Riana Head-Toussaint: Animate Loading
Art Gallery of New South Wales
4–9 December 2022

Lead artist, choreographer and sound designer: Riana Head-Toussaint
Performers and collaborators: Leo Tsao, Tom Kentta, Natalie Tso, Jeremy Lowrenčev, Savannah Stimson and Bedelia Lowrenčev
Access Producer and Outside Eye: Imogen Yang 
Writing and Documentation: Cynthia Florek 
Wardrobe and Stage Associate: Benaiah Brophey 
Sound Engineer: Stephen Dobson 
Stage Manager: Katrina Douglas 
Costumier: Tamara Dodd
 

Animate Loading is a choreographic work that is in direct dialogue with the space it inhabits. Every performance is informed by the architectural, social and historical contexts of the unceded land it is on. First created on a rooftop carpark in Parramatta in early 2022, and evolving among post-industrial stone ruins and graffitied water tanks at Casula Powerhouse, this iteration of Animate Loading took shape within and around the construction of the Art Gallery’s new building. A disability-led project with access-centred principles at its core, the work was performed on four nights during the building’s opening week. The performers drew on their diverse movement languages and embodied experiences to activate the architecture, bringing its seen and unseen dimensions into focus, and reconfiguring the audience’s interactions with the gallery spaces and each other. 
 
The AGNSW presentation of Animate Loading was also supported by The Keir Foundation.