In the loop oct 23 – quick picks

realtime advanced word

Deanne Butterworth, Twinships photo Rachel Roberts

twinships, deanne butterworth

Testament to West Space Gallery’s innovative programming is the inclusion of choreographer Deanne Butterworth’s Twinships, an installation and dance performance in collaboration with sound designer Michael Munson and lighting designer Rose Connors Dance. The work originally evolved during Butterworth’s Housemates residency at Dancehouse in 2011 where in order to augment her solo explorations she would invite people into her workspace for what she called Group:Meetings. From this grew an interest in the creation of a “twinning” of worlds, primarily the sonic and the physical. The original 45-minute performance has been reconfigured to operate as a sound, light and video installation during gallery hours with the full performance presented on Thursday and Friday evenings. The trio impressed with their work Dual Repérage in Threes presented during Dance Massive 2011 and Twinships looks to be a similarly meticulous and immersive exploration. See the review in RealTime 112.
Twinships, Deanne Butterworth, Michael Munson, Rose Connors Dance, West Space, Melbourne, installation Oct 19-Nov 10, performances October 25-26, November 1-2, November 8-9, [email protected]? www.deannebutterworth.com; http://westspace.org.au/

winner, mish grigor, firstdraft

Firstdraft Gallery is also offering some adventurous performance programming with Mish Grigor’s Winner. A playful critique of the culture of art prizes and a comment on the overwhelming number of TV talent shows, Winner asks five artists to pitch for a $1,000 prize in front of a live audience. The artists will not be able to use any visual aids and thus must convince the audience and judges through the power of words alone. A few days following the judges will publicly present their thoughts on the performances nominating three shortlisted artists who will have to expand on their original pitch. In true drawn out TV style, eventually the winner will be decided upon and awarded the cash prize. The five artist/contestants are Bonita Bub, Bonnie Cairncross, Emily Hunt, Hannah Furmage, Lucy Hall, Michaela Gleave, Nick Briggs and Peter Nelson with the judging panel comprising Mark Feary (Artspace), Sebastion Goldspink (Alaska) and Susan Gibb (Society).
Winner, Mish Grigor, Firstdraft, Sydney, Oct 24, 26-28; http://firstdraftgallery.com/

take up thy bed & walk, gaelle mellis

Kyra Kimpton, Jo Dunbar, Michelle Ryan and Emma J Hawkins, Take Up Thy Bed and Walk, Gaelle Mellis photo Heath Britton

Australia Council Creative Fellow Gaelle Mellis is about to present her major project, Take Up Thy Bed and Walk, at Vitalstatistix in Port Adelaide. Mellis, who has a disability herself, has been a long time advocate for access and inclusion for people with disabilities and is perhaps best known for her work with Restless Dance Theatre. The new work is based on a book by Lois Keith titled Take Up Thy Bed and Walk: Death, Disability and Cure in Classic Fiction for Girls exploring the representation of women and disability in literature. Mellis says, “We all remember reading books like Heidi and Seven Little Australians, but what we may not remember is this literature’s obsession with the disabled body. Disability, female transgression and punishment were portrayed side by side. Unlike views about women, society’s understanding of disability has not changed greatly since these Victorian novels were penned” (press release). The work also includes reference to the Punk/New Wave icon Ian Drury (disabled after contracting polio as a child) and his song Spasticus Autisticus written in defiant response to the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons and subsequently banned by the BBC. Mellis has gathered an impressive team to realise the work including Ingrid Voorendt as co-director (from Ladykillers of which Mellis was founding member), Hilary Bell as writer and performed by Jo Dunbar, Emma J Hawkins, Kyra Kimpton, Michelle Ryan and Gerry Shearim. Mellis aims to build accessible features such as Auslan sign language and audio description into the fabric of the work. See the review in RealTime 112.
Take Up Thy Bed and Walk, Gaelle Mellis, Vitalstatistix, Port Adelaide, Oct 24-Nov 10; http://www.vitalstatistixtheatrecompany.blogspot.com.au/

pica - first amongst equals (part ii)

Elizabeth McAlpine, Black Noise (detail) 2006, Installation view, First Amongst Equals (Part I), Gertrude Contemporary 2012 photo Jake Walker, courtesy of the artist and Laura Bartlett Gallery, London

Curated by Leigh Robb, First Among Equals is an exhibition with two iterations, the first in August at Gertrude Contemporary in Melbourne and the second at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. It focuses on film, kinetics, colour, sound and time and features work made from 1936 to 2012. Playing with the concept of a group show, the exhibition is built around several pieces by UK artist Elizabeth McAlpine. Her website reveals that McAlpine’s practice spans film, photography and installation and the most impressive of her work involves neatly formal installations using Super 8 film projectors in which both projected image and projector-and-film-loop become a sculptural whole. At PICA she will be presenting a range of pieces including a two projector installation, a gramophone cast in plaster, a series of pinhole camera images and her collection of postcards of Big Ben—McAlpine seeking one card which displays every minute of the 12-hour clock. Her works are complemented by those from Christian Marclay who explores sound particularly in relation to records and phonography as well as moving image and time recently evidenced in his epic The Clock presented for the re-opening of the MCA in Sydney.

Similarly clear is the connection between McAlpine’s work and that of New Zealand artist Len Lye, one of the pioneers in scratch cinema involving direct manipulations of film (see RT92). The exhibition will also feature pieces by Australian artist Rebecca Bauman who explores kinetics and colour, and US artist Paul Pfieffer who works with video and the manipulation of media and found footage. The artworks are paired within the gallery space to create what the press release describes as “kaleidoscopic duets of colour, light, movement and sound.” McAlpine will also be collaborating with Perth architect Ariane Palassis to create an outdoor pavilion-for-one.
First Amongst Equals (Part II) curator Leigh Robb, PICA, November 3-Dec 30, http://www.pica.org.au

swedish for argument, uts gallery

Guy Ben-Ner, Stealing Beauty, 2007 courtesy the artist and Gimpel Fils, London

At some stage, just about everyone has been pushed to near nervous breakdown during the construction of a flat-packed blond wood item using an Allen key. Personally, I can barely walk around IKEA without hyperventilating in anticipation of the stressful outcome. The latest exhibition at UTS Gallery, curated by Holly Williams, explores the IKEA phenomenon—its ubiquity (the press release says that 10% of current European children have been conceived on an IKEA bed), its models of production and its effect on global consumption. The exhibition features performance, video and installation with highlights including Guy Ben-Ner’s Stealing Beauty filmed without permission in an IKEA store where his family re-enact everyday home life (viewable on YouTube). In a performance for video, Tony Schwensen will compare Sweden's historical dominance of Scandinavia with IKEA’s global retail share as the history of the company is read out loud simultaneously in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian and the artist attempts to construct an IKEA wardrobe without instructions. Also using performative video, Jess Olivieri with the Parachutes for Ladies will explore the choreography of moving through and against the flow of an IKEA store. Meanwhile Emma White has created reconfigurations of the iconic trademarked Allen key and Gary Carsley will redesign flat-pack furniture as an immersive installation. An artist talk and publication accompany the exhibition and there’s an IKEA Recovery Workshop to help us come to terms with anger-management issues,
Swedish for Argument, curator Holly Williams, UTS Gallery, Sydney, Oct 23-Nov 23; http://www.utsgallery.uts.edu.au/gallery/upcoming/swedishforargument.html

RealTime issue #111 Oct-Nov 2012 pg. web

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