Mandy Field artist | creative facilitator
Produce
Enfold 2015 - 2017
Producer
Enfold, a new site responsive dance, music and textiles performance installation by the Opal Vapour Artists (Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, Ria Soemardjo and Paula van Beek) explores themes of tidal shorelines, relocation and shelter through the performative activation of objects and audiences.
Integrating choreography, live music, resonant voice, shadow and textile objects, the artists will draw on the unique collaborative processes they have established in the premier work of the same name: Opal Vapour.
With an initial season at Artshouse Performance Climates, 2016 Performance Studies International (PSi) conference July 5-9, Enfold will also be presented at dawn and dusk over 4 days at the Darwin Festival, in August and at 'Artlands' in Dubbo, in October 2016.
For more info visit: www.opalvapour.com.au
Images from the 2015 November development at Powerhouse Youth Theatre in Fairfield, Western Sydney.
The project had many layers - supporting art form innovation through exploring the synthesis of traditional Wayang puppetry and video mapping for theatre, offering professional development of both Australian and Indonesian Artists in exchanging art form expertise, and an enriching cultural exchange through the full team working in an intensive rehearsal period and a season of 13 shows.
Artists are currently considering whether the work can be revisited in a way that could engage the Ubud based team again, and performed at Venues across South East Asia. The Book of Shadows was invited to present at the World Puppet Carnival in Bangkok last November, and there was interest from China and also in Jakarta, but the timing of the Shimmer season and the already committed budgets, meant we had to decline the offer and consider an independent tour.
For more info visit: www.bookofshadows.org
The Book of Shadows, 2014
Producer
The Book of Shadows saw a development process spanning close to 12 months, across 2 countries, involving 18 artists across 2 distinct cultures with a sell out preview at the Darwin Festival, and record ticket sales throughout its full season of 13 performances in the Browns Mart ‘Shimmer’ Program.
The Book of Shadows; a unique blend of mixed media theatre performance incorporating live actors, traditional Balinese Wayang and contemporary shadow puppetry and video projections created a series of stories, interpreting myths, legends, folk tales and the art of storytelling from different cultures around the world.
Created by the Cicada Collective, an artist collective that combines the skills and talents of artists, filmmakers, animators, puppeteers and musicians from across Darwin.
The show was written and directed by award winning filmmaker and video artist Timothy Parish who brings a cinematic sensibility to the work, with the additions of animation and motion graphics that compliment the live puppetry.
The Marruk Project
Associate Producer (2013 - Current)
Marruk’, (pronounced ‘Mah-rook’), means enormous multitude in local Wamba Wamba language. The name represents a group of 100 young people, elders and cultural leaders, from Swan Hill’s Aboriginal and culturally diverse community. The Marruk Project began in 2009 and many of the artists and participants have worked together creating new theatre works for community development outcomes since then. It was initiated by Uncle Bruce Baxter, a Waradjuri man who lived in the Wamba Wamba country of Swan Hill since he was a child. Each year, the Aboriginal community’s sharing of cultural knowledge has been the basis of Marruk’s new theatre works.
At the project’s core lies the timeless cultural symbols embedded within the Creation stories. Through the creative development process, the stories are explored in a contemporary context, and are the starting point for a shared cultural journey investigating the universality of symbols whilst drawing together a synthesis of cultural practices - resulting in a new work of theatre and a contemporary ceremony through a truly unique, creative process.
The Marruk Project takes a unique and exciting approach to connecting all members of its local community in the regional Victorian town of Swan Hill. It uses performing arts to strengthen culture and create opportunities for elders, young people, artists and cultural leaders to get to know each other by sharing their histories.
Through acting, puppetry, dance, live music and video, the project not only raises cross-cultural awareness but develops the skills of participating performers. The group started with Aboriginal performers and now involves non-Indigenous people from the Swan Hill community, including Afghan and Sudanese refugees.
Marruk connects people to culture through creative productions, empowers individuals and keeps age-old dreaming stories alive.
“One of the unique things about this project is its ability to bring the whole town together. It’s what we should be seeing across the world. We need things like this to co-exist—to build understanding. To actually witness it bringing the town together is something that’s almost beyond belief.”
Mick Dodson, Indigenous Governance Award, Chair
For more information visit: www.themarrukproject.com
The Marruk Projects' Creative Producer Angela Frost talking about the project on winning Reconciliation Australia's Indigenous Governance Award 2014.