A Book of Hours
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Saturday, 3 May 2025
4:45 pm
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National Film and Sound Archive
McCoy Cct, Acton ACT 2601
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In Association with
This event is part of MOSSO: music in motion
“Call it dance or art music or just live performance. Whatever it is – A Book of Hours is the best kind of puzzle.” – ★★★★ The Age
‘A Book of Hours’ is a revelatory screen-dance presentation featuring stop-motion film, on stage and filmed choreography with live classical contemporary soundtrack performed by Rubiks Collective, alongside stop-motion video works by visual artist Sal Cooper and choreographer Gerard Van Dyck.
Inspired by the mysteries of time and different ideas of how we spend our days, ‘A Book of Hours’ combines stop-motion filmed humans and animation on screen, choreographed musicians and wind-up toys on stage representing the embodied vulnerability of the human form.
Taking the medieval Book of Hours as the central concept of the work, composer Kate Neal references early Baroque influences (Couperin, Rameau) to reimagine the early canonical divisions of time.
PROGRAM
Multimedia live performance (50 minutes)
Four piece instrumental ensemble + live electronics + film
ARTISTS
Creative Directors: Gerard Van Dyck / Sal Cooper / Kate Neal / Rubiks Collective
Choreography / Movement: Gerard Van Dyck
Animation / Visual Media: Sal Cooper
Music / Sound: Kate Neal (with Couperin and Rameau)
Ensemble: Rubiks Collective (Tamara Kohler – flutes | Gemma Kneale – cello | Kaylie Melville – percussion)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
**An automatic discount of 15 per cent applies when purchasing three or more MOSSO tickets in a single transaction.
**Note for Pass Holders – Festival passes automatically include entry to the 2pm-6pm ticketed events.
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ARTIST Learn more about the artist
Artist Sal Cooper
Sal Cooper is an interdisciplinary artist who has been practicing for 20 years with a focus on screen-based works. Her wide ranging cross-platform practice covers independent film-making, hand drawn and stop motion animation, installation and performance events. Her work utilises an observational language that gives expression to deliberate misunderstandings, absurd irregularities and comic abstractions. She employs complex and refined production techniques to project a lyrical depth and meaning onto objects and landscapes – fully exploring the imaginative possibilities of the ordinary world around us. The integration of music within the context of moving image is a central part of her practice as can be seen in her ongoing collaboration with composer Kate Neal under the title Flight Risk. This collaboration has given rise to a body of commissioned material that includes major theatrical/performance works, concert pieces and music videos as well as work for cinematic settings.Sal’s artistic practice also includes works on paper, which she exhibits in regular solo and group shows. In the course of Sal’s practice she has undertaken several public art projects and attended residencies in Australia and overseas. Her short films and experimental videos continue to be screened around the world.
Artist Gerard Van Dyck - dancer
Gerard Van Dyck is a dancer, actor, and educator. His performance experience includes contemporary dance, acting, slapstick, puppetry, motion capture, aerial performance, and illusion.
He was Creative Director of KAGE, which he co-founded in 1997, and has contributed to and performed in KAGE’s award winning works across Australia and abroad. Gerard premiered his award winning solo THE COLLAPSIBLE MAN in 2001, and toured it to multiple venues across regional and metropolitan Australia.
In 2015, Gerard presented his follow up solo work PICNIC which also toured across Australia. He has performed and toured extensively with BalletLab and Polyglot Theatre, and collaborated with artists Nat Cursio, Eleventh Hour Theatre, Clare Dyson, Legs on the Wall, desoxy Theatre and Sandra Parker.
Gerard has choreographed and performed in music video clips, dance films and TV advertisements. He danced in a piano costume for Sarah Blasko and floated in a space ship for David Noonan. He has directed circus and comedy, and provided dramaturgy for ballet. Gerard is also a greatly sought after teacher across Melbourne, facilitating workshops in partnering skills, Pilates conditioning, acting for dancers, and body awareness for actors. Gerard’s other creative outlets include designing and building papercraft sculptures.