How do artists find different ways to work together? How do we do contribute to building a community? Why do collectives choose to form?

Assembly is a night of talks and discussions with artists who have found resourceful ways to work alongside their communities – in an arts sector dominated by a Euro-centric history and individualism.

Join us for a relaxed night of food provided by Mabu Mabu, with short talks from Load na Dito (Philippines), Eliza Vitri Handayani (Indonesia), James Nguyen, Megan Cope and HOUSE OF DÉVINE. Please arrive at 6 pm to allow formalities to begin at 6:30 pm.

How are artists finding different ways to work together? How can what we do contribute to building a community? Why do collectives choose to form? Artist collectivization is nothing new – but there seems to be a push towards working together in Melbourne, and a long history of artist collectivisation in Southeast Asia.

Assembly is an Asialink Arts 2019 Creative Exchange Project Outcome co-curated by recipients Andy Butler and Joshua Allen and supported by the Victoria Government through Creative Victoria.

Image: On The Border Of Things, 2018. Courtesy of PACT Cong Ai Nguyen, James Nguyen.

Next Wave and Asia TOPA present Praise!

Created and performed by Marcus Whale and Eugene Choi, Praise! is a work centered around Psalm 150, celebrating the intersections of the sacred and sensual, gothic and divine in Christian traditions of worship.

A choral performance offering a new language of veneration, Praise! leads you to a new altar at which to kneel. Psalm 150, known as ‘the musician’s psalm’ encourages congregations to honour with music and dancing. Collaborating with musicians to create a new hymn, Whale and Choi present a grand saturnine path to epic revelry and reverence, where twin souls balance on the precipice of new union.

Originally performed for Underbelly Arts Festival 2017, the work has evolved into a full-length celebration and premieres at Asia TOPA 2020.

Where: Brunswick Mechanics Institute, 270 Sydney Road, Brunswick
When: 8pm, Thu 20 Feb – Sun 23 Feb, 2020
How much: $28 / $22 for concession (seniors, pensioners, students, under 16). Free for companion cardholders.

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Devised by Marcus Whale and Eugene Choi. Additional performers include Mossy 333, Arben Dzika and Mohini Hillyer Sharma.