Site is Set 2014

Armed with a one-off program grant from the Australia Council, Field Theory went about creating a series of site-specific micro festivals over three consecutive years. We wanted to generate a different kind of relationship with the curated artists - where deeper dramaturgical, producing and emotional support was offered, beyond the standard organisation / commissioned artist relationship.

In 2014, Over four weeks four artists presented live hypnotism, tours of an abandoned space museum, grieving dog walks and an expo within and expo.

Site is Set 2014 was curated by Jason Maling, Lara Thoms, Martyn Coutts and Jackson Castiglione with Producers Molly Whelan and Anna Schoo.

Zoe Meagher | Astrojet

Astrojet was an after-dark performance that commemorated Melbourne’s forgotten Astrojet Space Centre. Ambitious but short-lived, the museum was built in the early 1970s. Envisioned as ‘a window to the Space Age’, it incorporated exhibition spaces, shops and a cinema, but closed after three short years. Forty years on, the building still stands.

Part bus tour, part audio guide, Astrojet took us on an eerily familiar expedition to the building’s secret location. With projections, live performance and a disco-infused soundtrack, artist Zoe Meagher guided us to a resurrected Space Centre and illuminated its ill-fated history. Paying homage to 70s sci-fi and defeated Space Age optimism, Astrojet memorialised failure and invited us to consider our own monumental disappointments.

Lead Artist | Zoe Meagher
Production Support | Ian Jackson

Lara Thoms & Jason Maling| Exposition

Throughout the course of a year, Jason and Lara visited as many of the Expos Melbourne has to offer that they could get to. They learnt about quilting holidays on cruise ships, scarification, and dog hair. Exposition was their own carefully curated expo, representing the breadth and depth of these niche events. The project revealed some of the most specific and feted elements in the tattoo industry, the cosplay community, and the scrumble network. Exposition was both a social sculpture and an exclusive tour of the edges of expos, placed within Australia’s leading commercial art expo, The Melbourne Art Fair.

Royal Exhibition Building, Balcony as part of the MAF Edge, ‘Social Capital’ curated by Jacqueline Doughty.

Lead Artists | Lara Thoms and Jason Maling
In collaboration with | Thrill The Cosplay magazine, Fredd Briggs, Anton Venoir Antiques, Dead Cherub (Mat Rogers), Prudence Mapstone and The Astroscan2000.

Malcolm Whittaker | My Best Friend

Inspired by the passing of his family’s long-time pet dog Winnie, My Best Friend was a performative walk orchestrated by Malcolm Whittaker, in memory of deceased and departed pet dogs of Melbourne. Through the walking ritual that used to commonly be shared between these dogs and their owners parents, stories were shared of dogs that lived, loved and who have been lost.

Lead Artist | Malcolm Whittaker
Production support | Jackson Castiglione

Bron Batten | Use Your Illusion

After ten years of creative output Bron Batten got stuck in a rut. So she decided to visit a hypnotist to see if they could help her create her next show. This is what happened.

Use Your Illusion was a collaboration between Bron and a qualified hypnotist who placed her and several audience participants under hypnosis live on stage, blurring the lines between ‘truth’, ‘acting’, ‘performance’ and straight out ‘lying’. Set in the depths of the Collingwood Masonic Lodge the work drew on the mysterious atmosphere of this exclusive environment. Use Your Illusion pushed the boundaries of inhibition, exploited the power of suggestion and posed the question, what won’t Bron do for our entertainment?

Lead Artist | Bron Batter
Production Support | James Lipari