Dance North at Siteworks

LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT

29 September 2018

For our annual spring event, Siteworks, over 62 artists, scientists, performers and enthusiasts focussed on the theme of ‘Micro’, covering subjects as broad as geology, miniature railways, decomposition and tiny gods.

The talking tent was facilitated by the ABC’s Robbie Buck who kept the conversation flowing on subjects as diverse as the connection between microscopy and Indigenous art, archaeology, soil science and modern dolls’ houses. Big Talk for Small Folk brought poet and performer Miles Merrill together with students from Cambewarra Primary School, exploring some of the big ethical questions in life.

Artist Emily Hunt’s sculptures revealed a microcosmic, misanthropic, fantasy world, while British artists French and Mottershead encouraged you to lie down and aurally experience the decay of your own post-death body. As night fell Townsville’s Dance North drew our attention to the dirt beneath our feet and Maria Fernanda Cardoso’s large-scale video screens showing the mating games of the peacock spider attracted a huge audience of dancing children. In the amphitheatre after dark artist Deborah Kelly projected a pantheon of tiny fleeting deity-creatures.

A cabaret hosted by Tia Wilson and Malika Elizabeth showcased some of the region’s finest comics, story tellers, singers and musicians. As always, there were, kids’ workshops, food, drink, camping, inspiration, stimulation, and relaxation. This year we added a shuttle bus service to and from the event.

Speakers

• Robbie Buck, ABC broadcaster, Facilitator
• Simon Mattsson, farmer; Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams, artists – Soil Health
• Andrew Holmes, microbial ecologist – The Small Things in Life
• Anna-Maria Sviatko, dolls house creator and collector –
• The love of miniatures
• Michael Kuiper, computational biomolecular modeller –
• Biomolecular modelling of proteins
• Jenny Whiting, science communicator, and Julian Oates, Tasmanian Aboriginal artist – Parallels between Indigenous art and microscopic imagery
• Miles Merrill, poet and performer, Facilitator – Big Talk for Small Folk

Installations & performances

• The Gods of Tiny Things – Deborah Kelly
• Limen – Helen Pynor
• Dancing with Spiders – Maria Fernanda Cardoso Undergrowth- Patrick Nolan and Dance North One Step at a Time Like This – Noir
• Humus: Human – Jonathon Bolitho, Laura Fisher and Glenn Morris
• Bushland – French and Mottershead Sweet Separation – Alan Schacher Sediments – Anna Madeleine
• Minute – Theatre Kantanka
• The Model Raveway – Alex Torney
• Big Talk for Small Folk – Miles Merrill

Bundanon Homestead exhibitions

• Stories and Structures: New Connections – Arkeria Rose Armstrong, Bronwyn Bancroft, Joshua Bonson, Vanessa Nampijinpa Brown,Priscilla Napurrurla Herbert, Jennifer Napaljarri Lewis, Evelyn Malgil, Julian Oates, Lynette Riley, Brian Robinson. Curated by Jenny Whiting and presented by Microscopy Australia
• The Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence & Less is a Bore – Emily Hunt
• 28 Days - Helen Pynor