PROJECTS 2011

NEGOTIATE BANKSTOWN
Feb - Bankstown Arts Centre

THE CASTASTROPHE TRILOGY / LONE TWIN THEATRE
March - European tour

NOW NEXT / PERFORMANCE SPACE AT THE CROSSROADS
PRAGUE QUANDRENNIAL OF PERFORMANCE DESIGN AND SPACE
June - Prague

FREE RADICAL for GENERATING THE IMPOSSSIBLE
SENSE LAB
July - Montreal

SPLENDID ARTS LAB
Co-ordinating provocateur
July/August - Lismore, NSW

HOT AUGUST NIGHT
Meat Market, Melbourne, 20th August
Co-curation of works plus the performance - SHORT PLAYS OF CONTRADICTION / LAMENTATIONS ON UBIQUITY AND OTHER POSSSIBLE OUTCOMINGS

THE CASTASTROPHE TRILOGY / LONE TWIN THEATRE
9th Sept - Riga, Latvia

THE ROCKS INTERPRETATIVE EVENTS INCUBATOR
Nov 14 - 27th - Sydney

RETURN TO SENDER

30 Nov - 3rd Dec
Co - curation of dance works with Jeff Kahn
The Performance Space, Sydney


WORKS IN PROGRESS

OVERLAY
Theatre work with Jeff Stein

COMPARTMENT 114
Set/visual design
Kinesis Dance Company, Vancouver

TEACHING A NEW DOG OLD TRICKS - with PAUL GRANJON
Comissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre
to premiere in 2012

PROJECTS 2010


FEB

IF I GO LIKE YOU...
HERENOW @ APAM, Adelaide Festival, Australia


MARCH - MAY

THE CATASTROPHE TRILOGY - LONE TWIN THEATRE
A celebration of the human spirit’s ability to survive even the most testing of times, The Catastrophe Trilogy is a collection of works that share a common playful interest in the act of storytelling and are at once touching, comic and resolutely hopeful. - Alice Bell, Daniel, Hit by a Train and The Festival.

Premiere @ The Barbican, London - March 2 - 13th
UK tour + performances at Kunsten Festival, Brussels and Huis Ad Werf Festival, Utrecht

Paul is a founding and ongoing collaborator of LONE TWIN THEATRE



APRIL - MAY

CANAL WORK DANCES - DANCING THE WATERWAYS PROJECT
A commissioned work for the International Dance Festival Birmingham

Celebrates the people and the surrounding architectures of bridges, locks and buildings interlinked to the rhythm of the waterways. Exploring the physicality of labour and the human relationship with the barges as they move upon the canals.

Performances in and around Birmingham from the 19th April to the 15th May.




JUNE
3 works for Play! Leipzig - Movement in Urban Spaces Festival, Leipzig, Germany

THE PRODUCTION OF SUSPICIOUS BODIES - workshop/presentation

Examines what body actions, codes of behaviour and the context that stipulates 'suspicious actvity'. Explorations into the urban setting to expose the unseen rules that dictate and control spaces. How seemingly 'normal behaviour' can be considered doubtful in another. Strategies for producing false representations, subverted readings of oneself and tactics for avoiding detection. Presentation on the 25th June

STREET WALKS - LEIPZIG
The Street Walks series is an ongoing and evolving site-specific video based project that re-interprets the simple activity of walking as a cinematic event. Filmed at a walking speed from a moving vehicle, a distinct approach to the way the local environment is conventially witnessed is generated. Highlighting the characteristics of the urban composition in juxtaposition to the filmed bodies. Through a series of individual walks an artistic insight is gained into the relationship between the user and the local. Installation and individual screenings throughout the event.

