Bodies of Water

Bodies of Water' is an immersive-site specific audio walk and communal night swim. This artwork has been created for Eastern Beach, Geelong, Australia by Triage Live Art Collective artists Katerina Kokkinos-Kennedy and Sarah Walker.

'Bodies of Water' is an exploration of our lifelong relationship to the sea, as a place of nourishment, danger, and transcendence. The artists are fascinated by this unseen world which is brimming with life, but also a place compromised by environmental degradation and global warming. The work echoes between our bodies which are made of water, and the ocean that we are drawn to immerse ourselves in.

We have been developing this artwork throughout 2022, with the support of Platform Arts, and we are excited to be presenting the premiere season from November 3-6.

Each performance will see 15 audience members gathering at the Eastern Beach flagpole, and donning wetsuits and headphones. As the sun sets, the listeners walk around the Eastern Beach boardwalk, listening to a sound work about our bodies, the ocean, and the relationships between them. Sometimes poetic, sometimes funny, sometimes alarming, the work shifts in scale from the cosmic to the microscopic. When the audience has come full circle, onto the Eastern Beach sand, they gather and step into the dark water together for a night swim.

'Bodies of Water' uses art as a way to discuss climate change, the human impact on the sea, and ideas of custodianship and relationship with the water that sustains and surrounds us. Through an immersive, poetic experience, the work allows members of the public, who might not be scientifically or artistically engaged, to have a transformative experience that shifts their thinking about their local body of water. We have kept our ticket prices low ($10), to allow the work to be financially accessible to as many participants as possible, and are using our relationships in and around Geelong to encourage audiences who aren't regular art attendees.

Funded by On the Water (June 2022)