PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL: LIVEWORKS
BY AMELIA GROOM
Comprising 24 events and 120 local and international artists, Performance Space is presenting LiveWorks, a 10-day program of intimate performance events. Based in and around CarriageWorks, the series has a focus on the intersections between visual arts, sound and performance, and on the permeable relationship between artists and audience.
The UK’s acclaimed experimental theatre group Pacitti Company will be in residence for two weeks presenting two new works. Civil is inspired by the time Robert Pacitti spent with Quentin Crisp in New York, and uses live performance, film, slides, original sound materials and music to explore issues of liberty and disobedience. Finale is an in situ performance that sees the Pacitti Company join forces with 12 local artists. Abstractly based on Emile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin, it’s described as a visceral performance work full of sexual obsessions and jealous distractions.
Other highlights include the Perth’based Pvi Collective who will be inviting audiences to patrol the streets around Newtown and Marrickville with them for Reform; and This is Not a Playground by Melbourne’based duo Panther, which takes audience of 10 to a local children’s playground and engages with ideas of make-believe and play in public spaces.
In Underground, Aphids will be doing percussion performances with handcrafted miniature percussive sculptures for audiences of eight. Sarah Jane Norman is also doing a dance piece for an audience of one at a time, called Songs of Rapture & Torture 1, and in Roza Ilgen’s In My Shoes the artist will be working with human hair to sculpt customized shoes for audience members.
After 9 years as director at Performance Space, LiveWorks is Fiona Winning’s last project with the company before she resigns. ‘We’ve been through a lot of changes since 1999 when I came on board,’ she says ‘including the move from Cleveland St to the beautiful CarriageWorks’ I’m thrilled to have worked on LiveWorks as my last project with Performance Space because we’ve used a whole range of different spots in and around CarriageWorks. In particular, we’ve looked at ways to create intimate spaces within the vast, industrial-scale building.’
Winning says she’s attracted to interactive, performance-based art because of its capacity for exchange and real engagement. ‘While some of the projects in LiveWorks will have audiences who simply sit and watch, a lot of the artists are doing works that demand a more dynamic relationship with the audience. Often the audience will be a part of the performance, and in our experience that’s something people really love.’
Liveworks is on at CarriageWorks (245 Wilson St, Eveleigh) and surrounding areas until September 7. Some events are free, some are ticketed at $15-$30. There’s also the option of a $50 membership which covers 15 events and 3 panels, or a $25 day pass. For more information see performancespace.com.au/liveworks
