MOMENTUM

1 November 2019 to 26 November 2019 Barangaroo Reserve, Stargazers Lawn, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

MOMENTUM will be presented in UTP's Blak Box. Sessions run for 45 minutes. Latecomers will not be admitted.

Urban Theatre Projects announces a return to Barangaroo with the presentation of MOMENTUM presented in Blak Box. Curated by Daniel Browning (Bundjalung/Kullilli/South Sea Islander), this sound work examines the impact of representations of First Nations peoples in global popular culture. Momentum pivots on the central idea that the past has not passed using the 1983 music video for David Bowie's Let's Dance as a starting point.

The 1983 music video to David Bowie's Let's Dance was a first in its representation of this country's First Nations peoples in popular culture. Bowie's music video is partly set on Sydney Harbour, shot from the northern foreshore into the eye of the waterway around what is now Barangaroo. Momentum draws on this game-changing moment in visual culture with music by composer Eric Avery, a spine-tingling vocal performance by Ursula Yovich, a suite of poems and spoken word by emerging new writers and a pulsating symphony in light.

The narrative of the music video is based on the harrowing Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of The Red Shoes, a cautionary tale about materialism and self-obsession - a philosophical death dance - that resonates today. Let's Dance was unapologetically political - tackling racism, dispossession, forced labour and the British nuclear tests.

Featuring Eric Avery (Ngiyampaa/Yuin/Gumbayngirr), Troy Russell (Birrpai/Kamilaroi), Wesley Enoch (Nunukul/Ngugi), Ursula Yovich (An Barra Clan, Burarra/Serbian), Joel Davison (Gadigal/Dhunghutti), Vernon Ah Kee (Kuku Yalanji/Waanji/Yidinji/Gugu Yimithirr), Larissa Behrendt (Euahlayi), Lorna Munro (Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi), Evelyn Araluen (Bundjalung).

SPECIAL LIVE PERFORMANCES FOR CLOSING WEEKEND:

Leonard Mickelo

Friday 15th November

7.15pm and 8.30pm

Eric Avery

Sunday 17th November

7.15pm and 8.30pm

Blak Box is designed by award-winning architect Kevin O'Brien and the deep listening experience MOMENTUM is curated by Daniel Browning, with lighting by Karen Norris.

MOMENTUM is a work that is well suited to people who are blind or vision impaired as it is a listening experience in which the audience can experience music, spoken word and song from First Nations artists.

If you have access requirements, please contact Urban Theatre Projects 24 hours prior to your session.

MOMENTUM is primarily a listening experience and can be fully enjoyed by patrons who are blind or have low vision.

*Concession ticket holders will be asked to show their concession cards at the box office.

MOMENTUM has been Commissioned by Infrastructure NSW and supported by the NSW Government.

MOMENTUM has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the following partners: