Precarious Movements Choreography and the Museum

Precarious Movements was awarded an Australian Linkage Grant of nearly $400,000 over three years worth double this amount including in-kind support from its partner organisations University New South Wales (UNSW), National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Tate, Art Gallery New South Wales (AGNSW), Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and independent artist Shelley Lasica.

Against the backdrop of intermedial experiments in the mid-twentieth century, the twenty-first century has seen dance and choreography appear more frequently in art galleries and museums. This is forecast to accelerate, propelled by curatorial inquiries and critical developments associated with a reinvention of the museum. However, processes and protocols concerning performance conditions specific to choreography, curatorial practices, acquisitions, collection, conservation and theory have lagged behind. The research project addresses this problem, and its principal aims are to:

• Articulate best practice in the life cycle of choreographic work when it enters the museum and gallery.
• Model best practice in commissioning, curating, conserving, presenting and interpreting choreographic work in the museum and gallery context.
• Develop new critical understandings of dance and the art institution to support further development in the field.

Precarious Movements puts artists and creative practice at the centre of its inquiry, engaging their knowledge and experience as primary research, and supports dancers and choreographers as important end users.

As part of this project Tate Conservation have been focused on developing best practice in the conservation of choreographic artworks and working with the project team to develop a series of outputs from the project. The Precarious Movements project outputs have included an anthology, Precarious Movements: Choreography and the Museum (2024), six commissioned creative case studies as well as workshops and forums.

The Precarious Movements project team has developed a freely available online resource that focuses on choreographic works in the context of the museum and addresses how we can better serve and represent the artist in this context. The resource draws directly from research into the field of practice through interviews, consultations and practical case studies, and all information is designed specifically to improve conditions for artists working in this field and to assist museums and arts workers with this task. Equally, it is intended as a reference for artists working with museums to provide knowledge and to support their agency and autonomy in such situations.

The resource also provides a foundation from which to build stronger relationships and working practices that support the successful development, production presentation and preservation of choreographic works in the museum. Although not intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive, the intention is to support performing artists’ safe and sustainable work within the museum context. Each choreographic practice or work is unique, requiring a tailored approach to ensure all the individuals involved in its creation and presentation are respected, supported, fairly compensated, and safe.

The Precarious Movements project team would like to extend thanks to Nathan Cutts and Studio OK-OK for their invaluable collaboration and transforming the resource into a clearly articulated and thoughtfully designed website. Tate is also pleased to announce that the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) will support the continuous publication of the resource by financing its web hosting. The Institutional support and guidance from NAVA have been fundamental to the development of the resource.

Precarious Movements is led by the University of New South Wales. Tate is a Partner Investigator on the project.

For full details on the project, the project team and research outputs please visit the UNSW Sydney website at https://www.unsw.edu.au/arts-design-architecture/our-schools/arts-media/our-research/our-projects/precarious-movements-choreography-museum.