​​MATTHEW PREST

Whelping Box (with Branch Nebula and Clare Britton) presented an absurd embodied critique of conventional masculinity through a series of intense yet playful physical tasks, that saw the two performers attempt to transcend the limitations of their environment. This work was award a Helpmann Award for Best Physical or Visual Performance (2014).

Bounce was selected for the Rapid Pulse Performance Art Festival, Chicago, 2014. This involved a repeated action of running into a wall of sticky tape repeatedly for 1 hour at a main intersection in Chicago's Wicker Park. The piece was a violent and absurd meditation on notions of achievement and progress.

Given the setting of a carpark, with a seated audience and with the help of by partner and son, the task was to create a heightened 'energy' using repetitive dancing, rave music, everyday household objects (a heater, groceries, our family car), and audience participation. Image by Salote Tawale

Running Up A Skyscraper (performed for Site Is Set Festival, Melbourne 2015) saw me running up 89 floors while the audience waited in a bar at the top of Eureka Tower, enjoying the view, champagne and canapes. On arrival at the top, my task was to present a 30 minute Powerpoint presentation on 'Skyscrapers'. The work explored ideas of individualism and capitalism.

Silo took the audience inside the world of a fictional and unnamed cult. It used a task-based performance style to create a visceral experience that explored group power dynamics and absurd ritual.

Shammgods is an ongoing performance project with Nitin Vengurlekar and Malcolm Whittaker that traverses live and online performance through a variety of 'business' pursuits including lawn mowing, a fashion line and babysitting. Image by Nicole Wong