Near Sighted
Near Sighted
History
Location
fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne, VictoriaStart date
2023-10-03End date
2023-10-14Language
engNotes
In 1960 in South Australia, aeronautical engineers fired ten intermediate range ballistic missiles into the ‘uninhabited’ Great Sandy Desert from Woomera Rocket Range. Part of the Blue Streak program aimed at developing Britain’s military resources into a credible nuclear deterrent threat, the rockets were loaded with inert 3000 kilotonne warheads. Fast forward to 2023, and Australians are living in a place and time in which notions of global safety have never been more unstable. Part poem, part sound experiment, part visual art work, Near Sighted considers the ways in which the passage of time colours our perspectives of events, histories and identities. In an innovative cross-disciplinary investigation in which texts and sounds and images are composed and contained within tiny painted worlds, PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release 2 of 3 theatre-maker Kate Hunter, creator of 2019’s critically acclaimed Earshot, presents a contemporary re- imagining of the paperboard ‘miniature theatres’ of the nineteenth century.Research statement
Background Taylor (2016) writes that ‘a performance implies an audience or participants’(Taylor 2016). This creative practice research project interrogates the ways in which an innovative interdisciplinary process which brings quite discrete disciplines together (theatre, sound practice and visual art) can open up new opportunities for audience engagement. In doing so, it examines the exceptional nature of devised theatre methodology, and asks the question: How might devising methods be applied to other artistic disciplines to disrupt the notion of performance by positioning it as a set of operations that exist beyond the theatre, and perhaps even without live bodies? Contribution ‘Near Sighted’ was an audiovisual installation comprised of 7 small dioramas. Reminiscent of theatrical scenographic prototypes, the dioramas were embedded with ‘Raspberry Pi’ microcontroller technology offering a rich array of multi-controls across light & sound. They were animated through a synchronised technological system which linked the audio story to the object/s within. The work contributed to critical discourses about the nature of – & necessity for - liveness in performance, & forged an innovative new methodology by intersecting devising strategies across performance, sound, visual art & technology to create immersive participatory experiences. Significance Near Sighted was programmed into Melbourne gallery/performance venue fortyfivedownstairs as part of its curated 2023 program. Significance of the work is evidenced by its high profile contributors (Jem Savage from Australian Art Orchestra as fabricator & award-winning poet & playwright Emilie Collyer as dramaturge). fortyfivedownstairs is one of Australia’s key venues which programs contemporary art & performance & has a comprehensive, extensive audience & patron network, prioritising innovative work which is audience-focussed. The exhibition will provide the support material & documentation for grant applications to present a larger body of work in 2024/25.Publication classification
JL2 Live Performance of Creative Works – PlayExtent
7 watercolour dioramas mounted in archive boxes with built in mp3 audio and LED lights operated by embedded microcontroller.Editor/Contributor(s)
Savage J, Collyer E, Lange JEvent
Near Sighted. Exhibition (2023 : Melbourne, Victoria)Publisher
fortyfivedownstairsPlace of publication
fortyfivedownstairsPublication URL
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