NEW ARRIVALS
ABOUT
This video installation expresses how we belong to land and culture, based on our individual and collective history and the ever-changing image of society. The port is explored as a place of transition, and as a local point of arrival and departure.
The performers enact the connection between people and place and how a sense of identity and belonging arises through their exchange with one another. Through the elements of dance and dramatisation they interpret the continuous development of community and how the use of social and interpersonal skills can positively influence people’s human feelings towards others. NEW ARRIVALS stages how proximity and connection between people are necessary to help create healthy ways of coexistence.
‘Existence Theatre’ is based at the Old Customs House, known for their site-specific responses through rich, poetic and fascinating work that celebrates cultural diversity, tolerance and connectedness.
performed by Emma Benischauer, Bugs Boyd, Shenae Coppola, Mayra Dinelli, Elisabeth Eitelberger, Jonia, Guimaraes, Jack Hagan, Eden McCombe
dedicated to Port Fremantle | EXISTENCE THEATRE by ART IN PROCESS 2022 | video installation by Bello Benischauer
NEW ARRIVALS
they didn’t arrive by plane
no longer by boat
no longer known as immigrants
no longer have they been converted
or needed to adjust
so that they would not attract attention
they are now integrated into the daily rhythm of life
but still in exile far from humanity
a flood of refugees
who haven’t tried to escape
but have fallen overboard
dying of thirst in the dry sea of the mind
they seek recognition
they want to be present
they forgot where they belong
Forget who they are
never knew where they were going
but always requested, wanted, demanded something
the other side is always better
all of them try to arrive where they can’t go
all of them try to have what they don’t need
born with the guilt of the past
they line up where everything is lined up
to do what everyone does
to have what they believe is their right to possess
to believe in what seems to be the way forward
who is first in line
who is the best in the group
who will make it
they haven’t arrived until they stop traveling
the arrival takes place before departure in themselves.
© EXISTENCE THEATRE ENSEMBLE
MONOGRAPH – in progress
VIDEOWORKS BLU-RAY DL50GB