Running Machine Support Material

Running Machine’s live incarnation exists gloriously beyond and between the worlds of dance and installation.

Choreography, dramaturgy, sculpture and digital elements work in sync to conjure a world that is shifting, unstable and constantly surprising. Expectations are constructed and then subverted as the familiar limits and meanings of the human body begin to crumble beneath us.

Audiences move through video projections of shifting scale, making their own way through the interior of the work itself. A treadmill runs persistently, the pace-maker at the heart of work. Running Machine undermines the traditionally transactional contract between audience and artwork: the artists use subtle directives, nonverbal communication and soft cues to produce active situations and invite interactions. The audience-artist relationship becomes an affective mirror, each side informing the other.

Jonathan Craig : Running Machine Review (Click here for website)

Running Machine 

The evening air, cooled by recent rain, feels charged with anticipation as the audience walks the street. At the head of our procession, volunteers hold aloft the frame of a wheelchair. The royal we carry is a mannequin, crowned by a GoPro. We speak in hushed tones, some of us almost reverent, others giggling nervously. From a tinny speaker somewhere in the crowd, the Blue Danube Waltz plays us on.

Japanese performance artist Kazuhiko Hiwa glides in and out of our group, like Loki on a skateboard. Well known for using his wheelchairs as props, he’s clearly the mastermind behind this ceremony, and he knows what he wants to see. Gesturing in my direction, he ushers me forward. I get a firm grip on one of the bars, and my wife pushes me onward, my wheels rattling over the heritage cobblestones.

What is the meaning of this tableau? Who is meant to be sublime, and who ridiculous? The equation is left unresolved as we file through the accessible entrance, into the foyer of Arts House.

Centuries on, questions remain about Hamlet’s motives and how to understand his actions. But Richard III, embittered by his disfigurement, plainly told us he was evil. Whether we’re good, bad, wise, tragic, or inspiring, too often, we have been puppet ambassadors of flat, moralistic messages aimed at the able community.

This strange and surprising prologue to tonight’s performance will remain in our minds long afterwards, refusing to be clarified or simplified. This is what happens when we’re allowed to tell our own stories.

Meet the Team

  • Yuiko Masukawa

    Yuiko Masukawa is a Japanese choreographer based in Naarm (Melbourne) Australia. Her work brings together the inclusive and iconoclastic ethos of contemporary performance with he deep expertise of ballet. 

    She is a current recipient of the The Australian Ballet’s Telstra Emerging Choreographer’s Award for her work 3. She is also the recipient of the Lucy Guerin Inc. Naarm/Solo exchange program for 2025/2026, which will take place in both Indonesia and Australia.

    Yuiko is working to create a context for independent and inclusive dance in Australia through art creation, teaching and local and international residencies and platforms. She has presented work at Arts House for Bleed Festival, at The Australian Ballet for Frame Festival and Bodytorque as well as the Bowery Theatre, Dancehouse, and Lucy Guerin Inc.

    In 2025 she will undertake a choreographic secondment at Trisha Brown Company following on from choreographic secondments with Lee Serle, In 2020 with New York City Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet, supported by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust. Her works have been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Dance in the 2018 Australian Dance Awards (Director of Melbourne City Youth Ballet) and Design/Technical Achievement in the 2023 Green Room Awards (Running Machine).

  • Dr Sam McGilp

    Dr Sam McGilp is a new media artist based on Wurundjeri country in Naarm. He creates collaborative modes of making with performers through playful experiments in new media that expand the potential dramaturgies of live performance.

    Sam’s body of work includes performance (Running Machine - Arts House - 2022), hybrid digital/performance works (STACK - CTM Festival Berlin, Zerospace New York and SOFT CENTRE 2024), (triplet state - ACC Korea and DAC Taipei 2023) (Body Crysis –ACMI - 2023 and The Substation – 2022), films (Body Pipelines - Sydney Opera House - 2023, Bonanza! - Chunky Move - MIFF 2021), and contributions to discourse (Taipei Performing Arts Center’s Adam Lab – 2021, ANAT Multiplicity Conference - 2022).

    Sam has worked extensively in collaborative contexts including with Harrison Hall, NAXS Future (Taiwan), Lu Yang (China), and Kazuhiko Hiwa and Makoto Uemura (Japan), as well as with celebrated contemporary Australian artists.

    He completed his PhD at RMIT University working with Chamber Made, investigating digital artworks that share an artistic inquiry with live performance works. This research was awarded the Vice Chancellor's PhD Scholarship and the Emerging Scholar Award (Arts in Society Conference).

  • Harrison Hall

    Harrison Hall’s work situates contemporary performance and dance in experiential art environments. His recent works traverse states of flux within digital and live worlds, working to increase the embodied experience in mixed digital and live performance contexts.

    In 2021 Harrison completed a Solitude1 Residency from the Tanja Liedtke foundation and Chunky Move, within that context he presented BONANZA! with Dr. Sam Mcgilp, a PerformancexDialogue media artwork that included conversations with NAXS Future (Taiwanese audiovisual art collective) and Lu Yang (Chinese digital artist). This work was a Green Room Award winner and selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival.

    These projects have since led to Harrison collaborating on Lu Yang’s Doku, first at ACMI and then most recently at the Sydney Opera House as well as leading Body Crysis, alongside NAXS Future, presented at the Substation in 2022. He was an invited artist at the Taipei Performing Art Centre's ADAM artist Lab and is a recipient of the Chloe Munro AO Fellowship. Harrison is also a founder of experimental digital arts studio PSEUDO.

