ELECTRIC BODIES - ŌTAUTAHI

In March 2026, PAWA and TINY join forces to bring artists on an INTERxCHANGE between Ōtautahi and Tāmaki Makaurau in a series of performative experiments called ELECTRIC BODIES.

With the provocations of sound as body and body as sound, the artists are invited to experiment with the intersections between sound and body as a driving force. When sound is not the outcome, but the instigator of an action, in what ways can sound provoke new patterns of embodiment, attention, or resistance?

Powerful, magnetic, dynamic, rousing, voltaic, CHAOTIC, CONSUMING, CALLING YOU.

All events will take place at Cloisters Studio within The Art Centre Christchurch.

All events in Ōtautahi are koha (donation-pay as you feel) but please give generously within your means, so we can cover our base line costs (recommendation if you have a full time job is $30).

The programme is as follows:

Friday 13 March — 7pm onwards

Sarah Elsworth & Anita Clark — VIOLIN MANTIS

Antonia Barnett-McIntosh — Soft Mouths | The language of fffflowers

Alan Schacher — Cataclysmic Catalyst

Saturday 13 March — 7pm onwards

Ivan Lupi — UNTIMELY: Threshold (Durational)

Josiah Morgan & Dominic Hamilton in collaboration with Dispendio Grupo (BR) —
O Que Estamos Fazendo | What We Are Doing

Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann — Tērā

Adhoc live collective performance by (some) artists - Surprise!

Sunday 15 March — Workshops

• 10:00am–12:00pm
  Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann — Catchment Listening (Workshop)

Rachel will offer a physical training practice towards performance, guided by the catchment of Ōtākaro.

This workshop will involve working with objects, moving in dynamic and challenging ways, improvisation, partner work and voice work. It will include small amounts of sharing/witnessing, so come prepared to move, play, and be seen.

Drawing from somatic movement, contact improvisation, and regenerative practice. This offering is suitable for people curious about embodiment, performance, and movement in dialogue with place—whether you come with formal training or nothing more than a willingness to engage, you are welcome!

• 1:00pm–3:00pm
  Antonia Barnett-McIntosh — Sound Walk (Workshop)

A big part of my compositional and collaborative composition process is to devise moments of tension, surprise, and humour to create communal experiences whereby spectators are welcomed as participants in a compositional process. This implies that listening in itself is active: audience members are not mere recipients of music as finished form, but drawn into a piece’s compositional questions where listening and spectating can be viewed as a form of composition.

This workshop is an invitation to create, compose, and experience a sound walk as a group. We’ll start by making some sound experiments (absolutely no musical experience necessary!), testing ideas, thinking about everyday items and objects as musical instruments, considering the musicality of everyday speech, then participate in some deep listening exercises, before venturing out into the streets for a sound walk (or ride or roll).

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ALL OUR EVENTS & TICKETS GO TO OUR WEBISTE: https://www.performanceartweekaotearoa.com/electric-bodies-christchurch/