Session Times
10.30am – 4.30pm: Monday to Friday
11am – 4pm: Saturday
Closed Sunday and public holidays
Finding Pathways to Temahahoi durational performances
1.30pm – 3.30pm: Sat 31 Aug
1.30pm – 3.30pm: Sat 7 Sep
love.exe and Finding Pathways to Temahahoi audio description and tactile tour
12pm – 1pm: Sat 7 Sep
The relationship between IRL and URL.
Arts House presents two new commissions for the next edition of BLEED (Biennial Live Event in the Everyday Digital): love.exe by Jarra Karalinar Steel and Finding Pathways to Temahahoi by Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos).
Inspired by fandom, gaming and companion characters, love.exe is a collision of geek culture and kitsch romance that explores how we seek solace, connection, validation and love in the digital realm.
Within Arts House at the North Melbourne Town Hall, love.exe is a playful installation where shrines are devoted to iconic video game characters.
On the BLEED website, fans can write a tribute to their favourite characters to create a digital bank and repository of love letters, celebrating the intersection of fandom, fantasy and romantic exploration.
Jarra says that love.exe is a shrine to finding love in a world of digital romance, “I grew up in the 1990s, I loved playing video games that featured romance mechanics that allowed players to form in-game relationships.”
“The well-crafted, mature characters inspired me to explore the emotions behind fictional romances and the communities they foster,” said Jarra.
Using motifs of bees and wind, Finding Pathways to Temahahoi blends video works, drawings, performances and over 20 bespoke ceramic instruments made in Melbourne and Taipei.
Bridging online and physical spaces, Finding Pathways to Temahahoi connects Ciwas’ queer and Atayal identities through a multimedia installation that conjures a place safe from heteronormativity.
Ciwas says “Finding Pathways to Temahahoi aims to connect queer communities beyond borders.”
“In the Atayal oral story, Temahahoi is a fluid location hidden deep in the Taiwanese mountains where only women live. As keepers of traditional knowledge and powers, these women communicate with bees, sustain themselves on smoke and steam and are impregnated by the wind,” said Ciwas.
On the BLEED website, Ciwas aims to create a queer cultural space through an evolving Net Art project. Participants can contribute their audio stories and soundscapes that blend the ancestral and digital realms.
Finding Pathways to Temahahoi will include two durational activations by Ciwas, Natalie Tso and Kori Miles alongside live-coding sound by Fetle Wondimu. It is a response to the cyberland of Temahahoi, expanding knowledge and connections beyond the soil and into the cloud.
Arts House Acting Artistic Director, Olivia Anderson, said “We are thrilled to present the works created by Jarra and Ciwas for BLEED. These new installations, alongside their digital counterparts, will create unforgettable and transportive experiences for audiences and participants.”
Examining and exploring the relationship between the digital and the live, BLEED engages hyperconnected communities and virtual networks to create and experience cutting-edge art, culture and ideas.
BLEED 2024 is presented by a national consortium of partners, including Arts House, Campbelltown Arts Centre and PICA – Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.
