The ferocity of roller derby doesn't crash into contemporary art all that often, but its violence features in a new art exhibition in Melbourne.
The same crowd never gathers twice, a group show at Buxton Contemporary presenting the work of five leading international and Australian artists, is based on the notion of the public arena - a contentious place, especially of late.
It features a major new video installation by Melbourne artist Cate Consandine titled Ringer, which plays around a circle of three massive curved screens.
The video begins as a field of blue light that gradually resolves into figures skating past, almost too quickly to see, before a series of brutal confrontations as five skaters try to bring down star player Sarah Love.
These clashes were captured at the end of a three-day shoot as the champion skaters struggled to keep going.
"They are not performing any more or even aware of their expressions, they are at the point of exhaustion," Consandine told AAP.
The artwork is not about roller derby but the complexity of violence, said Consandine, and the outward expression of aggression between women.
Veteran Australian grip Tony Hall was part of the crew, which shot the 13-minute video using two cameras on a circular track - possibly the only set-up of its kind in the country.
"I'm really excited about this work ... to create something at this scale is a rare opportunity," said Consandine.
Curated by Annika Aitken, the exhibition also boasts the first international showing of the sound installation Assembled Audience by New York artist Taryn Simon.
During 2017 and 2018, Simon and her production team convinced hundreds of people attending events at the three largest venues in Columbus, Ohio, to let the team record their applause.
The US bellwether state mirrors the demographics of the nation as a whole, and Simon captured the sounds of individual audience members at Taylor Swift concerts, ice hockey games and Baptist church conferences.
She then randomised the recordings using a computer, creating a soundtrack of a simulated, ever-changing crowd that gallery-goers can listen to in pitch darkness.
They might begin to wonder whether they are the subject of the applause, said Aitken, and about the line between performance and reality.
Also delving into the realms of the surreal is a new commission by South Korean-born artist Yona Lee, consisting of steel pipes and bars winding across the downstairs gallery and even outside into a courtyard.
Arrayed across these are various items from the public arena, such as a park bench and cafe chairs and tables, interspersed with objects from the private realm such as a bed and armchair.
Strangest of all are the pipes supplying water to three shower heads which rain continuously into a bath.
The recently acquired performance work Body Loss, by Sydney-based dancer and choreographer Angela Goh, will also be presented during the exhibition's run, believed to be the first dance work acquired by an art museum in Australia.
The same crowd never gathers twice is on at Buxton Contemporary until October 13.
