Review: Leftover Market – ⭐⭐
Leftover Market 剩女經濟 aimed to challenge societal views on identity, inspired by the term ‘Leftover Women’. One strength for the show is the use of multiple languages (English, Taiwanese Sign Language and Mandarin) to add humour to certain moments – a personal favourite was “我是香蕉” (translated to “I am banana”). While the show offered moments of humour, sometimes it felt provocative for provocation’s sake rather than advancing a meaningful narrative. The performer’s lines were frequently hard to hear, either due to a lack of projection or muffling induced by the costuming. This lead to a moments of audience confusion, where some would erupt into laughter while others sat in confusion. Visual aids could be used to mitigate the language and audibility barriers, thereby improving the accessibility and interpretability of the performance. Overall, Leftover Market 剩女經濟 presents a promising concept but the execution could do with refinement to fully achieve its potential.
Review: Fell – ⭐
The performance of Fell began in the large Carriageworks foyer, building tension as the audience surrounded a suspended log. This tension continued to build as Luke George (performer) walks back and forth, setting the log into a pendulum motion. However, this energy dissipates due to the extended segment where the artist encourages the audience to aid him in carrying the log into the main performance space. Thirty minutes elapsed before the audience was finally seated in the main hall, having witnessed only a log swinging back and forth. The line between tension-building and prolonged waiting is delicate, and here, Luke George successfully creates an atmosphere of extended waiting without a satisfying payoff.
Once in the main hall, George scales the rope, balancing their weight against the log, gradually leading to suspension against a white background. The audience sat in silence, broken only by the rope’s amplified reverberations. While the performance was polished in its execution, the concept felt shallow and not engaging, failing to fully capitalise on the tension it set out to build.
Performance art is not for everyone, and when attending Liveworks, that was certainly the case. There was a lack of welcome into the grand Carriageworks space and the shows only continued this atmosphere. It felt like the pieces alienated the casual art enjoyer. It felt like Liveworks missed an opportunity to deepen understanding and appreciation of performance art.