R.U.N.
Screening on the 26th June,
Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig

THE PRODUCTION OF SUSPICIOUS BODIES / VIDEO
19 & 20th june, ADA studios, Schönhauser Allee 73 / QuARTier 73, 2. HH, 1. OG
10437 Berlin – Prenzlauer Berg,
Berlin


JULY - AUGUST

Mentor to Georgie Meagher & Malcolm Whittaker on the project Kansas
as part of Vacant Room - PACT, NSW

Co ordinating Provocateur
SPLENDID, Lismore, NSW


NEGOTIATE BANKSTOWN - a series of short video documentary styled works, investigating how one's physical relationship to the urban, impacts and defines a sense of place.

Over 1 month, 10 local people will be interviewed and filmed as they negotiate their specific and alsi undefined routes through Bankstown. Exposing sites of familiar, everyday routine and the unknown that guide and dictates ones personal interaction with the urban. The final works will be screened at the opening of the new Bankstown Arts Centre in Feb 2011.

Produced in collaboration with Rosie Dennis and Jeff Stein and supported by Urban Theatre Projects and the Bankstown Council, NSW. In association with Bankstown Youth Development Services. This work is the second stage development of the project THE STATE WE ARE IN that commenced in 2009 as part of Urban Theatre Projects - INTERSECTION program.


SEPTEMBER
OVERLAY - short text reading
Kicking Down The Doors - Playwriting Australia
Carriageworks, Sydney - 5 to 6.30pm


OCTOBER
TEACHING A NEW DOG, OLD TRICKS
- Research period #1
The advent of the sci-fi body becoming reality / Animacy and the ethics of human-robotic life / The co-evolution of forms. In collaboration with Paul Granjon
Final production and premiere, October 2011

Commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW, Australia

TAG TEAM PHILOSOPHICAL ROCK N ROLL PING PONG / ONE NIGHT ONLY!

In my current practice, I seek to propose social spaces where thinking, ideas and actions of performativity are shared, challenged and discussed. Sport events offer an intense surrounding of collective activity in a setting where all are invited. Tag Team philosophical rock n roll ping pong / One night only! is an open sporting invitation under the guise of an art event. Intersecting the eclecticism of modern day bravado with individual philosophical positioning as sport. Blurring audience/performer relationships with the chance to kick ass! Free cordial provided. In collaboration with Jeff Stein.

CLUBHOUSE @ The Performance Space, Sydney, 30th Oct


NOV
IF I GO LIKE YOU...
As part of Liveworks @ The Performance Space,
The Carriageworks, Sydney: 10 - 14th Nov


DEC
THE CATASTROPHE TRILOGY - LONE TWIN THEATRE
Lille, 4 and 5th

CULTURE OF ROBOTICS SYMPOSIUM
16/17th, Sydney University

The Cultures of Robotics Symposium is the first in a series of events organised to foster an interdisciplinary research community exploring the histories, philosophies and practices of robotics within contemporary culture.


OTHER WORKS IN PROGRESS
OVERLAY
A performance about disruptions / metaphysical spaces / magic as a transformative act / the duality of Houdini and the mythology of the self. In collaboration with Jeff Stein. Supported by the Universtity of Wollongong, NSW and gazebo64 productions.


VIDEO WORKS in progress
- click here

Paul is represented by Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin


FOR OTHER CURRENT PERFORMANCE/ VIDEO WORKS and PAST PROJECTS
- click on each title
MIRROR VAN/LAUSITZ 310K + SURVEILLANCE ON DEMAND - sculpture/ video installation
STREETS AS PICTURES - HALLE - urban performance project
STREET WALKS SERIES
- video installation/ urban project
COMING SOON - architecture consultation and video project
WHAT BECOMES ME... - video installation
WEED - video installation
EROTIC PERFORMANCES #1
- video
YEP/VIDEO PLAYBACK
- choreographic performance/ video installation
SPIN SOLO / SPIN DOUBLE
- performance/installation
R.U.N.- video

PROJECTS 2009

EXHIBITIONS/SCREENINGS/PRESENTATIONS

R.U.N.
15 - 28 June: Wallpaper dance, Trieste, Italy
11 Oct: The Scientist videoarte, Ferrara, Italy
3 - 6 Nov: DANSCAMDANSE at Festival International Videodanza UARCIS, Santiago de Chile
25 - 27 Nov
: DANSCAMDANSE #3, Art Cinema OFFoff, Gent, Belgium

