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Squishy Taylor and the City-Wide Ghost Plaque
No full textBackground: Due to necessary public health measure our relationship with urban public spaces during the pandemic has shifted. They have become sites of transmission and avoidance. This research emerged from a concern that children’s connection to public spaces was being permanently reshaped by the pandemic, a sentiment shared by Florida (2020) and Stevens et al. (2021). However, it was also interested in developing a flexible mode of delivery. Arts and culture, along with tourism, has been decimated by the pandemic (Australia Council 2020). Finding new flexible modes of delivery will help the sector survive and provide models that can be utilised to improve its resilience during future crises such as climate change. Consequently this research asked: how can we create a participatory creative work that encourages children to engage with public space in the era of lockdowns, social distancing, and remote learning? And how can we create a participatory artwork that remains safe and playable regardless of public health directives? <br> <br>Contribution: ‘Squishy Taylor and the City-Wide Ghost Plague’ was produced by The Inhabitors and created by Brienna Macnish, Clare McCracken, Michele Lee and Simon Bedford with Ailsa Wild and Rebecca Etchel. It is a story adventure for families inspired by Ailsa Wild’s ‘Squishy Taylor' junior fiction series. Through creative writing, interactive design and puzzles, participants were encouraged to see their neighbourhood public spaces as a site of play, intrigue, and adventure. <br> <br>Significance: The project was shortlisted for Best Work in Festival Award, Melbourne Fringe Festival 2021 and was assisted by the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, Regional Arts Victoria, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body
The Tide
No full textBACKGROUND Today there is a palpable sense that the world is on the brink of ecological, financial and political collapse - a fear that there are forces too large and obscure to confront which will decide our future. Timothy Morton (2011) theorises what he calls hyperobjects, which are so massively distributed in time and space that they defy the scale of human experience. He cites global warming and nuclear radiation - the stuff of our fears - as examples. 'They wouldn't fit in a landscape painting', he writes - 'they could never put you in the right mood'. Others have developed related concepts too - Michel Serres's (2011) 'world-objects' and Douglas Kahn's (2013) 'earth magnitude phenomena' to name a few. Morton further argues that we must address hyperobjects as we design for the future. CONTRIBUTION The Tide was a generative audiovisual installation that ran continuously for over six weeks, giving an experience of great scale, like that at which hyperobjects exist and over which we must now plan for the future. Featured in a glass display cabinet at the front of Counihan Gallery, it employed a short throw projector throwing onto an opaque acrylic sheet as well as surface transducers turning the surrounding glass into a speaker. The audio and video were both produced generatively using custom code, creating the effect of a tide of water rising and falling erratically but gradually within the gallery, communicating a process happening at vast spatial and durational scales, inhabited rather than experienced in full. SIGNIFICANCE The Tide was exhibited as part of the Current exhibition at Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, which was supported by Creative Victoria and ran from August 10 to September 17 2017. The exhibition was opened by Moreland Council member Mark Riley at an event attended by over 100 people. It was also supported by a program of public events, including an artist talk and performance from me to around 20 people
Field of vision: contemporary jewelry and hollowware
No full textThis exhibition featured works by a select group of US and international professional and emerging artists, to reflect current diversity of practice and heightened creativity in the field through with diverse interpretations of concept, process, material and form. They were Jamie Bennett, Julie Blyfield, Helen Britton, Sharon Church, Marilyn da Silva, Arline Fisch, Mirjam Hiller, Bruce Metcalf, Tom Muir, Joan Parcher, Jacqueline Ryan, Helen Shirk, Vera Siemund, Kiff Slemmons, Christina Smith, Billie Jean Theide and Robert Baines. Baines presented associated lectures, (Oct 12 and 22) and participated in a panel discussion. 'The jewellery forms of internationally recognized artist Robert Baines on display during Field of Vision all have one idea in common: to re-imagine the 'experience of red.' Titled REDEVENT-REDLINE, Baines' work at SoFA Gallery pushes traditional concepts of jewellery and asks viewers to consider what types of 'structured values' are implied in these forms built entirely from wire. Baines describes the resulting patterns of wire as 'a repetition of line and space' lacking any 'conscious historical references.' 'Baines is perhaps so recognized around the world due to his delicate balancing of aesthetics, technique and insight. His works on exhibit at Field of Vision are no exception.' (www.indiana.edu/~sofa/news/robert-baines-redefines-red-at-sofa-gallery) Field of Vision was seen as the most significant Metalsmithing show at Indiana University since the Alma Eikerman Retrospective exhibition held at the Museum in 1985
It would seem that eyes can live without hearts [Oracle Fox]
