A scrum suspended in time, unraveling the personal stories of female rugby players.

In Still Lives: Auckland, artists Luke George (Naarm/Melbourne) and Daniel Kok (Singapore/Berlin) work with eight female-identifying rugby players, using ropes to tie their bodies together, re-creating one half of an interlocking scrum. The public is invited to assemble for this durational artwork in the Concert Chamber of Tāmaki Makaurau's iconic Town Hall and witness the process of creating this tableau where players are transformed into living sculptures.

Still Lives is a site-specific performance installation series, in which artists ‘capture’ with ropes a significant moment or movement in relation to its cultural context. Binding bodies in their place allows new conversations to emerge and unveil hidden narratives regarding local history, social bonds and personal attachments.

Connections between art and sport, tensions experienced by the players in the game they love, and the culture of teamwork and cohesion in rugby becomes an object of reflection. Urgent issues, such as sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia within sporting culture are also revealed through the knotty negotiation between bodies.

The audience is encouraged to arrive and exit anytime and to move around the space during the performance.

 

Supported by Creative New Zealand, National Arts Council (Singapore), NZ Rugby, Satellites, Auckland Live, TAPAC and Auckland Arts Festival. 

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.