“Are we still in normal life or is this emergency life?” asks Tom, one of the protagonists. A flood separates a life in two – one before and one after. In this work we encounter people affected by the 2022 floods in eastern Australia, as they recall the moments in which everything changed. Described through miniature rooms, the piece recreates lost objects and spaces, rooms formed of memories. Beautifully and consciously crafted, the piece invokes a creative approach that radiates care, for participating collaborators, for audiences, and in the making process.

The project, centered on a virtual reality experience and including augmented reality components as well as workshops, was created in collaboration with people affected by the flooding. As the project continues to grow, it becomes a living archive of restoration, reviving lost objects. Like ducklings reappearing after a flood, life – albeit changed – does go on.

Dana Melaver

A disturbing documentation of forced displacement in the West Bank, centered on first-person accounts of Palestinians under constant pressure by Israeli forces and settlers. The film is made of both 360° footage as well as vernacular images captured by locals and activists over a period of three years. While a documentation of violence, the film also shows humanity in the face of inhumanity, led by people whose homes were destroyed and whose communities continue to be impacted. It documents violence but also poetry, compassion and resilience. The project also critically considers the viewer's perspective – it invites the audience to experience the topic first-hand, whilst at the same time making conscious decisions of what to show and what not to show in immersive view.

The piece is accompanied by images taken in the West Bank by the photo collective Activestills, of which the two directors are members. There are also volunteers on site to offer emotional support and conversation.

Dana Melaver

A duet for two church organs, played by AI-driven robots, and a score composed live with the audience. In this site-specific installation, visitors are invited to both guide and experience a composition which collapses time and flips musical traditions on their head.

The two organs of the Heilandskirche have only been played by human hands, but that’s about the change. Trained on two edges of a musical spectrum – on music from the European Middle Ages, and contemporary electronic music – the AI players imagine hypothetical musical realities somewhere in between. As visitors enter the space, they begin to explore an invisible map, which conducts the AI players in one musical direction or another in search of a musical bridge between past and present. Ever-changing and unique, the piece is a singular audio experience felt with the entire body, and the body, in return, guides this musical composition. Played twice only, for three hours at a time, nothing is pre-determined nor repeated.

Dana Melaver