Projects

INVITED PRESENTATIONS

2025 Guest speaker, “Accessibility,” Creative Impact Webinar Series, City of Sydney

2024 MC, “Creative Partnerships and Pathways,” Accessible Arts and Art Gallery of NSW

2024 Panel chair, “What’s the Creative Future of Sydney?” PACT

2023 Guest speaker, “Accessibility,” Creative Impact Webinar Series, City of Sydney

2022 Interviewer, Sarah Mainwaring post-show artist talk, PACT

2019 Panellist, “Does Abstraction Belong to White People?” in Digital Interchange Festival, Critical Path, Sydney

2019 Panel convenor, Liveworks Festival of Asia Pacific Experimental Performance Sector Summit, Artspace, Sydney

2018 Co-convenor (with Fiona Winning) of Liveworks Festival of Asia Pacific Experimental Performance Sector Summit, Performance Space, Sydney

2018 Presenter, “Rianto in Coversation with Justine Shih Pearson” in Liveworks Festival of Asia Pacific Experimental Performance, Performance Space, Sydney, 21 October.

2015 Chair, Indigenous Performance panel, Australasian Association of Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies Conference, Sydney, June

2010 Chair, Theatre Design panel, Australasian Association of Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies Conference – Stripping Bare, Canberra, 29 June-2 July.

SELECTED CREATIVE WORK

2024 Love Less Tender [scenography/costume design]. Directed by Raghav Handa. In development.

2022 Follies of God [scenography/costume design]. Directed by Raghav Handa. Finalist, Keir Choreographic Award. Premiere Liveworks Festival, Performance Space, Carriageworks, Sydney.

2021 TWO [scenography/costume design]. Directed by Raghav Handa with Maharshi Raval. Premiere FORM, Lennox Theatre, Parramatta Riverside Theatres.

Tour to OzAsia Festival, Adelaide (2021); Brown’s Mart Theatre, Darwin Festival (2022); PICA, Perth (2023); ArtsHouse, Melbourne (2023).

2018 Changing Pathways [site-specific sound recording]. Westmead Hospital Precinct, Sydney.

2018 Cella [costume design]. Choreographed by Narelle Benjamin and Paul White. Sydney Festival, Carriageworks, Sydney.

Tour to Dance Massive Festival, Meat Market, Artshouse, Melbourne (2019).

2017 Tangi Wai: The Cry of Water [costume design]. Directed by Victoria Hunt. Original research phase (2015).

Remount Dance Massive Festival, Meat Market, Artshouse, Melbourne. Winner 2018 Green Room Award Best Visual Design (Dance).

2014 Still Point Turning [costume design]. Choreographed by Linda Luke. Premiere Melbourne Festival, Dancehouse, Melbourne.

Tour to FORM Dance Projects, Parramatta Riverside Theatre, Sydney; Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga.

2014 Hiding in Plain Sight [costume design]. Choreographed by Narelle Benjamin. Premiere Carriageworks, Sydney. Winner 2015 Australian Dance Award.

2013 Ontosoroh [scenography/costume design; dramaturgy]. Directed by Ade Suharto and Peni Candra Rini. Preview Taman Budaya Surakarta, Solo, Indonesia; premiere OzAsia Festival, The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide.

Tour to WOMAD World Music and Dance Festival, Adelaide 2014; Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, Ubud 2014; Biennale CINARS, Montréal 2014; Makassar International Writers Festival, Fort Rotterdam 2016; Décentrale, Gent 2017; Kingsplace, London 2017; Triangle, Sankt Vith 2017.

2011 In Lieu [scenography/costume design]. Directed by Ade Suharto, music by David Kotlowy. Premiere OzAsia Festival, The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide.

Tour to Southbank Centre, London 2013.

2008 Take 08 [program of video shorts, curated with Anton]. Electrofringe, Playhouse, Newcastle; STRUT, Perth and Carriageworks, Sydney (2009).

2007 One Min Reels [program of video shorts, curated with Gitta Wigro]. Electrofringe, Civic Arcade, Newcastle; STRUT Perth and Carriageworks, Sydney (2009).

2006 A place called Lost [site-specific sound recording]. Tisch Building, 721 Broadway, New York.

2004 Babushka [set/costume design]. Directed by Ingrid Voorendt, produced by Para//elo, the Auditorium, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

2004 trick of shade [digital video, colour, 7.10min]. Commissioned by Naïda Chinner, Zoë Barry, and the Zephyr Quartet for Into the Kaleidoscope at the Space, Adelaide Festival Centre.

2003 the paper boat [costume design]. Directed and produced by Naïda Chinner, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide.

2003 Ade Dancing: Golek Manis [digital video, colour, 11.05min]. Screenings: Asian Music and Dance Festival 2004, Sydney Opera House; Australian Dance Theatre 2003; Adelaide Festival Centre’s Open Space Program 2002.

2003 Inscribe [digital video, colour, 1.35min]. Finalist, Leichhardt Video Poetry Prize, screened at the Australian Poetry Festival 2002; SA Choreolab 2002 (2002 edit).