STREET WALKS SERIES
19 Sept:
SEAM 2009, Sydney
8 - 11 Oct: 5th VentoSul Biennal,
Curitba, Brazil
Further dates in Brazil
Nov 4 - 6: Cascavel
Nov 11 - 13: Mascapá
Nov 17 - 19: Fortaleza
Nov 18 - 20: Florianópolis
Nov 25 - 27: Londrina
Dec 2 - 4: Foz do Iguaçu
Dec 9 - 11: Araucária

COMING SOON - VANCOUVER
Nov/Dec: Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver, Canada

WEED
A SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS
4 April -17 May: Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
3 June -19 July: Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle
exhibition image - fremantle

POINTS OF VIEW: SELECTED VIDEO WORKS and PRINTS
2 May - 12 Sept: Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin

FOR CURRENT VIDEOS and NEW WORKS IN PROGRESS click here

SET DESIGN/DRAMATURGY

OPEN SPACES
Engendered spaces: Architectures of masculinity
Daelik Hackenbrook/MACHiNENOISY
19 Oct - 5th Dec: Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver, Canada



ARTIST/ PANEL TALKS


TERRAIN - 20 Sept: SEAM Symposium, Critical Path, Sydney

NEW SPACES FOR THE ARTS - 17 Oct: RadialsystemV, Berlin


THE UNFOLDING OF MOVEMENT: FROM BODY TO SPACE
8 Nov: Tanzkongress 2009, Kampangel, Hamburg

WORK - 23rd Nov: Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver, Canada


PERFORMANCES/TOURING

SHORT PLAYS OF CONTRADICTION/ LAMENTATIONS OF UBIQUITY
25th Sept: Fraser Street Studios, Sydney


YEP
31 July: DanceKiosk 09, Hamburg - local version for 6 dancers
14 Oct: Australian Hybrid Arts Festival, RadialsystemV, Berlin

SPIN SOLO/ SPIN DOUBLE

23 May: Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin


RECENT TEXTS / PUBLICATIONS

DANCE WORKS FOR SALE
Aug 2009: The Inpex, Vienna

RESPONSE: WHAT I THINK WHEN I THINK ABOUT DANCING
Oct 2009: Edited version -
The Paper, Issue #1, an independent production during the Melbourne Festival
Nov 2009: Full Version - Campbelltown Arts Centre publication


DANCE WORKS FOR SALE & THE CRESCENDO
Oct 2009: The Paper,
Issue #2, an independent production during the Melbourne Festival


TEACHING

MOVING GAMES
1 - 3 May: Movimentos Festival, Wolfsburg, Germany
27 - 28 July: Lab 8, Kiosk09, Hamburg


NEW WORKS / PROJECTS in DEVELOPMENT 09/10


THE STATE WE ARE IN: A TERRIBLE IMPERSONATION

Between private and public space and the intimacy of public exposure
11 Aug - 23 Sept as part of the INTERSECTION program, Urban Theatre Projects, Bankstown, NSW

HIGH RISE
Research period #1, September 2009
Urban Theatre Projects, Bankstown, NSW










THE PRODUCTION OF SUSPICIOUS BODIES

Examines what body actions, codes of dress, behaviour and groups of people are surveilled and prioritised for data collection. Exploring the context that one may be considered as a 'suspicious body' and how to expose the unseen rules that dictate and control spaces.

How our actions and behaviours that in one instance are normalised become doubtful in another. Strategies to produce false re-presentations and subverted readings of oneself. Tactics for avoiding detection

For more info see THE PRODUCTION OF SUSPICIOUS BODIES

Recent research block:
PRACTICE / 17th Nov to the 28th Nov, Uferhallen Studios, Berlin
In collaboration with Aimee Smith and Jessyka Watson-Galbraith

This work has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, gazebo64 productions, Arts WA and is a continuing project that begun during the International Theatre Institute project 'Escalators/Mobility Visions' as part of the 2008 Theater Der Welt in Halle, Germany.

