Performance by Zane Saunders
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
7 pm

Curated by Jovana Stokić

Location One is proud to present Time Walk, a new work by artist in residence at Location One, Zane Saunders.

The indigenous Australian artist performs in a set designed from his sculptures. Part ritual, part dance, part battle preparation.

Time Walk is a performance that examines the cross-cultural practice connecting the artist to his heritage. The artist paints his face and body while he engages with different objects of his own making in a ritualistic fashion. The artist’s actions occur in five distinctive environments within the performance space. One of these stages take the artist outside of the gallery. Zane challenges the conventional notion of story-telling: his story is told in a non-verbal manner but the story is undoubtedly there. It is the oldest story about man vs. nature, about survival and wisdom one gets while living in harmony with one’s surroundings. Ritualistic movements are accompanied by electronic music, which point to another cross-cultural reference. It situates the work in the context of contemporary performance art between ritual and technology. These are some of the issues that are not told, but expressed in a way one has to respond instinctively. Zane explains: “Performance is a vehicle for the spirit to connect to audience”. Modern devices/costume are utilized to convey the message, with an emphasis on the absurdity of contemporary ‘western’ norms.

Zane Saunders is an artist from Cairns, Nothern Queensland, Australia. He is both visual and performance artist. His residency is sponsored by the Australia Council for the Arts and Location One. Zane’s relatively recent performance work has provided him with a unique medium to take his prolific visual practice ‘off the wall’, and into space shared with the audience. Over the past three years, Zane has developed a distinctive approach to contemporary dance/performance, drawing from his indigenous cultural heritage, and from his many experiences of contemporary society.