Bodies of Work residency / creative development

A choreographic and sculptural ritual about remembering, forgetting, and mourning. Performed on the stripped chassis of a Holden Commodore VF, the work reimagines the car as a uniquely evolved Australian species of feral lion, now facing extinction.

eDuard Helmbold’s sculpture and performance practice explores the roles of nostalgia and shame in the negotiation and production of cultural identities. In this ambitious new work, he collaborates with Motus Collective, an artist-run dance initiative led by Felicity Boyd and Zoe Gay, and experimental composer Daniel Thorpe.

For Adhocracy 2021, the artists explored the relationships between humans and other-than-humans in the work – compositions of dancers, recorded interviews of past Holden employees, the chassis itself, and other objects. In this development and iteration, coinciding with the five-year anniversary of the last Holden being manufactured, the artists (and audiences) will explore the underlying narrative of this protracted death in ‘wake’ and ‘elegy’ performances.

Creative team:
Creator and director: eDuard Helmbold
Co-creators and performers: Motus Collective – Zoe Gay and Felicity Boyd
Composer: Daniel Thorpe