  • Geoffrey Watson

    Geoffrey Watson is a Melbourne-based artist whose work focuses on dance and costume/set design, who creates and performs work across multiple other disciplines including text and sculpture. Geoffrey's work investigates how interdisciplinarity reveals new ways to consider the familiar, creating links to ideas beyond the art space.

    As a performer Geoffrey has worked for dance companies and artists including: The Australian Ballet, Phillip Adams, Lee Serle, Gekidan Kaitaisha (Japan), Hermann Nitsch (Austria), and Yuiko Masukawa. He has had longstanding collaborative relationships with Lucy Guerin, Alisdair Macindoe and Nana Biluš Abaffy, having performed in multiple of their works over the past few years, additionally to creating costume/set elements for some of their works.

    Geoffrey's work has been recognised through awards, residencies and fellowships including:

    - Greenroom award for Reference Material by Alisdair Macindoe (Best Dancer, 2022) 

    - Greenroom award nominations for Dunes Rolling Down Dunes (Costume Design for Dance, 2023), Running Machine (Design and Technical Achievement in Experimental Performance, 2023), Siren Dance (Costume Design for Dance, 2022), and One Single Action (Best Ensemble for Dance, 2024)
    - “Maximised” and “Solitude” residencies awarded by Chunky Move (2015, 2022)

    - “Moving Forward” and “Make A Start” residencies awarded by Lucy Guerin Inc (2015, 2022, 2024)

    - Temperance Hall “Artist in Residence” and “Front Room Residency” (2019, 2025)

    Tanja Liedtke Fellowship including Enterspace Residency at Uferstudios, Berlin (2019)

  • Makoto Uemura

    Uemura Makoto (b. 1990, Aichi, Japan) is an artist, director, and lighting designer based in Tokyo. His work spans performance, theatre, and visual arts, often exploring the intersections of light, space, and human perception. He holds an M.A. in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts and has served as a research assistant at its Performing Arts Center.

    Uemura’s recent projects include OWARI NO YUEN (BUoY, Tokyo, 2024), The Islands Beyond (Sumida Mukojima, Tokyo, 2023), and Running Machine (Arts House, Melbourne, 2022). He has also curated and directed numerous experimental performances and exhibitions across Japan and internationally. In 2025, he will undertake a residency at PARADISE AIR in Matsudo.

  • Kazuhiko Hiwa


    Born in Osaka. Starting with video works and performances on the theme of physicality, and the installation work "HIWADROME" series using a DRAWING EXPERIMENT" centered on ting works. pain He has developed lines such as "HIWADROMODE by Kazuhiko Hiwa," which examines the relationship between the body and society using clothing. He has developed lines such as "HIWADROMODE by Kazuhiko Hiwa," which examines the relationship between the body and society using clothing.

    Recent activities include "Roppongi Art Night 2022" (Roppongi Hills / Tokyo / 2022), "Running Machine a part of Bleed festival " (Arts House / Melbourne / 2022), "Release Weasel at Nakanoshima" (Osaka University Museum / Osaka / 2023), "Sono-Aida Sono-Aida #Shin-Yurakucho Phase10 (Sono-Aida #Shin-Yurakucho / Tokyo / 2023).

  • Mugiko Yamamoto

    Producer of Performing Arts (Japan) | Program Coordinator | Project Manager

    Mugiko Yamamoto is a dedicated performing arts producer and cultural manager with over a decade of experience in theatre production, international touring, and arts education. She specialises accessibility in theatre and cross-cultural collaborations, having worked extensively in Japan and internationally.

    With 10 years at Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater, Mugiko played a key role in developing sustainable touring networks, producing award-winning theatre, and fostering emerging talent. She has managed and coordinated international touring productions, including partnerships with The Last Great Hunt (Australia), Terrapin Puppet Theatre (Australia), and Dybwikdans (Norway). She also revitalised the Aichi Arts Foundation Drama Award, transforming it into a contemporary platform for young Japanese playwrights.

    Beyond theatre production, Mugiko is deeply committed to arts accessibility and education. She has coordinated workshops for immigrant communities, sensory theatre programs, and internships for emerging artists. In her current role as Producer & Touring Coordinator for Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s Goldfish, she continues to bridge Japanese and international arts communities.

    Her expertise in international cultural exchange, artist development, and theatre production makes her a key collaborator in global performing arts initiatives. She holds an Economics (Arts Management) degree from Nagoya University and a Curator Qualification from Kyoto University of the Arts.

    Mugiko is a member of ASSITEJ(Association Internationale du Theatre pour I’Enfance et la Jeunesse International Association Theatre for Children and Young People) Japan and is passionate about fostering meaningful artistic collaborations worldwide.

  • Producer (Aus, International)

    Insite Arts

    Producer (Australia, International)

    Insite Arts brings thirty years of experience in the performing arts industry. Insite’s work encompasses intimate showcases, small independent venue presentations, major theatre and festival productions and large-scale major outdoor events. Collaborations with artists to create contemporary productions across genres, cultures, styles and scale are the cornerstones of Insite’s work.

    Established in 2008 as a professional independent producing company for Australian artists, Insite’s head office relocated in 2018 to Adelaide with a second office based in Melbourne. Directors of Insite Arts Jason Cross, Lee Cumberlidge, Victoria Raywood and Elena Vereker work in a collaborative artistic and managerial partnership. This has involved the creation and presentation of more than 50 new Australian works, resulting in 144 presentations across Australia. This is alongside 140 international presentations across 32 countries reaching audiences of more than 60,000 annually. To read more detail of the company’s previous projects go here.

    Insite Arts is led by its four Directors, Jason Cross, Lee Cumberlidge, Victoria Raywood and Elena Vereker, along with a small core team of Producers, Penelope Leishman, Seb Calabretto and Stella Webster, and Digital Media Manager, Courtney Beaumont.