HUMAN TRACKING#1

MIRROR VAN / LAUSITZ 310K + SURVEILLANCE ON DEMAND


TANZNACHT 2008 / 4 - 7th DEC
TEMPORARY HOTEL PROJECT
A caravan covered with mirrors. A large reflective surface of its surroundings. The van as a metaphor for surveillance. Mirroring its environment and exposing the looks and gazes whilst the interior becomes an unknown and hidden core where the observations are held and considered. The surrounding space an awkward interplay where one never escapes being visible and monitored. The interior like a cave - totally blackened out and sparsely appointed. A very practical and functional sleeping zone inside a highly active exterior. A place of rest where one can hide from this heightened exposure. Internally an on demand TV program screens a collection of surveillance films and live camera feeds of the area around the van.
LAUSITZ 310K - a bright jewel guarding deep secrets.

MIRROR VAN / LAUSITZ 310K + SURVEILLANCE ON DEMAND
Concept/design/construction/video: Paul Gazzola
Video Concept: Daniel Kötter
Contributing artists + video: Aimee Smith, Jessyka Watson-Galbraith

This work is for sale. Price on application

This work has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, gazebo64 productions, Arts WA and is a continuing project that begun during the International Theatre Institute project 'Escalators/Mobility Visions' as part of the 2008 Theater Der Welt in Halle, Germany.

STREETS AS PICTURES / HALLE

As part of the project ESCALATORS project from the International Theatre Institute within the 2008 Theatre Der Welt Festival, Halle, Germany. June 2008

THE MORE YOU LOOK THE MORE YOU SEE
A selection of video works as the first outcome of a larger project that approaches the ever deepening discussion on how CCTV surveillance and its documenting of anomalous behaviour (actions deviating from what is standard, normal, or expected), opens up questions about truth, perception and issues of representation of the body within public and private spaces. While simple in their presentation models, they utilise the endless amount of live images available on the internet, overlaid with a series of texts that highlight certain points about the aim of CCTV, what are a range of suspect actions, and more to the point what makes one suspicious. Ironic at times they touch on the issue of the link between voyeuristic popular culture and the passive acquiescence of much of the public to being under surveillance, even if this does not actually make them any safer in practice.

As the dawn of a new era in surveillance unravels, where software programs and smart systems are being developed to aid and assist CCTV operators inability to view the endless screens of human activity, these systems actively scan and more readily calculate supposed human behaviour within the field of vision, producing the ability for preventative responses in juxtaposition to the normative models, which are mostly after the fact affairs.

If the manner of these systems is to look for signals, body language, anything out of the ordinary and as the following statement obviously ensues that, If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about, then I am led to ask, that if by the sheer fact so many cameras are present, it must indicate that suspicion is in the air. Consequently producing a perfect logic: You are watched therefore you must be suspicious, and as time goes on there is in fact more and more work to do as the definition of suspicious becomes wider and wider. Creating in a sense a Production of Suspicious Bodies. Potentially understood by the endless accumulation of CCTV systems throughout the world and the fact that the economics of the situation depends on it being like this.

These works were presented in accompaniment with a workshop and a series of talks and events that took place over two weeks during the 2008 Theatre der Welt festival in Halle, Germany at the UFO Gallery / Halle and on the city streets.

For more videos Click Here

Supported by the International Theatre Institute as part of the 2008 Theater Der Welt in cooperation with the Schaustelle e.V. and supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste and assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

AMBIVALENCE

STREET WALKS SERIES

SITE SPECIFIC VIDEO PROJECT

In reinterpreting the simple human activity of walking as a filmed event, the STREET WALKS SERIES picks up on the juncture between the real and the potential for staged fictions, as reframed through the cameras lens and asks one to consider the city streets as theatricalised spaces, everyday action as a potent form of performed narrative and the local architecture, a continuous scenography to the daily activities of the general population - Situating the viewer/participant between the boundaries of the personal, the public and the private. Filmed at walking speed from a moving vehicle, a distinct approach to the way the city's topography is conventionally witnessed is generated. Highlighting the characteristics of the urban composition in juxtaposition to the filmed body.

