Nicolas Molé’s immersive animated installation IIs vous regardent (They look at you) embodies the forest environment of his ancestral home, Lifou in New Caledonia. Pulsing natural life forms found in this environment are symbols for the forces of nature. They also stand in for complex human emotions and relationships including with those that the living have with an ancestral realm.

Yumi Danis (We Dance) was co-curated for ‘The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT8) with Ni-Vanuatu songwriter, musician and author Marcel Meltherorong (Mars Melto), and brought together dancers and musicians from Papua, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was staged as an immersive multimedia installation, animated by contemporary dance and consciously addresses the issues involved in translating and contextualising performance from these regions for a broader audience.

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The installation for APT8 They look at you 2015 is by Kanak artist Nicolas Molé in response to discussions with Meltherorong and 15 dancers from across the region who attended a workshop in Vanuatu in 2014. For APT8 visitors entered through the tangled roots of a banyan tree, into a cleared open space found in many of the region’s villages. The surrounds were animated with Mole’s immersive animated video projections of a forest inhabited by various beings. A large dwelling held 11 videos, presenting the diversity of performance found throughout Melanesia.

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The special performance on the opening weekend of APT8 featured Kanak choreographers and dancers Richard Digoué and Simane Wénéthem, and accompanied by musician Tio Massing and Yumi Danis (We Dance) co-curator Marcel Meltherorong.

Participants: Sam Roem (West Papua l Australia); Julia Mage’au Gray (Papua New Guinea l Australia); Lucy Efi (Papua New Guinea); Michael Maetarau (Solomon Islands); Marcel Meltherorong, Anderson Laurin, Tio Massing, Steve Williams, Andrew Tamata and Manuella Kelep (Vanuatu); Nicolas Mole, Richard Digoue and Simane Wenethem (New Caledonia); Katalina Fotofili and Soronakadavu Ratulevu Tora (Fiji).

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The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) is the Gallery’s flagship exhibition focused on the work of Asia, the Pacific and Australia. APT8 was at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art from 21 November 2015 until 10 April 2016

Feature image detail: Nicolas Molé IIs vous regardent (They look at you) 2015, reconfigured 2017

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