Artist collective Aha Ensemble present a newly commissioned participatory installation Absolutely Everybody Judges, developed with the 2022 Jeremy Hynes Award. Working across Southeast Queensland and driven by an ethos of connection, curiosity, and care, Aha Ensemble use their bodies to explore representation, question value, and challenge assumptions about ways of being in the world.
Having worked primarily in performative practices Absolutely Everybody Judges represents the collective’s first installation work. Underpinned by the principles of the social model of disability; where inclusion and participation is determined by how well particular environments accommodate individual needs, the collective will construct their own dynamic world. An improvised interaction between Aha Ensemble and audience members will create a documented dialogue where hierarchies are upended, limits are undermined, power dynamics reversed, and assumptions are playfully undone and captured in a multi-sensory installation.
Aha Ensemble are the recipients of the 2021 Jeremy Hynes Award, made possible through a bequest from the family of artist Jeremy Hynes.
Aha Ensemble is a disability-led, Queensland based collective of diverse performance artists who value authentic, immersive, participatory and contemporary art practices. The Ensemble was initiated in 2015 by Daniele Constance with support from Access Arts, to aid in developing artists who identify with disability. Aha performers’ individual practices include training and creating work across South East Queensland, nationally; and internationally, including New York, Portugal, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Korea. Ensemble members include: Kayah Guenther, Allycia Staples, Mitchell Runcie, Megan Louise West, Tara Heard, Rebecca Dostal, and Ruby Donohoe, Director Daniele Constance, and Creative Producer Emma-June Curik.
Image: Aha Ensemble member Allycia Staples, 2020. Photo: Jorge Serra.
