James Batchelor & Collaborators: Metasystems

Let yourself be carried away by a mesmerising, sculptural landscape of bricks and moving bodies. The combination of raw building materials and human bodies in motion highlights the interaction between human beings and the material world they both create and destroy. The industrial environment of the Tokoz factory is an impetus to the creative process and audiences can look forward to the result of this creative collaboration between the work of James Batchelor, the factory employees and the residents of Žďár.

People have used bricks as a basic building material for millennia; regular, measurable units, bricks are utilitarian but brimming with enormous creative potential. Metasystems evokes construction cycles as continuous building processes. This leads us to consider built space as constantly in motion, and the notion of buildings — seemingly so fixed — as never still. From construction to demolition, they are negotiations between the people who create and use them in everyday life. This newest version of Metasystems was created in collaboration with the Tokoz lock factory and local people from Žďár.

Creatives:

Choreography: James Batchelor

Assistant choreographer: Jacqueline Trapp

Running time: 30 min

Suitable for audiences: 10+

Venue: Tokoz Factory

Metasystems was developed with support from the Keir Choreographic Award, Australia Council for the Arts, Arts ACT and the city of Melbourne. 

James Batchelor (b.1992) is a Choreographer and Performer from Canberra, Australia. His work is known for its visual clarity, architectural sensitivity to space and rhythmic playfulness. James' movement is hypnotically focused and detailed drawing audiences into a contemplative and imaginative realm. His practice is collaborative, spanning mediums of dance, film, music and sculpture. The result is highly original and immersive performances of impact and scale that resonate with audiences internationally.