Tina Havelock Stevens’ Conduit for a lift creates a performance space from an overlooked architectural element: the lift. Commissioned on the occasion of the exhibition Tina Havelock Stevens: !!, part of the Art Gallery’s Contemporary Project series, this improvised, durational performance invites you to ride in the lift with the artist as she plays one of her signature flocked drum kits. The ultramarine kit, typically shown as a silent sculpture, will be activated for the first time, revealing a previously unheard sound. 

Across Havelock Stevens’ practice, the drum kit has served as a conduit for the emotional undercurrents of charged, often inaccessible locations – from an aeroplane ‘graveyard’ to the Mojave Desert and the streets of de-industrialised Detroit. In Conduit for a lift, she again drums where she shouldn’t, welcoming chance encounters with the Art Gallery’s visitors.

Don’t miss this free summer performance at Art After Hours.

Tina Havelock Stevens: !! is the second annual co-commission by Artspace and the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the Contemporary Projects series.