Dimension Crossing

Overview

The first lesson you will learn is to bring something to cover your hair when you lie down. To do otherwise is to ensure that you have a head full of charcoal and, no matter what the word around the playground is, that's not necessarily the best accessory for where you're going. Such is the life of a traveller at Performance Space's current season, Dimension Crossing: welcome to a state of being where you will be rained upon, whispered at and, for those who like to sit and watch, witness work between life, death and virtual reality.

For those seeking charcoal in their hair — your first stop is Robyn Backen's Whisper Pitch, an installation that conjures up two brick "whispering walls" in the Carriageworks foyer. Guests are welcome to bring their own whispers into this space, but there is a rich experience to be had by listening to the recorded whispers that seep out of the walls. Multilingual, evocative of stories that never quite begin or end, these whispered snippets will quite easily coax listeners into lying on the floor for an extended period of attention. Just keep an eye out for that pesky charcoal.

Not to worry, however, for if you do leave Whisper Pitch with a head like a pepper shaker, your salvation lies in the deluge of Michaela Gleave's Our Frozen Moment. Another installation, it is a cinematic experience that invites guests to stand in a never-ending rain shower while an unceasing strobe pulses strange images through the falling droplets. The effect is mesmerising — time need not be counted in this place, and soon your eyes will encourage you to stare at the white noise that manifests at intervals around you. If Whisper Pitch suggests a larger narrative, Our Frozen Moment seals all stories into a single point of soaking experience.

Between these two points is a program of three, short-season works that navigate between realms. Yumi Umiumare's EnTrance opened the program with a butoh performance situated between the "near shore of life" and the "far shore of death", a polarity reflected both by concerns of life and death as well as through the contrast in style between Japanese traditions and contemporary Japanese city culture.

Soon to come is Victoria Hunt's new solo dance work Copper Promises: Hinemihi Haka, which has grown out of Hunt's experiences in reconnecting with her family and Maori heritage. Like EnTrance, Hunt's work creates a conceptual landscape that charts a between-place: in this case a place that links Hunt over the gulf of time with her female ancestor, Hinemihi.

The final work to be shown in Dimension Crossing is the hypermediated child of the 21st century, Computer Boy. Blessed with an LCD screen for a head, Computer Boy is perhaps a reversal of the Pinocchio tale — he is a puppet who, rather than wanting to become a real boy, presents a state where real children regularly slip into the virtual. Whether or not they need to be pulled back from this brink will be answered by the collaborative talents of Blood Policy and APHIDS.

For individual season dates, see the full Dimension Crossing program at the Performance Space website..

Image from EnTrance by Yumi Umiumare by Garth Oriander