CONTENT WARNING: THIS PAGE CONTAINS NUDITY
Triptych enables risk taking, experimentation and freedom of expression by creating space for, amplifying, and taking pride in, homosexuality and the queer acts within contemporary dance
Phillip Adams' bold new collaborative dance work brings together 10 artists and designers spanning the mediums of choreography, performance painting and film.
Triptych draws inspiration from Francis Bacon’s polarising and idiosyncratic versions of the Crucifixion in his Triptych paintings (1944–86). The project aspires to reimagine Bacon's work through queer interventions and invites a nuanced viewing of the choreography, simultaneously across three platforms: dance, film and installation. Bacon’s use of life and death, beauty and violence, civilisation and barbarism are where Phillip draws parallels with his work, as it comes to symbolise more than the historical and religious event itself. Triptych aims to celebrate the cultural kitsch of Christian spirituality and transform its heteronormative iconography with a queer veneer
Phillip’s collaborators on Triptych are some of Australia’s most influential contemporary artists who each offer their unique creative ingenuity to the project: visual artists Paul Yore and Devon Ackerman; fashion designer Toni Maticevski; composer David Chisholm; and video artist James Wright.
"These artists break with convention, make queer art and design with intelligence, and experiment with the sort of risk that gives way to unshakeable originality. Their work is a reminder that art doesn’t have to be buttoned-up; it can be ridiculous, obscene, nonsensical and raw." – Phillip Adams
Project creatives:
Choreography and Direction: Phillip Adams
Design: Paul Yore and Devon Ackerman
Costume: Toni Maticevski
Music: David Chisholm
Video: James Wright
Performers: Benjamin Hurley, Harrison Hall, Oliver Savariego, Samuel Harnett-Welk and Alexandra Dobson (understudy)
Temperance Hall Artistic Director Phillip Adams' career in dance and performance spans over 25 years as a vital contributor to the richness of Australian performing arts. Adams' works provide a crucial point of differentiation: a psychologically generative, collaborative environment that continually extends the parameters of dance and visual art-based practices to produce bold artistic choreography and art works. Adams’ process draws on collaboration through hybrid mediums of music, design, fashion, architecture, cinema and visual arts, engaging with the unorthodox, queer and popular culture. Adams' work has been presented internationally at leading festivals and venues and commissioned by many Australian dance companies and museums. Adams graduated from the VCA in 1988 and thereafter spent a decade performing and working in New York with many companies and independent choreographers. Adams returned to Australia in 1997 and established his company Phillip Adams BalletLab. BalletLab has presented internationally at leading festivals and venues in the USA, Europe and Asia. Adams' commissions include: The Australian Ballet; Chunky Move; Back to Back Theatre; Lux Boreal (Mexico); Guongdong Modern Dance Company (China); Dance Works Rotterdam (Netherlands); City Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong); and Niteroi City Ballet (Brazil). Phillip has continued to play a leading role in driving choreography’s curation into Australian museums and galleries, including works commissioned for MONA, NGV, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Art Gallery of WA, Melbourne Museum and M Pavilion.
Images from top to bottom:
Screenshot of Triptych development. Image by Phillip Adams.
Triptych development collage. Screenshots of videography by James Wright. Collage by Phillip Adams and Sophie Gabrielle Pigram.
Triptych
DATE AND TIME
Dates to be advised
LOCATION
Temperance Hall
199 Napier Street
South Melbourne
DURATION
Times to be advised
ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair accessible
