Image: Shelley Lasica. Photo: Jacqui Shelton

The work of Shelley Lasica reveals a sustained exploration of dance, movement and the varying contexts in which they can occur. WHEN I AM NOT THERE provides an important occasion to reflect on forty years of Lasica’s choreographic practice and will be the first exhibition of its kind in Australia.

Curated by Hannah Mathews (Senior Curator, MUMA), the performance-exhibition WHEN I AM NOT THERE features a mise-en-scène comprising new and existing elements, including contributions from the artist’s long-term collaborators and a new ensemble work commissioned for the occasion and performed live for the duration of the gallery’s opening hours.

The 2021 recipient of an Australia Council Dance Fellowship, Melbourne-based Lasica is developing this new work with a team of ten other artists, including LJ Connolly-Hiatt, Luke Fryer, Timothy Harvey, Rebecca Jensen, Megan Payne, Lisa Radford, Lana Šprajcer, Oliver Savariego, François Tétaz and Colby Vexler.