The game begins and the timer is set. A failed karaoke singer emerges under a spotlight singing a morbid love song to a lost lover. In the corner an exhausted couple dance slowly whilst a woman in a white sheet falls to her death and drags her bloodied body across the ground. The music stops. An awkward moment in silence. The buzzer sounds and it is back to the business of finding love. Sixty minutes later and ten transactions wiser you have secured your soul mate …
Presented by Brown Council.
About the artist/s:
Since 2004, Brown Council have been making performance and video works that appropriate, imitate and remix a range of disparate images and ideas from popular culture, cinema and television. Their work has been shown in numerous galleries and theatrical settings including Performance Space, First Draft Gallery and the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
In 2007, they were awarded the Write in Your Face Initiative from the Australia Council of the Arts to develop a new work for the National Young Writers’ Festival at the This Is Not Art festival. Brown Council also received a New Work Grant from the Australia Council to develop Six Minute Soul Mate, a hybrid performance work which premieres at the 2008 Next Wave Festival. In August they will complete a residency at the Artspace studios, Sydney.
Kate Blackmore completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in Video and Performance at the College of Fine Arts, Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts at the University of NSW in Film Studies in 2007. Kate has edited numerous short films and video productions at both the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the College of Fine Arts as well as being the videographer and documenter of all Brown Council’s projects.
Since 2005 she has been involved in numerous productions at Sydney University including The October Sapphire, with which she toured to the New York International Fringe Festival. Kate is also a practising video artist and her solo video work has been exhibited internationally at various experimental film festivals.
Frances Barrett completed a Bachelor of Art History and Theory at the College of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Performance Studies at the University of NSW in 2007. Since 2005 Frances has curated numerous exhibitions including the North Sydney Council Archives Exhibition, and currently works as a curatorial assistant at various galleries in Sydney.
In 2006 Frances undertook an internship at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art and was a project assistant on Mike Parr’s performance AMERIKA in conjunction with Performance Space and AGNSW. Frances is a practicing performance artist, performing her solo work in both galleries and theatres in Sydney.
In 2006 Kelly Doley completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in Painting at the College of Fine Arts. In 2005, Kelly was the costume designer for Wonka! A live cinema remix that toured to the Melbourne Comedy Festival. She was the assistant set designer on the PACT production Before the Lights Go Out at The Studio, The Opera House.
Kelly has exhibited her paintings in solo shows at Loose Projects and Firstdraft Gallery in Sydney and exhibited at Kings ARI, Melbourne in February. Kelly is a member of the Quarterbred collective and is a director of Firstdraft Gallery. In 2008 she will also be co-curator of the show Performing for the Camera, as part of the Emerging Curators Program at Firstdraft Gallery.
Diana Smith completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Video Art) at the College of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Video and Performance Art at the University of NSW in 2007. In 2005 Diana completed a 9-month Impact Scholarship at PACT Theatre and performed in Before the Lights Go Out with the Ensemble at The Studio, Opera House. In 2007 Diana was project manager of the National Young Writers Festival Crack Project. Diana is also the co-director and founder of Quarterbred and a director of Firstdraft Gallery. In 2008 she will co-curator Performing for the Camera, as part of the Emerging Curators Program at Firstdraft Gallery.
