This is a new work created in collaboration with young Australians – Machine Atlas – is premiering at Kogarah Town Square from 25-28 August. Presented by Shopfront Contemporary Arts and Performance and framed against a bustling suburban shopping precinct, Machine Atlas transforms a public space into a world where anything is possible…if you have the right machine.
Imagine if you could revisit moments that changed your life through choice, accident or necessity - stop time, and invent the perfect solution; the ideal contraption to make sense of the world. A group of young people are exploring this idea in a new immersive work comprising performance, music, film and installation, inviting the community into a specially-designed market place.
At this market you can sample an array of bespoke machines for living …
Machines that we need
Cause and effect machines
Mechanical body extensions
Machines that make you look good
This unique project features the work of a team of emerging theatre makers and 80 young people involved in Shopfront’s Outreach and Education Program. Shopfront undertakes activities in the community on multiple levels; working with schools, community organisations and services to create exciting arts projects that engage young people at their point of need and interest. Shopfront provides an artistic platform for all young people to tell their story, and the Outreach program is dedicated to providing artistic access for young people who might not otherwise get the opportunity.
For Machine Atlas, students from Woniora Road High School, Lomandra School, Shalvey High School, Kogarah IEC and the St George Links to Learning program have created original content – a glimpse of their imagined worlds – through creative workshops with an international team of professional artists, listed below.
Shopfront’s Outreach Director, Sarah Emery, said,
“Many of the young people in this project have fallen out of mainstream education for a number of reasons, where difference and non-compliance is not tolerated. In our methods there is no wrong or right way of contributing, of creating art.
“We want every young person to engage with the question at the heart of this project, and bring what they can to have a positive experience. And given that opportunity, they do. Seeing the world from their perspectives is truly eye opening. The work they create is unique and inspiring, and sharing it with the community is wonderful.”
Shopfront Contemporary Arts and Performance is a multi-arts centre, based in South East Sydney; a dynamic multicultural mecca with a diverse socio-economic population. Shopfront is recognised as a national cultural innovator, leading the way in vibrant art forms created by young people. Shopfront champions the true time and idealism of being young – from childhood through to young adulthood, blazing a pathway for confident civic and cultural participation.
Shopfront has a 35-year history of working in the community, and a track record in creating large-scale art events from the ideas and interests of diverse young people, infusing performance, multi-media and hybrid arts to enrich and enliven a city site.
MACHINE ATLAS is a FREE event
Performance Dates:
Kogarah Town Square, Belgrave Street, Kogarah
25 (Preview) – 28 August, 2011
Creative Team:
Artistic Director: Caitlin Newton-Broad
Outreach Director: Sarah Emery
Movement Artist: Victoria Hunt
Sound Artists: Michael Moebus, Heaps Decent
Costume and Design Artist: Katja Handt
Set Designer: Robin Whitmore
Performance and Rigging Artist: Bernadette Regan
Live Video Artist: Sasha Cohen
Lighting Designer: Stephen Hawker
Digital Media Artist: Kenzie Larsen
Guest Workshop Artists: Joey Ruigrok Van De Werven, Clare Britton, Matt Prest