No full textCurated by Rachel Kent, this was the third consecutive year the MCA presented an exhibition of new acquisitions, highlighting collecting as a core museum activity. Other artists included Daniel Boyd, David Griggs, Ben Quilty, Todd McMillan, Kate Murphy, David Noonan and Patricia Piccinini. Weaver uses sculpture to explore nature's way of working rather than its appearance: through re-growth, decay, metamorphosis and transformation. Crochet as a process was selected to convey this idea. While art has a long history of the blind human seer (eg Phineas in Jason and the Argonauts; Teiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes and the blind seer of Ambon), Weaver brings us an animal, the fox, symbolic of mischief, danger, cunning and intelligence as the sightless oracle or seer. She also explores the idea of revelation and blindness, iconically in the paintings The Conversion of Saint Paul (Caravaggio) and The Conversion of Saul (Michelangelo). The title of this work, inspired by the poetry of Unica Zurn in the book 'The House of Illnesses', draws attention to the fox's numerous eyes. The figure of the fox appears blind but his eyes are elsewhere on his person. The crystals introduce the idea of secondary sight as part of this 3 dimensional exploration of revelation and sight beyond the normal realms of perception. MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor says, 'We believe the artists showcased in this exhibition reflect the diversity and depth of Australian contemporary art practice.' (MCA News Release 26/04/07). Colour catalogue includes an essay by Macgregor. An interview on CD with Louise Weaver and an education program were also produced
Summerbranch
No full textContemporary international developments in the exhibition of installation and digital art have identified the need to understand the role of computer game engines as vehicles for artistic immersive virtual environments. Similarly, the role of digital sound within these environments is poorly understood. Summerbranch addresses the nature and role of the body within virtual environments and the relationship of this assemblage with the role of the body in the material world. <br>The work provides approaches to immersive environments and neo-realistic graphics techniques that countenance the mediated nature of the environment by integrating motion captured dance gestures into a simulated forest environment within a game engine and constructing digital audio to both enhance and question the immersive experience. It also acknowledges its relationship with the body in the material world. <br>Summerbranch uses the tools of the military-entertainment complex, computer gaming, motion capture and 3D environments to question what is truth and what is artifice in our attempts to reproduce nature. Not only is the role of the real in virtual environments investigated, but also that of the reproduction of nature in the history of art, and particularly landscape work. <br>This work was exhibited at the most prestigious 57th Venice Biennale. Summerbranch was also exhibited at ArtSway Gallery, UK and at 01SJ, San Jose, as part of ISEA in 2006. ISEA, the International Symposium of Electronic Art, is a leading international electronic art forum
public address (2006)
No full textThe research aims of the artwork Public Address were to produce a site-specific sculptural installation using humour to comment on the changing nature of public space as a contested site of political dissent. This resulted in an artwork which took the form of a discarded mega-megaphone. The sound usually associated with this portable loud speaking system, traditionally used by protest assembly and march organisers to rally and motivate demonstrators, was replaced by a very loud snoring sound. This is the first time this kind of sculptural work, integrating sound with sculpture, has been done, and as such it demonstrated new ways of creating public dialogue between the public space, its users and art. Internationally renowned curator Juliana Engberg selected the work for an international exhibition at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), a leading venue for contemporary art in Australia. The Unquiet World exhibition showcased the work of 17 high profile national and international artists and achieved a high national impact, with critical reception in the national press (The Age, The Australian, Herald Sun), national radio and TV coverage. Rawlins, Jarrod The Unquiet World, Art & Australia Vol44 No2, Summer 2006, pp272-7, Political Art, on Deep End, ABC Radio National, Sian Pryor, Juliana Engberg and Chris McAuliffe, 2005. Juliana Engberg: The Unquiet World (catalogue essay), ACCA, 2005. Public address was purchased by Peter Farrell, chairman of the trustees, San Diego Contemporay Art Museum and MD of the medical equipment company Resmed. It is now on permanent exhibition at Resmed headquarters as part of its international art collection
Intersections - Reading the Space
No full textConceived and co-curated by Barberis, Intersections: Reading the Space: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, was a visual dialogue between 3 female artists of different continents and religious backgrounds, negotiating the sensitive territory of belief. 911 happened a year later and the dialogue suddenly became political.