists Denis Beaubois, James Bridle, Mahwish Chishty, Paolo Cirio, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Benjamin Gaulon, Adam Harvey, Trevor Paglen, Shinseungback Kimyonghun and Matt Richardson; UTS Gallery; until 29 November; http://www.art.uts.edu.au/gallery/current/index.html; http://www.tracerecordings.net/

Brendan Lee, The Great Divide: RevHeads

courtesy the artist

Brendan Lee, The Great Divide: RevHeads

At The Front Gallery in the Melbourne Docklands, Brendan Lee takes on the great Aussie car battle between Ford and Holden. In the first of what will be a series of videos, Lee “questions the identification with an evolving Australian archetype and how this is both transformed and perpetuated through popular competitive representations and iconic brands” (website). Burn rubber to get there.
Brendan Lee, The Great Divide: RevHeads, The Front, Docklands, open 9 Nov, http://www.brendanlee.com/site.php

Markus Popp (aka Oval)

courtesy the artist

Markus Popp (aka Oval)

Markus Popp, National Film and Sound Archive

Father of glitch, Markus Popp (aka Oval) is currently in Australia courtesy of the Goethe Institut. He’ll be performing a free concert at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra this weekend supported by Hinterlandt and local boys Spartak.
Markus Popp, NFSA Theatrette, Canberra, ACT, 9 Nov; http://www.nfsa.gov.au/calendar/event/4954-markus-popp/

Joan Jonas, Reanimation, dOCUMENTA 13

photo by Maria Ruhling

Joan Jonas, Reanimation, dOCUMENTA 13

Performa, New York

For those lucky enough to be in the Big Apple, Performa has kicked off with a month of amazing performance and live art. There is an insane number of events but possible highlights include Jérôme Bel with Theater Hora Disabled Theater; Seminal Polish collective Akademia Ruchu’s participatory performance for Time’s Square; fictional art star Eleanora Antinova; Cifford Owens’ five-day durational performance; and Joan Jonas’ multimedia installation, Reanimation. There’s a strong sense of historicity running through the program with Malcolm Le Grice and Guy Sherwin recreating some of their seminal expanded cinema and video works; Fluxus founder Benjamin Patterson presenting a retrospective of his actions as compositions; and the Martha Graham Company revisiting two works from Graham’s Surrealist period.
Performa, various venues New York City, 1-24 Nov; http://13.performa-arts.org/