In 2012 interdisciplinary artist Nikhil Chopra became the inaugural recipient of Asialink’s ‘Roving Residency’ which unfolded across three Australian locations: Carriageworks, Sydney; Asialink, Melbourne; and the Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia. Chopra’s residency launched Asialink’s new ‘Arts Residency Laboratory’, a platform for testing new models of residencies that are responsive to international developments in the field.
As Chopra ‘roved’ between locations he was introduced to diverse networks and settings, which resulted in different outcomes. In Sydney the artist delivered a 36-hour endurance performance commissioned by Carriageworks, which played with the architecture and history of the site as an old rail yard. In Melbourne Chopra delivered a performance lecture at the Victorian College of the Arts and participated in the forum Lemuria: Cultural Entanglements between Australia and India presented by Utopia@Asialink and the Ian Potter Museum of Art as part of the 2012 Melbourne Festival. In Western Australia Chopra took time out for reflection and summed up his roving residency experience through a thoughtful performance lecture at the Fremantle Arts Centre that moved his audience to tears.
Dates and venues
24 September – 4 October: Nikhil Chopra residency, Carriageworks, Sydney (2 weeks)
28 – 30 September: Nikhil Chopra performance, BLACKENING IV: BAY 19, Carriageworks, Sydney (three-day, 36 hour endurance performance)
4 – 18 October: Nikhil Chopra residency, Asialink, Melbourne (2 weeks)
9 October: Nikhil Chopra, Performance Lecture, Federation Hall, Victorian College of the Arts (VCA)
15 October: Nikhil Chopra guest speaker in Melbourne Festival forum,Lemuria: Cultural entanglements between Australia and India, Yasuko Hiraoka Myer room, The University of Melbourne
18 – 31 October: Nikhil Chopra residency, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia (2 weeks)
30 October: Nikhil Chopra, Performance Lecture, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia
Publication
Partners
Nikhil Chopra's Roving Residency was a partnership between Asialink Arts, Carriageworks and the Fremantle Arts Centre and included collaborations with Utopia@Asialink, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne and 1.Shanthiroad, Bangalore. This residency was generously supported by the Deparmtne of Culture and the Arts, WA; Australia-India Council and the Australia-India Institute.
