During May 2023 CAVES Gallery in the Nicholas Building Melbourne CBD devoted their space to 4 performance projects by Beth Arnold, Deanne Butterworth, Chaco Kato, Lichen Kelp & Dylan Martorell

The series collectively titled PERFORMANCE, explored in a small way the intersections of visual art, sound, the body and movement. Using CAVES as a starting point the artistsl responded to the room and it’s architecture.

PERFORMANCE was curated by Rozalind Drummond and Storm Gold. How to Act in Caves was a result of an invitation to present work at CAVES following a period of studio residency at The Australian Ballet studios

How to Act in Caves builds upon the work in progress, How to Act, a work for three dancers which began development in late 2021 supported by ArtsHouse Culturelab. For this version, How to Act in Caves considers the absent third dancer. It investigates attention and  feedback loops which exist between performer and audience working with repetition, connection, disconnection and numerical cycles. How to Act in Caves considers the space of the gallery, the spaces where the work has been made, where it will be performed, and the distance between those three points and one another.

Title: How to Act in Caves

Choreography: Deanne Butterworth

Performers: Deanne Butterworth and Benjamin Hurley

Sound: Michael Munson

Photos: Machiko Abe

CREDITS:

How to Act in Caves was supported by City of Melbourne Quick Response Arts funding, through in-kind studio support from the Australian Ballet, and through CAVES Gallery. Thanks to Kara Burdack, Benjamin Hurley, Michael Munson, and Storm Gold & Rozalind Drummond from Caves