2002 Diving and The Memory Falls Away [digital video, colour, 4.30min]. Screenings: Cinetic 2005; South Australian Living Artists Festival Moving Image Program, Greater Union Artery Film Festival 2002.

2002 Hidden + Transparent [installation design], part of group exhibition for A Tiny Piece of Hope. Directed and produced by Naïda Chinner, Adelaide Fringe, AusdanceSA Studio, Adelaide.

2000 Fulcrum [triple bill; costume design]. Including Stirred choreographed by Felecia Hick, Precipice choreographed by Jamie Cook, Vertical Trek choreographed by Ingrid Steinborner. Produced by Diwali Dance House, Adelaide Fringe, Price Theatre, Adelaide.

2000 AME Football Puppet [puppet design]. Produced by Kneehigh Puppeteers, 2000 Olympic Games.

1999 “Bubble Wrap Tap” from Acceptable Behaviour [costume design]. Directed by Jo Dudley and Cathy Adamek. Premiere 10th Sydney Spring International Festival of New Music, Studio, Sydney Opera House; tour to Barossa Arts Festival, Saltram Winery, Barossa 1999; the Space, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide 2000.

1998 American Tien [scenography/puppet design]. Directed by Alexis Rehrmann, produced by the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, Puffin Room, New York.

1998 The Second Bakery Attack [32mm film, colour, 14min; art direction]. Directed by Wolf Baschung, production design by Toni Barton. Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program Official Selection; New York Expo of Short Film; Deauville Film Festival.

1997 The Normal Heart [scenography]. Directed by Robert Saxner, produced by Alchemy Theater Company of Manhattan, Center Stage, New York.

WRITING

sole-authored books

2018 Choreographing the Airport: Field Notes from the Transit Spaces of Global Mobility. London: Palgrave.

edited collections

2020 Willis, Emma, Justine Shih Pearson and Caroline Wake (eds). Southern Feminisms. Special issue Performance Paradigm 15.

2017 Card, Amanda and Justine Shih Pearson (eds). Performance Studies: Here, There, Then, Now. Special issue About Performance 14/15.

2015 Brannigan, Erin and Justine Shih Pearson (eds). Critical Dialogues (Writing Dancing) 5 (Aug).

2014 Dwyer, Paul, Mary Ann Hunter, and Justine Shih Pearson (eds). High Stakes: Performance and Risk. Special issue About Performance 12.

2012 Card, Amanda and Justine Shih Pearson (eds). In-between Moves. Special issue About Performance 11.

articles, editorials, reports, reviews (*peer reviewed)

2021 “Against All Odds: Report on the 2020 Consultation with Rex Cramphorn Studio Associated Artists in the Wake of COVID-19,” report for Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Sydney.

2019 “Dancenorth’s Dust is ambitious theatre in an age of uncertainty.” The Conversation, 15 Jan.

2018 “Knowledge Factory: Extending Industry Engagement Through New Curriculum in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies,” report for Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney.

2018 “First Nations dancers are stepping into the void left by Australia’s politicians.” The Conversation, 15 Jan.

2018 “Bangarra’s Dark Emu is beautiful but lacks the punch of its source material.” The Conversation, 21 Jun.

2017 “The Transparent Traveler: The Performance and Culture of Airport Security. By Rachel Hall” [book review]. TDR 234: 184-186.

2017 “In Bangarra’s Ones Country, new voices show the many faces of Indigenous Australia.” The Conversation, 28 Nov.

2015 Brannigan, Erin and Justine Shih Pearson. “Introduction: Writing Dancing (Sydney).” Critical Dialogues (Writing Dancing) 5 (Aug): 6-10.

2016 *“Unsteady Belongings: Rethinking the Experience of Nation Through Movement.” Special issue, Australasian Drama Studies (Transported: Performance and Mobility) 69 (Oct): 111-141.

2014 Dwyer, Paul, Mary Ann Hunter, and Justine Shih Pearson. “Introduction.” Special issue, About Performance (High Stakes: Performance and Risk) 12: 1-5.

2012 *“Conundrums of Placing and Timing: Making New from the Old Avant-garde.” Brolga 36: 39-43.

2012 *“Choreographing the Airport: Travels in Thirdspace.” Special issue, About Performance (In-between Moves) 11: 83-104.

2012 Card, Amanda and Justine Shih Pearson. “Introduction.” Special issue, About Performance (In-between Moves) 11: 1-5.

2012 “Tanja Liedtke: In the Accumulation of Traces.” RealTime 108.

2009 *“Ruminations While (Audio)Walking: Time, Place, and the Body.” Extensions: The Online Journal of Embodiment and Technology (Performing Space and Place) 5: n.p.

2009 “Investing in Dance Screen: at EMPAC and Dance on Camera, New York.” RealTime 89: 25.

2004 “Seeing the Light: Interview with Geoff Cobham.” Dance Australia, Dec/Jan: 40-41.

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