<br>The artists, who work in different media, all use abstractions of text and language as a theme in their work. By creating non-linguistic images from various texts, Parastou Forohaur, Jane Logemann and Barberis allow audiences to "read the space" whether the alphabets they use are familiar or not. <br>Intersections offered a unique experience of seeing contemporary art reflect the complex and fragile artistic negotiations that exist among often disparate groups in a changing world, connecting them to the interface and investigations of inter-faith activity during this time. This exhibition was not ecumenical. <br>Works record and present ancient sources of religious texts as a guide to re-think, re-connect and re-establish approaches to cross-cultural dialogue. <br>As well as individual pieces the exhibition had at its core a dialogue worked onto cloth over the course of a year, with each artist working on it 3 times, last was Barberis, who finished the piece for the exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne. Intersections was the first exhibition from this museum to be shown internationally at the prestigious Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco. Barberis received substantial Arts Victoria and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch grants for the Australian exhibition and catalogue. The Age and the HeraldSun had reviews as well as the Australian Jewish Newspaper and Journal. It was written up in Art Monthly as an event and won an Honourable Mention from Museums Australia as one of the best exhibitions in Victoria for 2005
Bearing' Inclusive /exclusive
No full textRESEARCH BACKGROUND Developments in virtual computer visualisation and integrated digital technologies are giving contemporary makers new insight and opportunities to research and create objects and forms that were either previously impossible to produce or difficult to envisage. Perry's work 'Bearing' experiments with the medium of 3D sculpture and printing to explore issues of utopia, dystopia, culture and technology for an exhibition curated by Claire Smith (Melbourne University). RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION This experimental work was one of a number of miniature sculptures created by 46 artists in Australia and Britain that were transmitted across the world as digital files and then produced remotely through advanced Rapid Prototyping 3D printing methods. The exhibition examined the use of this new technology through a touring exchange exhibition that was simultaneously launched in each country. Perry and the other contributing sculptors explored the boundary between the physical and the virtual to create new forms of sculptural realisation and encouraged debate on conceptual issues surrounding new technologies and aesthetics. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE Rapid prototyping technology featured in this exhibition and continues to have a profound effect on the future of the design, production and distribution of objects. It represents an opening up of whole new fields of inquiry and the potential to create radically new creative forms and knowledge. This work and exhibition involved a collaboration with DeMontfort University (UK) and with support from Lycette Bros, Art Technology Coalition. International participating artists included Anthony Eland (UK) and Martin Riesler (UK)
Cube Anomallly
No full textThe Deakin University Contemporary small sculpture award is a prestigious national competition with a growing reputation within the arts community of Australia. In 2010 Simon Perry's work 'Cube Anomally' was selected to be part of the shortlisted finalists exhibition from over 350 national and international applicants. The exhibition featured 39 high profile artists including Lisa Roet, William Echoltz, Jock Clutterbuck, Adrian Mauriks and Augustine Dall'Ava. The prize was selected and judged by a highly respected panel comprising of Ken Scarlett OAM (curator & writer on Australian Sculpture) Geoffrey Edwards (director of the Geelong Gallery) and Leanne Willis from Deakin University.<br><br>The Artwork 'Cube Anomally', is designed to represent a conflicted landscape of exploration. It metaphorically links the process undertaken by an artist with that of exploration in other fields such as historical expeditions, mining, geology, etc. Formally the work represents a conflation of organic and industrial structures to create a psychological landscape. This original work of art is simultaneously dark and playful, it is reminiscent of dense truncated forests, industrial architectures, subterranean interiors and geological/biological models. It represents a continuation of Perry's research interest into the themes of Utopia, Dystopia, Nature and Culture, illusion and dissolution
Expedition
No full textBACKGROUND The Centre for Contemporary Photography is Victoria's leading fine art photography exhibitor where exhibitions such as this are peer selected through the Centre's applications process. Hulbert's series Expedition features 9 large pigment photographic prints. His research challenges the conventions of colonialism and undoes the mapping of 'rightful' possession of the land to usurp the space and place of occupation and memory so as to question how western can be seen as national. The allegory of 'Aussie adventurer' lays claim to sites, locations and territories enabling a consideration of how these constructed environments act as historical and contemporary markers for aspects of our national identity. CONTRIBUTION In researching ways to create a dynamic tension to enable one to fundamentally address the notion of 'expedition' and nation, as part of our ongoing relationship with the land Hulbert plays with realism, composition and constructed reality and its interpretation. In works such as Broken Hill Speedway and Sculpture Garden the construction of the picture plane undermines our relationship with the land by disrupting historical and contemporary markers. Other more formalist images (e.g. Shooting Range and Calder Park Raceway) explore a spare aesthetic marking reterritorialization of the land in a constructed environment with a conversant loss of original meaning. SIGNIFICANCE Reviews included Australian Photo Review's Robert MacFarlane who says Hulbert:'.. eloquently conveys a desiccated world devoid of people - perhaps as society may appear with the passing of civilization.