TRACES, 2017 - 20

Durational film and performance work

TRACES is a collaborative film and performance work by artist Ian Strange, Dutch choreographer Anouk van Dijk, and contemporary dance company Chunky Move. It draws on Strange’s practice exploring architecture, memory, and the ‘home’, alongside Van Dijk’s interest in how history and identity are held within the bodies of performers. The work exists as both film and live performance, examining how movement shapes our perception of built environments and how physical contact alters those spaces—and our relationships within them—over time.

Filmed in late 2019, the performance took place on a custom-built floor of stretched white canvas and stacked, burnt-black timber beams. Over the course of the performance, the six dancers move through a series of choreographed actions and motivations developed by Van Dijk and Strange. Initially, the performers move independent of the placed materials, but over time, the actions bring them into contact—as they are tasked with constructing and dismantling abstract forms with the burnt wood and canvas. As they shift roles, to builder, sculptor, and inhabitant, each action leaves behind traces of charcoal on their bodies and the floor. The performance ends with the floor transformed into an abstract movement drawing, with the film and canvases serving as both artwork and documentation.

TRACES was created in partnership with contemporary dance company Chunky Move as a new commission work, with the support of Creative Partnerships Australia, and the Australian Council for the Arts, originally planned to premiere at Cinedans Festival, Denmark, in March 2020.

Film

Ian Strange x Chunky Move TRACES Film Video artwork Still 15
Ian Strange x Chunky Move TRACES Film Video artwork Still 9
TRACES Ian Strange Anouk Van Dijk Chunky Move screenshot 4
TRACES Ian Strange Anouk Van Dijk Chunky Move screenshot 3
Ian Strange x Chunky Move TRACES Film Video artwork Still 2
Ian Strange x Chunky Move TRACES Film Video artwork Still 13
TRACES Ian Strange Anouk Van Dijk Chunky Move screenshot 5
Ian Strange x Chunky Move TRACES Film Video artwork Still 7

Still frames from TRACES, 2020
Ian Strange, Anouk van Dijk
HD, Single channel digital film 16:9, stereo sound
62m06s duration – Looped

Drawing

Credits

TRACES was created in partnership with dance company Chunky Move as a new commission work, with the support of Creative Partnerships Australia and the Australian Council for the Arts. The work was developed collaboratively over three years by Van Dijk and Strange, along with performers Tara Samaya, Richard Cili, Joel Bray, James Vu Anh Pham, Lauren Langois, and Niharika Senapati. It was co-produced by Chunky Move and Ian Strange Studios, with producers Jedda Andrews, Sarah Greentree and Vanessa Pigrum. 

[FULL CREDITS]

Ian Strange
Anouk Van Dijk

Executive Produced by:
Chunky Move
Ian Strange Studio

Producers:
Jedda Andrews
Sarah Greentree
Vanessa Pigrum

Performers:
Tara Samaya
Richard Cili
Joel Bray
James Vu Anh Pham
Lauren Langois
Niharika Senapati

Cinematographer: Sam Winzar
Camera Operator: Matty Jenkons
Camera Operator: Jesse Gohier-Fleet
Gaffer: Ryan Fish
Sound: Fabrice Galli
AD/Producer’s Assistant: Mashaka Gunnulson
Runner/Assistant: Lauren Kennedy
Sound mix: Lachlan Harris
Grade: Daniel Stonehouse (We are Crayon)
Editor: Dominic Pearce, Ian Strange
Production manager Chunky Move: Mikkel Mynster
Production manager Chunky Move: Angus Robson
BTS photos, footage, content: Sarah Cooper
BTS footage: Dan Gallagher

TRACES was supported by: The Angior Family Foundation, Mary Barlow, Leigh O’Neill, Rosemary Forbes and Ian Hocking, Nelson Estrella and Phil Rounsevell, Jerry Remkes, Naum Tered, Rose Hiscock and Virginia Lovett, John Carr, Jackson Clements Burrows, Jacqueline O’Brien, Sue Donnelly, Michelle Brooks, Rhod Ellis-Jones, Jeremy Blackshaw, Sean Jameson, Roger Poole, Margaret Parker, Hans Brinckmann, Caroline Farmer, Michael Agar, Rosemary Walls, Cameron Lewis, Pamela and Adrian Lombardo, Jane Badler-Hains, Gaye Murray, Jacqueline Rose, Min Li Chong, Gordon Conochie, Suzana Ristevski, Collette O’Neill, Aneka Manners, Sue Morgan, Jane Badler-Hains, Helga Svendsen, Jodi Burley, Sue Westwood, Roya Alma Azadi, Karen Weiss, Li-Hsin Serene Tan, Laure Pradier, Sylwia Dinehin, Lucy Mariani, Helen Forrester, Annie Dawson, David Geoffrey Hall, Phoebe Preuss, Heidi Groen, Victor Sojo Monzon, Anthony Oliver, Matthew Self, Moira Millar, and Claire Wilcock.

Chunky Move and Ian Strange Studios are located on the unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations. The artists and producers respectfully acknowledge the significant contributions of Australia’s First Peoples, and are committed to supporting the continuity of culture and relationship to this land.