Originally began in Hamburg as part of a scenography for a dance performance, other versions have been produced in Berlin, Hakodate (Japan) and Kuopio (Finland) and have been presented either as outdoor site-specific projections or stand alone installation gallery works.

The process to production is deeply embedded within a socially organized idea where native residents are invited to take a walk as they are filmed. Through such a simple encounter an interesting and diverse set of understandings are seamlessly tapped into, as streets that hold significant memories and historical relationships seem to become the chosen routes and through their screening, a validating exposure of the local environment is produced.

STREET WALKS - HAKODATE is for sale. P.O.A.

PRESENTATIONS
Street Walks - Leipzig
2010
- Centraltheater & Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig / As part of Play! Movement in Urban Spaces
Street Walks - Hakodate
2010
- Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig
2009
- Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin
- SEAM, Sydney
- 5th VentoSul Biennial, Brazil
2008
- sommer.bar, Tanz in August,Berlin
- GALERIE 35, Berlin
2007
- Museum Space of Future University, Japan
- Winter Art Festival, Hakodate, Japan
Street Walks - Kuopio
2010
- Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig
2008
- ANTI Festival, Kuopio, Finland
Street Walks - Hamburg
2002
- As part of the Set Design for Project Z by Angela Guerreiro, Kampnagel, Germany

New versions in Australia, Canada and the USA are proposed for 2010/2011.

This project was developed during an ASIALINK RESIDENCY at FUN - FUTURE UNIVERSITY, HAKODATE, JAPAN IN 2007. An Asialink project funded by ArtsWA and the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding and advisory body

YUTA, HAKODATE, JAPAN 2007



SHIHOMI, HAKODATE, JAPAN 2007

COMING SOON - INSTALLATIONS / SURVEY / PERFORMANCE / TALKS / BOOKLET


ARCHITECTURE PROJECT SERIES

AS PART OF TANZ IN AUGUST 2006 + Plus ongoing versions

COMING SOON - How would you like your ideal studio/workspace to be? On the complex issue of how space affects one's artistic practice.

A project, on the proposal of a new building for dance in Berlin and its internal transformation into working studios and office spaces. To reflect on the traditional and contemporary ideals of studio design for dance productions and at the same time create a dialogue within the local dance community. An impetus to a discussion on this situation for Berlin and the very notion of studio design for dance, as a multifarious and fluid affair.

Initially realized as a one-day event during the 2006 Tanz im August Festival in Berlin and consisting of: video and audio installations, a series of public talks with architects and choreographers, a performance and two publications, its aim was to highlight the discussion for a centre for dance in Berlin and in turn ask how the design of studio spaces influence artistic practice. The basis of the project situated itself in a dialogue within the local and international dance community to ascertain the needs and desires of those who would occupy and utilise such a site. Proposing questions to whether current architectural concepts and practice offer adequate solutions to foster this progressive art form. Through this comprehensive collection of interviews, survey report, articles and presentations, a substantial document has been created, offering contemplative and critical insights into an artistic communities relationship to its working environment.

Includes:
• Video promo - 1 and 25-min versions of the interviewed choreographers faces. Out-door projection
• Video installation - 25 monitors screen the 59 recorded interviews
• Audio installation - Rooms for listening to choreographies from 12 local dance makers
• Talks with architects Sarah Wigglesworth (UK) & Tor Lindstrand (SWE) and choreographer Mårten Spångberg (SWE)
• Performance - "Choreographing Books" from Peter Pleyer
• Survey - A 27 page detailed report that draws its conclusions from the online survey sent out to over 500 people both in Berlin and within the greater international dance community. Available by contacting: paul.gazzola@gmail.com
• Booklet - comprising a number of texts from Sarah Wigglesworth, Tor Lindstrand & Paul Gazzola and including a DVD with 7 selected interviews from the video installation and a 1-minute video promo. Available by contacting: paul.gazzola@gmail.com

