Mobile States is a national consortium of Australia’s major contemporary performing arts spaces who are committed to presenting the best of Australia’s contemporary performance. Their focus is on showcasing the work of artists who investigate, research and experiment with ideas and form.
The initiative was established to provide opportunities for audiences to engage with ideas and creative practices from elsewhere and encouraging national dialogue and debate about performance and culture.
Mobile States tours can take two forms: a conventional tour of a single work; and a contemporary performance event (touring performance cluster) featuring multiple works of diverse genres and formats.
Goals of Mobile States
- To profile independent artists or small companies on a national scale
- Audience development for contemporary work
- Create cultural debate and dialogue about performance
- To create space for individual practitioners to gauge their own artistic development
- To encourage dialogue between peer artists and companies leading to possible collaboration & a national perspective
- Maturation of the work, which leads to further opportunities.
Curatorial principles and selection criteria
Mobile States has a particular interest in those artists concerned with experimentation, research and the investigation of ideas and form. We are interested in innovative works created by small scale or project-based companies.
Small to medium scale works will be considered up to a touring party of 10. We also seek proposals for durational works, short works, performance installations, live art events and site-specific works, which could be programmed in a touring performance cluster.
Works are selected by the the Mobile States’ presenter members. The selection criteria give priority to works that:
- employ multiple performance languages;
- are conceptually, formally or technologically ambitious;
- contribute to current cultural and/or artform developments;
- are dramaturgically coherent; and
- have attracted positive critique in press and by peers.
To be eligible for consideration, the productions must be new Australian works which have premiered in a professional production, or had a substantial development, including a showing, for which video documentation is available.
How to apply
Applications for Mobile States 2013 are now closed. Applications for 2014 will be advertised on this site late 2013.
Links
Mobile States Consortium
Current and previous Mobile States tours
Contact us for more information
