Lyndal Jones: The Prediction Pieces 1981-1991

About the exhibition
This exhibition focused on the work of Lyndal Jones—a distinguished performance and installation artist who, over a decade beginning in 1981, developed ten Prediction Pieces in diverse locations across Australia, Japan, the United States, India and Europe. Dramatising a feminist and post-structural analysis of contemporary society, Jones employed methods of prediction—such as tarot, dice and weather forecasting—to stage multidisciplinary time-based works incorporating theatre, music, visual art and dance. Typically performing as a commentator or storyteller, Jones has observed that acts of prediction are ‘processes through which we arrange our future(s).’

The exhibition critically addressed the challenge of translating the ephemeral nature of performance into a traditional museum display. Ten vitrines presented material traces of the Prediction Pieces, including scripts and notes, photographic slides used as projection backdrops, audio cassettes with original soundtracks, documentary photographs, and the artist’s costume—a black shirt, trousers and red shoes. A newly compiled archival video brought together edited excerpts from original video documentation and footage used in live performances.

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^{Image: Lyndal Jones, Prediction Piece 3 1981. Installation view, Lyndall Jones, The Prediction Pieces 1981–1991, An Archive, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne, 1981. Photo: J. Dunkley-Smith}