As Above As Below

Pier 2/3 is a really interesting venue. It is one of the only Piers in Sydney that hasn't been commercialised. It remains an industrial site, with high ceilings, wood, rusty metal and small, high windows with views of the harbour bridge. As a venue for the Biennale it provides a hinge between the institutions on the mainland, and the space on Cockatoo island, as well as loads of open space for the large scale installations that are being exhibited there. After being at the AGNSW before going to Pier 2/3, it is really obvious when you step into the space that you are not in an institution anymore. There are no security guards, no roped off sections, the floors are uneven and nothing is white. A couple of people were still installing Honoré d'O's work, but were happy to let us watch and wander through the installation. 

The works displayed at Pier 2/3 are all large scale and immersive installations. Their physicality reflects the Bienniale's theme of all our relations as the work invites the viewer to step in and interact. Tiffany Singh's Knock On The Sky And Listen To The Sound is the first work you encounter when walking into the space. A rainbow of ribbons cacades from the ceiling of the building, each with a bamboo wind chime at the end. There are several rows, each wide enough to walk down, experiencing the spectral change through the rainbow of ribbons.  As you negotiate the rows you can reach out and touch the chimes, each one resonates with a slightly different tone, creating a vibrant sound. (I've made a recording, but I'm not sure how to put it on the blog).

 Tiffany Singh, Knock On The Sky And Listen To The Sound, 2012 at Pier 2/3

The second installation that I saw was Flemish artist Honoré d'O and his work Air and Inner. Made of long, wide sheets of paper strung over plastic piping, the work allows the audience an active part in investigating the space that it creates. The entire end of the Pier warehouse is filled from ceiling to floor with a maze of draped paper. Once inside, the rest of the world seems to drop away, and you are left to wander the forrest-like environment, searching for clearings, logs, and interesting patterns in the paper. Biennale curator Catherine De Zegher writes "comprising the components and possibilities for a scenario of interdependency, the work is created from trivial but practical materials prompting small shifts in perception and response to the everyday." 

Honoré d'O, Air and Inner, 2012 at Pier 2/3

All photo's by me and my ma

all our relations

I'm spending some time in Sydney this week for the opening of the 18th Biennale of Sydney, all our relations. Yesterday I dragged my art companion (my mother) all over Sydney to go to the preview of the exhibition. At the Art Gallery of NSW we ran into the guys from Postcommodity, who I did a workshop with during the Adelaide Festival. They have a work in the lower ground level of AGNSW in which they have cut a metre square hole in the concrete floor of the gallery, exposing the rocky, red earth beneath. The work is called "Do You Remember When", and is combined with a multi channel audio track, which changes as you move around the room. 


Do You Remember When? (2009–12) mimics feedback loops generated by markets and consumers in an economy driven by western scientific discourse. These feedback loops power an economic engine that simultaneously produces scarcities in the world and an industry inspired by ‘sustainability’. Postcommodity’s installation poses an important, but overlooked question regarding the historic and contemporary roles that dominant worldviews play in the evolution of trade policies and the expansion of markets. Do You Remember When? highlights the devastating impacts that these activities have on Indigenous lands, communities and cultures. For this installation Postcommodity cuts a four foot square hole in the gallery floor, exposing the earth beneath the institution. It also displays the block of removed concrete, standing upright, on a pedestal. Both the evacuation and the removed concrete are illuminated with theatrical lighting. Emitting from the exposed earth is an audio recording of an Aboriginal song. This is concurrent with a closed circuit audio broadcast activating the physical gallery space.

This arvo I will write a little about the work being shown at Pier 2/3, but here is a little preview:

Tiffany Singh, Knock On The Sky And Listen To The Sound, 2011

My plan for today is to check out the show at Alaska Projects, put on as a part of the Biennale's unofficial fringe safARI. And then tonight, Ma and I will be going to openings at Artspace and Firstdraft. Exciting times! 

All images are my own, except the post commodity work, via BOS

Ghosts are the ultimate In-Between

Last nights Critical Reading Group about the In-Between sparked an interesting conversation about Ghosts. Andrew Dearman shared with us some images of 18th Century sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, who's descent into madness led him to make a series of busts that reflected his relationship with the ghosts that surrounded him. 

Describing Messerschmidts practice, Friedrich Nicolai wrote "he pinched himself and observed his grimaces in a mirror and believed to have achieved the most admirable results in gaining mastery over the spirits." 

Andrew passed on a link to an article The Heads of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt which goes in to some details about Messerschmidt's practice. 

TAKE CARE

Take Care is a project I have been working on for the Emerging Curators Program at Arts SA. It has been a fantastic few weeks and I have been enjoying every second of the process. I love working with artists, and having power meetings with execs. I thought it would be great to share a little about my curatorial rationale and some of the artists involved in the exhibition.  

Amy Joy Watson

Amy Joy Watson’s beautiful pastel balsa wood sculptures are delicate geometric structures that seemingly float against the strain of gravity. Hand stained and stitched together, they refer to fragility and fragmentation while remaining solid and organic. 

Paul Sloan

Paul Sloan’s aesthetic swings wildly between the delicate and the brutish, both within and between images. The relationship between frailty, power, beauty and violence are at the core of his practice. His work, mostly based on paper uses a minimal, washed out palate with occasional moments of colour. 

Take Care, brings together works from a diverse group of practicing South Australian artists. The exhibition, displayed across two locations, the Arts SA Offices and the Office of the Chief Executive of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, explores the concept of the idiom take care, referring to being protective, both of the art object and of oneself. 

Alex Valero

Alex Valero is a glass artist currently studying at SASA. His practice investigates our understanding of the universe; expansive and unknowable. Through glass forms Valero questions the shape of space, the formation of galaxies and our human relationship with the infinite. 

The title Take Care stems from a dichotomous understanding of how works of art should be approached. As art has the possibility to affect and be affected, it sometimes needs to be approached with caution; it can be precious, fragile, strong or dangerous. Take Care refers to the need to be careful with the works of art, either because they are delicate, or because they are volatile and potentially dangerous.

Alex Tuffin 

Alex Tuffin uses processes of  crocheting, embroidery and printmaking to investigate the delicacy of personal words and memories. Her work asks the viewer to come in close and read her fine, fragile words and to take care of both the object and the content.

The works chosen for this exhibition display a dichotomous reading of Take Care, some presenting the precious, some presenting the perilous, and some taking on both notions at the same time.

Heidi Kenyon

Heidi Kenyon’s practice uses a cross disciplinary approach to explore the ideas of memories, found objects, whispers and shadows. Her work is subtle but powerful and through it Heidi eludes to the unknown. With Heidi’s work, the viewers have to take care of their own memories, as well as the shadows of long lost memories that remain hidden in objects.