PRESENTATIONS
2006 Tanz in August
+ Tanz made in Berlin
+ Tanznacht 06, Berlin

INTERVIEWED ARTISTS
Adalisa Menghini, Alex B, Alexandre Roccoli, Ami Garmon, Andreas Albert Müller, Anja Ehrenberg, Benjamin Schälike, Be van Vark, Britta Pudelko, Carmen Mehnert, Cécile Buclin, Christina Ciupke, Christina Runge, Clint Lutes, Constanza Macras, Davide Camplani, Diane Busuttil, Elettra de salvo, Fernanda Guimarães, Francesca Patrone, Franziska Köhler, Friederike Plafki, Gabriel Galindez Cruz, Gabi Beier, Gritt Koppen, Hanna Hegenscheidt, Hanna Sybille Müller, Irina Müller, Jenny Haack, Jess Curtis, Karin Kirchhoff, Kirsten Burger, Laurie Young, Lena Braun, Lindy Annis, Lisa Densem, Litó Walkey, Martin Clausen, Massimiliano Pagliara, Mathis Kleinschnittger, Maurizio Giannetti, Max Schumacher, Maximilian Stelzl, Nir de Volff / Total Brutal, Patricia Woltmann, Peter Pleyer, Petra Sabisch, Philippe Rives, Rainer Hustedt, Raliza Nikolowa, Siegmar Zacharias, Sten Rudstrøm, Susanne Foellmer, Susanne Martin, Thilo Wittenbecher, Tomi Paasonen, Ulrike Becker, Vera Knolle, Yvonne Hardt

Concept & Direction: Paul Gazzola | Video: Andrea Keiz | Dramaturgy & Production Management: Kerstin Schroth | Assistant: Nadia Cusimano | Survey: Barbara Nägele | A project by Tanzwerkstatt, Berlin / Kulturprojekte Berlin | gazebo 64 productions | Supported by Hauptstadtkulturfond and Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur

WHAT BECOMES ME....

In collaboration with Nadia Cusimano

“I am interested in the idea of investigating how people perceive and express what they see or not see. In trying to understand the relation between space and performer I decided it would be appropriate to use a different environment like a room in a house. By doing that I would have the possibility to question the distance between the viewer and the performer and how this distance affects your perception. Q. How would this space influence you while you are watching? Q. How would that same space influence me?

PRESENTATIONS
2001 Playhouse Theatre, Perth
2000 Podewil, Berlin


Financially supported by in-situ productions, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Tanzwerkstatt Berlin, ArtsWA and gazebo64 productions.

WEED

"A different weed-inhabitant of Sydney forms the focus for Paul Gazzola’s video, this being the palm tree Washingtonia Robustia, an introduced species planted by Governor Macquarie in the early 1800’s ‘to create a more harmonious view within the harsh lines of the Australian landscape.’ Originally trained as a dancer, Gazzola currently works across video and performance to explore the relationship of the body to space, in the production of strategies and situations which investigate ‘the performativity of the act of looking itself.’ In the midst of the xenophobic right-wing debate on the status and legitimacy of the ‘immigrant’ in Australian contemporary society, Gazzola provocatively assumed the role (via the video lens) of a foreign interloper, who supposedly wastes time by lying down, gazing up at one of these trees. In its original configuration, a deflected video projection on the ceiling was framed above an inflatable mattress on the floor, that allowed audience members to assume this same contemplative position. Here, however, a monitor is located within a trapdoor, and the palm tree descends into a secret Linden crawlspace, as if pointing straight through the floor to the other side of the world, the source of the original – and future potential – migrant."

Andrew Gaynor, Curator of A Secret Life of Plants – extract from exhibition text.

