Event
War-Rak Banksia FestivalPublisher
La Mama TheatreLocation
La Mama TheatrePlace of publication
Melbourne, Vic.Start date
2021-12-09End date
2021-12-12Language
engNotes
Sonic Shoebox is an intimate audio-visual installation of a set of small dioramas which investigates the ontology of bodies as 'things'.Research statement
While contemporary art practice has a long history of embracing death topics, artworks that question the place of the dead body as a ‘thing’ are not so common. This research aims to disrupt our human perturbations around ‘deadness’ and foreground the ageism that is implicit in many aspects of Australian contemporary life through an investigation into the ontology of the dead body.
Australians are now a rapidly ageing population in a time of radical technological change, including fundamental shifts in biomedical procedures which allow us to survive accidents, augment body parts, transplant organs, freeze our bodies, and live longer. Explicated within and through an audio/visual installation entitled ‘Sonic Shoebox’ which uses an innovative blend of verbatim theatre methodology, electroacoustic sound design, live/participatory art and diorama model-making, this work embraces assemblage in its exploration of the ways in which humans and non-humans interact, intersect, intermingle and interchange. ‘Sonic Shoebox’ addresses the frailty and the resilience of the human body and in doing so challenges the fluid boundaries that exist between humans and objects.
Curated into a contemporary program of performance, installation and live art events at La Mama Theatre’s War-Ruk Festival, ‘Sonic Shoebox’ is a collaboration with sound designer Jem Savage and is a component of ‘The Thing Is’ - a Deakin Motion Lab project with artist-researchers Patrick Pound and Glenn D’Cruz..Publication classification
JO1 Original Creative Works – Visual Art WorkScale
NTRO MinorExtent
8 colour photographsEditor/Contributor(s)
James Savage
