Rehearsing Catastrophe:The Ark in Sydney

BACKGROUND This installation/performance for the 2012 Sydney Biennale, which attracted over 100,00 visitors at Cockatoo Island - a former penal settlement and shipbuilding yard - was based on the biblical story of 'the ark'. It explored the proposition that we can prepare for likely catastrophic events by 'rehearsing' them through play - here enacted with performances by up to 30 visitors/volunteers who carried luggage, wore animal masks and queued at the visible prow of a boat at a Joiners shed, with sounds of boatbuilding heard from inside. An associated video inside the building documented the story of a refugee. CONTRIBUTION While international artists Francis Alys and Tino Sehgal work with amateur volunteers in a new approach to performance, this research is rooted in Jones' live and video performance research dating back to 1978. The originality of this work, which was particularly concerned with the outcomes for the performers, comes from her research into performance as both play and rehearsal for those involved directly as performers and indirectly as audiences. It references but extends an earlier version - with 140 people in animal costumes and an ark as projection - in Avoca in 2012. Here the volunteers became refugees, doing anything they could to leave, developing the empathy this requires. Jeph Neale built the boat. Sound recordings were by Chris Knowles. Masks were created by Jones with Neale and Hilary Jackman, using broken household objects to suggest desperation, personal ingenuity and resilience. SIGNIFICANCE This work was commissioned by international curators Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster, artistic directors for the 2012 Sydney Biennale. Funded by Arts Victoria, the Australia Council and a residency at the National Art School, Sydney, it led to Jones being invited to Mons Cultural Capital of Europe Festival 2015. In the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of Stamm, Eve Sullivan described this as one of the two "most memorable" works of the Biennale.