Director and choreographer Lee Serle melds audience and artists in the interactive, immersive and participatory performance piece Multimodal, occupying THE SUBSTATION, Newport from 30 August – 4 September 2016.
Multimodal guides randomly selected audience members through a series of physical, sonic, olfactory and choreographic experiences housed within The SUBSTATION’s various post-industrial spaces. Those selected contribute to the work’s unfolding content as they journey through Byron Scullin’s visceral sonic experiences, physical movement spaces and immersive, scent laden installations from visual artist Liz Henderson and Lee Serle, eliciting memories and personal narratives throughout the performance ritual.
Performers Deanne Butterworth, Benjamin Hancock, Geoffrey Watson and Rebecca Jensen, together with eight guides, lead the inductees through the installation series – blurring the lines between performer and audience, public and private space, as the ritual’s voyeurs (the audience) observe their performance induction from afar.
“I have been particularly inspired to make participatory work in recent years as the audience plays an integral role in providing the content for the work and how this is framed and organised. Multimodal also continues my interest in site-specific performance, utilising unique aspects of a space to enhance the experience,” said Lee Serle – whose latest project saw him choreograph Kanye West’s newest single Wolves featuring vocals from Sia and cameos from Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Cindy Crawford.
Mentored by seminal American choreographer Trisha Brown in New York as well as Tere O’Connor, Lee divides his time between New York and Australia. Serle’s body of work has taken varied contexts and forms including dances for the stage, site-specific, interactive performance installations and intimate solo works.
Lee has been commissioned to create new works for the Lyon Opera Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) and Dancenorth amongst others. His collaborations and performances include works by Lucy Guerin Inc., Chunky Move (Gideon Obarzanek), Trisha Brown Dance Company, Shelley Lasica, Stephanie Lake, Antony Hamilton and Byron Perry amongst others, and has seen him tour extensively worldwide.
Melbourne practitioner Byron Scullin explores the technological representation and amplification of sound as well as its properties as a physical presence. Scullin was mentored by producer and composer Francois Tetaz and throughout his 20 year career has contributed sound to feature films such as Wolf Creek and contemporary dance productions by Lucy Guerin and Gideon Obarzanek.
Byron has also worked with audio-visual artist Robin Fox and video artist Daniel Crooks, as well as Australian composers Anthony Pateras, Marco Fusinato, Oren Ambarchi, and notable international artists Bernard Parmegiani, Tony Conrad, and Steven O’Malley
Melbourne artist, Liz Henderson began her studies in photo based media and now works in object based installation. Her passion for scent, which is the focus of her practice, has resulted in overseas residencies and numerous solo and group exhibitions.
The dancers assembled for Multimodal are young, vibrant multitalented performers who have worked with some of Australia’s leading choreographers, companies and festivals including: Gideon Obarzanek, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc, Phillip Adams BalletLab, MONA FOMA and Dark MOFO.
Multimodal
The SUBSTATION, 1 Market Street, Newport
Season: 31 August – 4 September 2016 (preview: 30 August)
Information and Bookings: www.thesubstation.org.au
Image: The SUBSTATION presents Lee Serle’s Multimodal – photo by Mateo Lopez