Hundreds + Thousands is a lush blend of dance, installation, experimental music and plants

Hundreds + Thousands is a lush, sensory performance for humans and plants, created by long-time collaborators Luke George (Melbourne) and Daniel Kok (Singapore).

Blending dance, experimental music, and installation – with plants as mediators, performers, and new companions – Hundreds + Thousands blurs the boundaries between people and the natural world. Rearrange your collective experience of the visual, the sensual and the sensible, and catch a glimpse of a world where time is transformed, and humans displaced.

Following their already iconic reimagining of the AFL mark of the year at RISING Festival (Melbourne, 2022), this intimate dance work transforms PICA into a plant-filled landscape, brimming with movement, bodily sensation, and ecological curiosity in its Australian premiere.

“Hundreds + Thousands is very much a performance for both people and plants. The work is filled with feelings of intimacy, openness, calmness, and connection, with a humorous twist. Visitors will feel a sense of everything breathing together as they rest in our ‘makeshift’ garden and we invite them to consider both our relationship with plants, and the wider world around us – a world currently in crisis,” said co-creator and performer Daniel Kok.

Daniel Kok has a BA in Fine Art & Critical Theory (Goldsmiths College, London, 2001), an MA in Solo/ Dance/Authorship (HZT, Berlin, 2012) and has studied Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies (APASS, Brussels, 2014). His performances have been presented across Asia, Europe, Australia and North America, notably in the Venice Biennale, Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin), AsiaTOPA (Melbourne) and Festival/Tokyo. As artistic director of Dance Nucleus (Singapore), he focuses on building capacities for interdisciplinary praxis and trans-local partnerships in Asia and Australia. He curates the annual da:ns Lab at the Esplanade (Singapore) and is a core group member of the Asia Network for Dance (AND+).

Luke George (lutruwita-Tasmania, 1978) creates new choreographic and visual work that takes daring and at times, unorthodox methods, to explore new intimacies and connections between artist and audience. Based in Naarm (Melbourne), Luke creates, performs and collaborates with artists and the public across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. In 2019 Luke was recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship and premiered new works in Dance Massive and the Venice Biennale. In 2020 Luke was appointed Artistic Associate of Temperance Hall and to the Co-Design Consultation Group for a dedicated Melbourne dance festival.

Bring along your favourite plant as you consider what plants know of the world around them. Hundreds + Thousands runs 13–15 October 2022 in the PICA Performance Space. Tickets are $25 for students and $35 for standard, and are on sale now from pica.org.au.