15 May 2025

A fog-drenched warehouse. A figure moves through shadows. A beam of light slices the dark as sound ricochets through concrete. For audiences stepping into Entry, a new work by Untitled Warehouse Project, the line between art installation and performance blurs beautifully, and intentionally.
Debuting at NZ Fringe Festival 2025, Entry is a bold, design-led dance experience that places the audience inside a living, breathing environment. The work is a collaboration between five emerging creatives under the umbrella of production company ‘Untitled Warehouse Project’, which includes Jacob Banks (lighting and director), Dan Nodder (choreography), Rebekah de Roo (projection and spatial design), Matt Asunder (sound design), and Anne-Lisa Noordover (costume and mask design). Each design element - light, sound, movement, costume, and projection - is treated as a vital narrative force.
Jacob founded Untitled Warehouse Project following his NZ Fringe 2022 win for Most Promising Emerging Artist. That success prompted him to start work on what became Entry.
At its core, Entry is an immersive dance performance told in three experiential acts. There are a few rules: don’t bring a drink, don’t climb on platforms - and from there, the audience is free to roam. Fabric drops and spatial cues gently shape their pathways. Some follow individual performers. Others drift. Everyone sees something different.

“Entry was built from the ground up. Every element was developed specifically for this show over an 18-month period. We wanted to create something where design wasn’t the add-on - it was the driving force,” Jacob says.
The seed for Entry was planted in 2023 during Jacob’s travels through the UK and Europe, where large-scale, immersive installations in cities like London and Berlin left a lasting impression.
“It felt like every warehouse or bunker had been claimed for art. I came home with a need to try something similar, something big, design-led, and grounded in space.”

“That’s what really excites me about immersive work, you get to have such agency in the show you see. I didn’t fully realise how varied the experience could be until dress rehearsal. I’d seen the sequences dozens of times from the operator’s desk, but watching from the floor made it feel entirely new,” says Jacob.
Each performer has mini-storyline, encouraging audience members to form their own narrative by moving through the space.

The project also draws from Jacob’s personal history. Growing up in post-quake Christchurch, he recalls a city marked by red zones, ruins, and quiet unrest.
“That visual of empty ruins holding onto something alive has stayed with me. You mix that with a bit of folk horror, and it starts to feel like you could stumble across a ritual in a warehouse somewhere,” he says.
As the NZ Fringe continues to nurture innovation and interdisciplinary exploration, Entry stands as an ambitious and exciting example of emerging artists pushing form and format. For now, the work stands as a powerful testament to collective authorship, site-specific design, and the creative potential that arises when form follows curiosity.
“This was a two-year experiment to see what happens when you give designers time to chase an idea to its full potential. Entry feels like proof that it works.” Jacob says.
As affirmation of this, Entry, won the Grand Design Award at the New Zealand Fringe Awards.
The team hopes Entry will return in the future, with tweaks informed by this first season.

Entry was made possible by the Creative Impact Fund and performed by Tim Fraser, Trinity Maydon, Xanthe Curtain, Aroha Morrison, Emma Rattenbury, Salomé Grace Neely, Megan Connolly, and Sophie Sheaf-Morrison.