Arts House is celebrating the start of its second decade with an artistic program as deep as it is wide – one that hums with the vibrancy of diverse relationships with artists, audiences, communities and organisations both in Melbourne and across the world.
Since 2005, Arts House has been delighting audiences with innovative and experimental works that stretch and challenge the imagination.
Over the last ten years, Arts House has grown steadily through bold and vibrant programs such as Dance Massive, the Festival of Live Art and curated seasonal works.
Arts House plays a pivotal role in Melbourne’s contemporary arts scene, serving as an incubator for independent artists and emerging arts practices not only by presenting works but also by developing artists through the acclaimed CultureLAB program.
Chair of the City of Melbourne Arts and Culture portfolio, Councillor Rohan Leppert explains that by supporting Arts House, the City of Melbourne fosters the cultural lifeblood of the city and cements Melbourne’s status as one of the world’s great arts cities and a destination of choice for visitors and residents. “As a result of the ongoing success of Arts House, in February 2014 the City of Melbourne endorsed a new vision and commitment to grow Arts House as a centre of contemporary and experimental performance arts. Developed via a comprehensive engagement process with the arts sector and community, the Arts Strategy 2014–17 outlines the City of Melbourne’s commitments in relation to the arts over the next three years.”
The new direction and vision for Arts House will engage with new audiences, develop independent artists through a new Artist in Residence Program and work with communities in new ways by providing support, spaces and collaborative opportunities.
Arts House Artistic Director, Angharad Wynne-Jones highlights that through collaborative work, voices and passion (and with some incredible City of Melbourne staff, advisers and Councillors) Arts House has raised from an idea into a reality, “In our tenth year, we stand tall and proud of our purpose as an international centre of contemporary art, located in the best part of the city, North Melbourne – a perfect cultural counterpoint to the Southbank precinct. Our doors are wide open.”
“To the artists who consistently engage, provoke and stimulate us with boldly experimental, brilliantly executed work, exploring imaginative terrain that opens up entire new views of the world…welcome! To the co-experimenters and collaborators – formerly known as the audience – who engage, witness, participate and reflect, enabling artists to take risks that unearth the future … welcome! To our surrounding communities, who bring their culture, capacities and insightful critiques to the table: thank you for so generously offering new ways and showing us the well-worn paths that enable our connections with each other … welcome! And to our colleagues and friends in organisations and institutions across Melbourne, Australia and the globe, with whom we collaborate daily to make this work resonate fully: in partnership we are strong, able and sustainable … welcome!,” says Wynne-Jones.
Boldly local, national and international, Arts House builds long-term collaborations (PS122 and Melbourne Festival and Taipei Festival); reinvigorates old friendships (Melbourne Fringe and Spring Fling); continually seeds the development of new ideas through CultureLAB; and are deepening local connections by commissioning (with Arts and Participation, City of Melbourne) a participatory work to be presented at the Festival of Live Art in 2016.
Development of the independent arts sector is crucial to the arts ecology as a whole – The Supper Club, the Time_Place_Space: Nomad artists camp and the Peer Learning Program (with Theatre Network Victoria), are just some of the initiatives supporting this development.
Arts House are thrilled to announce three new initiatives: the Artist in Residence Program, enabling extraordinary artists to further develop their practice; 4 Walls: Space for Developing, Testing and Rehearsal, giving artists access to much-needed space for experimentation, rehearsal and play; and Future Past – a living archive and exhibition program that opens the magnificent North Melbourne Town Hall building to the public, documents its history and projects its future.
This is the first season of this new phase for Arts House and includes a collection of works that will entertain, surprise and entice audiences, including:
Dance theatre – Melbourne premiere
AHILAN RATNAMOHAN (AU/BE)
SDS1
19 – 22 August 2015
Soccer becomes theatre: stripped back, extracted, frozen, repeated, abstracted
Dance – World premiere
JO LLOYD
Confusion for Three
26 – 30 August 2015
From idiosyncratic rhythm to hypnotic tension – an extraordinary new choreographic exploration
Experimental – Australian premiere
KATE MCINTOSH (NZ/BE)
All Ears
3 – 6 September 2015
A performed acoustic laboratory of humour, humanity, mischief and togetherness
Experimental – World premiere
MATTHEW SLETH
A Drone Opera
10 – 13 September 2015
An experimental multimedia performance featuring drones, their pilots and opera singers
Music – World premiere
MARTIN FRIEDEL & MICHAEL KIERAN HARVEY
Dance of the Bee
11 – 13 September 2015
An interspecies performance and installation for pianos, choir and bee swarm
Theatre, dance, visual art – Australian premiere
OKWUI OKPOKWASILI (US)
Bronx Gothic
8 – 12 October 2015
A dark and powerful tale of sexual self-discovery in outer-borough NYC
Theatre – Australian premiere
ANDREW SCHNEIDER (US)
YOUARENOWHERE
15 – 19 October 2015
A fluid, sensory transformation of time, space and preconceptions
Theatre – World premiere
ANTECHAMBER PRODUCTIONS
EDMUND. THE BEGINNING
10 – 22 November 2015
A distorted, confessional who’s who of characters both real and imaginary
Theatre – World premiere
NICOLA GUNN/SANS HOTEL
Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster
11 – 15 November 2015
Why throw stones at a sitting duck? Why?
Theatre – World premiere
RIDICULUSMUS (AU/UK)
Give Me Your Love
18 – 22 November 2015
DIY therapy meets battle re-enactment – on the best psychedelics you can buy