Infiltrate is a key word for performer, puppeteer and visual artist Laura Purcell as she creates new and strategic ways to get her ideas out into the world. Believing in Life as Art, lately she has been infiltrating and incubating the visual arts scene in Hobart with her penchant for the performative, through her alter ego/character, Rhonda Voo.

Rhonda, a vivacious and stunningly attired Hobart socialite and promoter of the arts, was inspired by the renowned 1970’s strong and independent activist and Lake Peddar campaigner Brenda Heane, who was also an altruistic promoter of the arts. As a tool for Purcell, Rhonda is both a catalyst for her experimentation and a facilitator for the presentation of her work, always breaking down the fourth wall between the artist and audience. She creates situations, exhibitions and collaborations in which Purcell (and her colleagues) can extend and experiment with their art.

Her most recent collaborative exhibition, at the Entrepot Gallery in Hobart, gave Purcell and a group of artists the opportunity to respond to the word Rendezvous through performance and live art, keeping the space alive by changing artists in the gallery, daily. Following the live creation in the gallery, a trace or residue of the work was left to accumulate over the weeks of the exhibition, leaving exciting, engaging, and sometimes oblique visions of what had happened.

At the official opening, Rhonda Voo chatted with the crowd, filling glasses and posing for photographs. With stunning blue chiffon gown and amazing bouffant hair she pointed out a number of works created by artists who had performed here earlier in the week.

On the back wall a collection of some 30 pencil-sketched portraits were the result of Anna Cocks and Darren Cooks’, Blind Date. Exploring the notion of the simultaneous portrait, participants chose one of the artists as a date. They then drew a portrait without looking at the paper .The accumulation of images side by side, are a powerful evocation of the process, the squiggly lined portraits full of energy and life.

Chris Leiaubons’ work explored aspects of genealogy and the searching for possible ancestors. His residue was a composite portrait, an amorphous continuous head created from slices of the photos taken of passers-by during his day of performance. The photographs were shot, printed and shredded right here, the equipment lined up across the space, before being reassembled to hang on the wall. This strangely recognizable image grabbed me immediately – the eyes and mouths and slivers of flesh blending into a quite disturbing but recognizable vision. I’m not sure that I would want this figure to be an ancestor of mine, but the pile of discarded photo shreds below provided a visceral reminder of the process and the bodies of those involved.

Fiona Richardsons’ piece examined the appropriation of culture. Having worked with a group of young people from the rural small town of Geeveston, who primarily appropriate culture through their mobile phones, Richardsons walked up and down on a roll of paper laid across the gallery space. As part of her performance her feet were covered in Geeveston mud, and all the while she sent was sending text messages back to the town. The result was a swirling mud map that now hangs on the wall, its dried detritus fallen off into a pile of delicate chocolate like flakes resting on the bottom of scroll.

Meanwhile, in the three corners of the room, The Intercollective – a group of three young woman from Perth in colour-coordinated outfits and settings, (a bed, a couch, a kitchen table) offered five minute dates. All with a French theme, each a tiny collaboration with the public. One could chose from a)French knitting with Claire, b)Listening to a French song with Laura, or c)Cooking and eating crepes with Anna. Visually this was great fun and quite an atmosphere built as people milled around and waited for their turn, but I craved something more heightened from my interactions, and wondered what they were trying to say?

The next day Purcell, this time as DJ, shared the gallery with her enthusiastic colleague Jacki Ho doing what she loves most – dancing. Commenting both on the clash between the tribal and the contemporary, as well as the nature of the gallery space as opposed to the theatre, they created a disco complete with lighting ,tribal decorations and mirror balls. Cranking up the stereo they danced themselves into a lather for four continuous hours, inspired by each others selection of Pop/Tribal beats. The public and other artists watched and joined in during this time, mostly joyously, but some with a little disdain for such noise levels in a public space. The residue of this discussion continues...

Citing Joseph Boyes and Marcell Duchamp amongst her influences Purcell’s next venture will be an “intervention”. Inspired by what is to be the largest roundabout in southern Tasmania (which will destroy parts of an historic and environmentally important farm), the work will be a visceral response to the dilemma.

Exploring history, anthropomorphism, ingrained memory and ethical geography Purcell expects to include installations using road kill, humorous metaphorically inspired billboards featuring Rhonda, as well as hosted tours of the farm. I cant wait!

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