Shelley Lasica: When I am Not There

- Blurb -

The work of Shelley Lasica reveals a sustained exploration of dance, movement and the varying contexts in which they can occur. WHEN I AM NOTTHERE has been produced to accompany a performance exhibition reflecting on forty years of Lasica' s choreographic practice. Held at Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (15-27 August 2022), WHEN I AM NOTTHERE is the first Australian survey of its kind. Centring on a new ensemble work that Melbourne-based Lasica has developed with a team of ten other artists - Lydia Connolly-Hiatt, Luke Fryer, Timothy Harvey, Rebecca Jensen, Megan Payne, Lisa Radford, Lana Sprajcer, Oliver Savariego, Francois Tetaz and Colby Vexler - it also presents components from Lasica' s archive of earlier works, including costuming, objects, soundscapes and text. Consolidating ideas and experiments that Lasica has been developing throughout her career, WHEN I AM NOTTHERE contributes to discussions around choreography in the gallery space and activates the tension between what it means ' to perform' and ' to exhibit' . Edited by the project' s curator, Hannah Mathews, in conversation with Lasica, this substantial monograph is the first to be published on an Australian choreographer. It provides a comprehensive account of Lasica' s performance and exhibition history and uncovers extensive documentation from the artist' s archive, alongside contributions by writers Erin Brannigan, Justin Clemens, Claudia La Rocco, Robyn McKenzie and Zoe Theodore. Shelley Lasica is a 2021 recipient of an Australia Council Dance Fellowship. WHEN I AM NOT THERE is realised as part of Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum, an ARC research project that involves the following partners: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; MUMA, Melbourne; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Tate, UK; and UNSW Sydney. The exhibition and book provides this overarching project with critical and situated research focused on the curation and practice of choreography in the museum environment.