Socially engaged performance art
Sylvia Schwenk has created 19 works of socially engaged performance art over the last two decades, bringing together people from different communities and backgrounds. Over 2,000 people have participated on roads, in prisons, naval bases, football grand finals, cathedrals, public transport, model airplane fields and art institutions in Australia, Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States.
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library of emoji art
An emoji is the smallest unit of digital communication. In this ongoing project it becomes a reason for hundreds of people to be in the same place at the same time.
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X Performances
Performers lie on busy intersections across four cities, making Xs with their bodies in the moments between traffic movements, the road alternately claimed and reclaimed.
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connect: kaleidoscope
People unite in movements to create a large human kaleidoscope under a copper beech tree. As rain falls on their faces, they share in the experience of connection.
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dada – when up is down
A group of healthy people including two children simultaneously fall to the floor during the opening of an art exhibition. The cause is as surprising as the fall itself.
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World Domination
A fun and playful work parodying evil, greed and the desire to control the world. On a Melbourne tram during peak hour, a carriage full of passengers joined in with contagious laughter.
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Study for Dazzle
A proposed work in which thousands of military personnel and civilians lie side by side on a Sydney oval to form a 120m naval ship in WWI Dazzle camouflage.
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birds and clouds
Over 300 people come together in a German/Dutch border town as three model airplane clubs uniquely fly in formation, origami cranes are folded and large crane sculptures flown over the airfield.
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Along white lines
During half time at a regional Aussie Rules Grand Final, over 400 fans ran onto the field and lay down alongside performers. Together they covered the lines of centre square with their bodies.
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Sometimes awful things
A man dances a waltz with a lawnmower inside a maximum-security prison. Twenty palm trees tower above him. The waltz is filled with hope but underwritten with despair.
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In silence and movement
Tradespeople carry large panes of non-existent glass through the crowds outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. The audience polishes the glass, smashes it into shards, carries their own panes.
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Life Preservers
Women model dresses made from plastic bottles in an urban setting, showcasing the latest collection for the upcoming climate change season. An amusing double-bind on the extremes of climate change.
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Life takes place on foot
Colour-coded performers roll car wheels through the streets as though the car body has disappeared. Concrete trucks and pedestrians good-naturedly share the road. Who owns the road?
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Boots for rising waters
Women ascend the steps of Cologne’s Dom Cathedral in platform gumboots ranging up to 30 cm high, each assisted by a Helper. Can only the wealthy adapt to rising waters?
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One day I’ll lend a hand
People from different worlds come together, unified by a communal spirit of making art. What emerges during rehearsals quietly reveals how people connect by building on what they have in common.
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Remember the importance of Self
A small oasis of pageantry and prestige is injected into the familiar, as a procession of people raises sumptuous purple canopies over strangers going about their everyday lives.
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Anja’s reality
A text-based work about Anja, a sex worker in a designated zone in Eindhoven where a daytime street becomes a one-way circuit at night. The viewer’s silhouette places them inside the work.
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Red, blue or green?
Everyday people wearing a red, blue, or green t-shirt gather in the road at Bondi Beach, Sydney. Their colour choices determine the geometric patterns they make on the road.
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Under Surveillance
An art intervention masquerading as a real everyday event. Officials conduct surveillance in Martin Place, Sydney, recording the public without their knowledge. No one asks why.
For collectors
Performances, films and photographs are available as limited editions. Unframed photographs start from €3,000. Film and performance editions are available by enquiry.
Enquire about a workFor galleries and curators
Works are available for exhibition, screening and re-performance in new locations and communities. Exhibition proposals, loans and commission enquiries are welcome.
Discuss an exhibition or commission