Exhibition presentations
2009 A SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS - Linden Gallery, Melbourne and
Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle
+ POINTS OF VIEW, Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin





EROTIC PERFORMANCES #1

YEP / VIDEO PLAYBACK

PERFORMANCE / INSTALLATION

YEP is a choreographic game for two dancers utilising a phrase of 120 movements and variable starting points. Over a nominated duration ie between 1 - 4 hours they aim to start sections of the phrase at the same time without any prior agreement. They say YEP to start, YEP if they are in sync (they then keep going) and if not they say NO and stop. A sound score starts and stops in relation to their cues. Through the function of the game a fluid relationship is generated creating an intimate and intricate performance around notions of trust, order and perfection.

YEP is also presented in association with a video installation from Daniel Kötter (Germany). In this version 8 cameras record the event and reinterpret the action through varied playback times projected either inside of outside the room. In YEP/VIDEO PLAYBACK the public are able to simultaneously view the live action in relation to the delayed recordings, exploring notions of temporality and control through the juxtaposition of the video images set within the spatial dynamics of the room.

For galleries, rooms and stages. Duration: 1 - 4 hours.

NB - A local version of this scored work is also available to be taught and performed by others

PRESENTATIONS
2009 DanceKiosk09, Hamburg - local version
+ Australia Hybrid Arts Festival, Berlin
2007 DanceKiosk07, Hamburg
2006 Breadbox Gallery, Perth
+ Strut Dance, Fremantle
+ Tanz im August, Berlin


Concept / Direction: Paul Gazzola
Video: Daniel Kötter
Choreography: Aimee Smith & Jessyka Watson-Galbraith
Sound concept: Dave Miller
Assistant: Nadia Cusimano

A gazebo64 production. This project has been supported by ArtsWA, The Australia Council through the Take your Partner program, Artrage, Tanzwerkstatt & Tanz im August, Berlin.

SPIN SOLO / SPIN DOUBLE

INSTALLATION / PERFORMANCE

“Paul Gazzola’s installation spin solo/spin in Gallery 1 entertains in the tradition of an ancient wind-up tin toy. Dressed in an Elvis suit and standing on a wooden disk that spins by means of a rope and motor. Gazzola’s dinky apparatus is as charming as his casual banter with the audience. Fielding questions about the work, Gazzola offers us a turn on his machine and then projects his own image into the space he had occupied while he has a rest (spin double). This DIY entertainment in an arcade style set-up has the kind of magic that only simple, comprehensible technology can”. Erin Brannigan, REALTIME Dec 02

Devised in 2002 it was the first work in the ongoing series - Situations Series. These works have an initial two-fold point of research. First in the function of the performing body as the central element in installation based works and secondly in exploring the role and ‘performative’ aspect of the public when viewing gallery art. Originally proposed as a scenography for a larger performance spin solo /spin double looks to combine ideas of living gods on earth and the rejuvenating/transformational aspect of spinning associated with the spiritual ritualism of Sufism. Duration: 1 – 6 hours

Description - A figure dressed in a white suit, not dissimilar to that which is characteristic of Elvis is seen standing on a rotating platform in a dimly lit room. The platform is powered by a small electric motor and connected by a single pulley. Quietly rotating anti clockwise, the figure remains silent and open to the publics gaze as it turns on the spot. After a period of 7 minutes a video projection of the same image (of equal dimension) appears into view on the wall directly behind the live figure. This overlaying effectively replaces the live body and inturn becomes its cue to step off the platform and take a seat amongst the public. We now see the image of the recorded figure rotating as the ‘original’ sits down and waits. Another period of 7 minutes transpires until the projected image walks off the screen, which is the sign for the live figure to walk back onto the platform. This interchange and act of replacing between the live and pre-recorded image becomes the basis of this durational work. Within this set-up, the live figure intermittently asks if the public are interested to ask any questions. Initially stating, “You can ask me questions if you like”. This act to disarm the quiet of the room and broach a possibility to discourse generates a window for the public to inquire about the works intentions, as the live figure is highly forthcoming to answer any questions asked. Inevitably someone from the public asks to take a turn on the platform, creating a situation where they become the displayed object and inturn are projected upon by the video image.

