Howl

The audience sit facing each other like parade spectators or fashionistas around a catwalk. The cobblestones on the ground between seating banks are covered in golden glitter forming the outline of a 50-foot cock. From an immense adjoining hall, a giant inflatable urinal approaches on foot. Aphids' latest performative offering is underway.

Howl is somewhere in the intersection between retrospective, parade and pastiche, with a heavy dose of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness thrown in. Creator-performers Willoh S Weiland, Lara Thoms and Lz Dunn walk, drive and segueway through 15 "significant moments in art history". Along the way, live renditions of L'Origine Du Monde, Escape From Woomera and others span a concise history of contemporary art. Aphids overcome the barrier of knowledge with each audience member becoming the owner of a booklet providing information on each work featured and Howl itself.

The team behind the show merit full credit for implementing such a large space into the performance. Perspective is manipulated and contorted without it becoming physically strained, and the recurrent use of vehicles feels novel and breaks up the self-containment of the floor.

Amid the nudity, Mozart and conflation of identities, Howl's irreverent tone can be difficult to distinguish from parody. In the end, whether the piece is more an exploration or a critique of the art world is just another of the questions raised by this collection of curios.