Working Memory is a dynamic program of experimental performance works presented by Inner West Council at the 25th Biennale of Sydney, Rememory, at White Bay Power Station.
Embedded in the walls of White Bay Power station is the labour of those who brought it to life, and those who kept the lights on in Sydney. The thousands of workers contributed more than bricks, mortar and coal to the building. They brought energy, connection and care with one another.
Commissioned & Produced by Inner West Council
Featuring:
Amrita Hepi, Zoe Theodore
Body of Work (Charlotte Farrell, Emma Maye Gibson)
Jacqui O’Reilly, James Peter Brown
Lauren Brincat, Zoe Theodore
Lulu Barkell, Theodore Carroll, Cynthia Florek, Oliver Durbidge (Highly Strung Puppets)
Red Rey & Kit-Wu Bylett
Enter the wayward
Amrita Hepi, Zoe Theodore
Enter the wayward is interested in the choreography of waterways. Working with a dramaturgy that blends human and non-human, voice and gesture, the fake and the authentic, Hepi explores what it means to build on water and how we choreograph ourselves into it.
Found; Missing Archives
Lulu Barkell, Theodore Carroll, Cynthia Florek, Oliver Durbidge (Highly Strung Puppets)
‘Found; Missing Archives’ is an immersive performance exploring ancestral memory and labour. Three hand-crafted puppets, made from re-used materials, roam White Bay as living archives. Accessibility and inclusivity are central. Created by diverse artists, it uplifts First Nations, and BIPOC actors, honoring Toni Morrison’s Rememory philosophy.
Housekeeping
Red Rey, Kit Wu-Bylett
Housekeeping is a roving performance by Red Rey and Kit-Wu Bylett, exploring the invisible labour of diaspora Filipinx workers. Through embroidered towels, gesture, and ritualised care, the work honours unseen service bodies. Audience members receive and return offerings in a participatory act of witnessing, vulnerability, and mutual recognition.
Pulse and Pressure
Jacqui O’Reilly, James Peter Brown and guests
The Boiler House is transformed into a site for deep listening with song, gesture and live sound design. An electroacoustic score, transmitted via radio waves and broadcast through HD headphones, invites audiences to reflect on new forms of energy and harmonic force through sensing sound and venerating place.
Tarantismo
Lauren Brincat, Zoe Theodore
Tarantismo is a site responsive procession that weaves sound, movement, and textile through White Bay Power Station. Inspired by folk ritual and industrial memory, it transforms architecture into a living score, animated by choreography, live music, and falling fabric. A collective gesture of resistance, remembrance, and spatial transformation unfolds.
Workers’ Wives
By Body of Work
Charlotte Farrell, Emma Maye Gibson, Megan Holloway, Imbar ‘Imbi’ Nassi and TESH.
Electrifying female domestic feats! In this site-specific performance, Body of Work illuminate the invisible labour of the White Bay Power Station’s workers’ wives. How could the city have been powered without them? Workers’ Wives reauthors the legacy of the White Bay Power Station through a queer feminist lens.
Presented with Major Partner
