Image: Day for Night
When Sydney performance artist Emma Price was approached by Jeff Khan from Performance Space to collaborate on part exhibition, part performance piece Day for Night at the 2014 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, she was inspired to interrogate the way in which the human body extends between notions of time and space.
‘It’s a big weird baby that Jeff and I have made,’ said Price. ‘It comes from the traditions of performance events that the Performance space have held in the past. Day for Night is a combination of shorter works on repeat, and these longer, beautiful endurance works that explore the body as a progression.’
As one of the key cultural events of this year’s Mardi Gras festival, Day for Night features an impressive line up of artists including Justin Shoulder (The River Eats, 2013), Alex Clapham and Penelope Benton (I Want Candy, Underbelly 2013), burlesque supernova Lillian Starr, durational performance art hero Frances Barrett and all girl collective Hissy Fit.
Presented over three days, the part event, part live art exhibition, part dance party will run daily with two eight hour rotating blocks, exploring social spaces, counter cultures, and notions of community whilst interrogating traditional theatrical contexts in Bay 17 at Sydney’s Carriageworks.
‘We’ve been working with traditional modes of practice, but also non gallery spaces that posed an intervention – We’re looking at a program that could bridge sensibilities,’ said Price. ‘We wanted to do something that also had a histrionic excavation feel to it, and looked at practices of old, how the queer voice has been shaped within the Sydney performance scene.’
Price said that using this model allowed for the development of great material and as a reference point allowed the artists involved to engage with the theme of Day for Night in their own unique way. ‘Price and Khan met regularly with the artists to manage the dramaturgical side of the development process.
‘The term Day for Night is a term used mostly in film, using tungsten and film during the day. It gave that basic idea of transformative selection to artists that Jeff and I, after many meetings were really happy with.‘
Price added that a wonderful opportunity has been created for the artists to work both collaboratively and developmentally with the likes of Paul Mac and Johnny Seymour. ‘We’re really excited about the sound component of Day for Night, because that will breathe into the soundscape that drives the party at the end of day three.’
As a durational performance, audience members will be free to come and go from the event. ‘It’s built for a roving audience’, Price continues, ‘people can come and go, you can see something else in Mardi Gras or just take their watches off and disengage in the space between day and night.’
‘The application of the theme is so diverse. People can really [engage] with that lovely sense of transcendence, losing yourself to find yourself, were building something that has the potential for people to have an experience in the day, which is amplified in the evening.’
Day for Night is presented by Performance Space and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2014 at Carriageworks, and runs from Thursday 13 February to Saturday 15 February.
For more information including ticket bookings visit the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras website.