This inversion of public as performer and performance, the layering of images through acts of replacement and the friendly discourse encouraged, in combination with the iconic and mythological status of the Elvis character, all aim to set up a more social setting for the presentation of spin solo/spin double and the destabilization of the silence and reverence inscribed in its initial reading. Encouraging the production of other modalities of transmission and exchange with the public space.

PRESENTATIONS
2009 Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin
2007 Theatre fur alle, Bremen
2005 The Magic of Real Life in Real Situations, CCA, Glasgow
2004 Tanz in August, Berlin
2003 Melbourne International Festival of the Arts
2002 Antistatic 2002, Performance Space, Sydney


Developed in part with the assistance of participating artists and facilitators at the 2002 Time_Space_Place 1 forum. An initiative of the New Media Arts Board of the Australia Council, PICA, Perth and the Performance Space, Sydney

IF I GO LIKE YOU....

INSTALLATION / PERFORMANCE / SOCIAL GATHERING

If I go like you… was first developed during the Panacea Festival at the Stockholm Modern Museum 2001 and consisted of myself walking around with a rack full of clothes asking the general public if they would like to change into somebody else’s clothes and view the art.

If I go like you… offered the people waiting in the entrance/foyer/queue a chance to change their position via the physical transformation of clothing. As a mental shift in the relation to how they normally would present themselves in public.

If I go like you… was a response to my desire to experience what it may be like to be someone else. To experience how dressing like another would affect me. How if I became like them I may become them. How a different outer exterior would relocate me within a new frame of perception and recognition - potentially a new way of being.

Clothes characteristically define certain cultures. Clothing can blend or take away distinctions. The assimilation into becoming part of a new community can be a simple as the dress code.

How does one feel when wearing another’s clothes? Are we at liberty to express ourselves in another way? To adopt other characteristics?

When we are in a gallery/museum situation we are within the frame of understanding another’s perception of the world. We try to adopt another viewpoint to possibly gain some different or even deeper understanding on a subject/image or idea. We put ourselves in the place of another.

To look a certain way evokes a certain understanding of who or what we are.
How we are seen and wanting to be seen - If I go like you.

PRESENTATIONS
2004 PANACEA, Dansens Hus, Stockholm
+ Downtown Art Space, Adelaide
2003 Austr-aliens exhibition. PICA, Perth
2002 Queue here exhibition. CCAS, Canberra
2001 Panacea Festival, Stockholm Modern Museum

A gazebo64 production / Supported by PANACEA, Sweden

R.U.N.

VIDEO / INSTALLATION

R.U.N. - A study on spatial objectification. As part of a larger series called walk, run, sit, stand and jump that seeks to reframe the visual perspective of the body in simple action. Shot one Sunday morning in Perth, Australia on a deserted down hill road. A camera was secured to the back of a moving car and the performer ran in and out of the frame. A three-way conversation is overheard between the runner, cameraman and driver, that enables the runner to stay with the car and in the shot. The editing process utilises the mechanical intervention of the cameras in-built strobe effect, omitting certain frames whilst leaving the sound track untouched. Offering a disjointed view of a body in continuous motion related to its shadowed self.

SCREENINGS
2010
- Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig - as part of Play! Movement in Urban Spaces
2009
-Sara Asperger Gallery, Berlin
- Wallpaper dance_exhibition of videodance, Trieste, Italy
- DANSCAMDANSE, Festival International Videodanza UARCIS, Santiago de Chile.
2008
- 4th International Film festival, Yokohama, Japan
- Tanznacht 08, Berlin
2007
POOL 07, Dock 11, Berlin
2004
ACMI, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts
2003
TimeLapse / Artrage Festival, Breadbox Gallery, Perth
2002
WA Dance on Screen / Dancers are Space Eaters, PICA, Perth

Concept/Edit/Runner: Paul Gazzola | Camera: Graeme McLeod | Driver: Marco Mona
Versions: 4.30 min movie or continuous loop