Wood Wide Web
“Wood Wide Web”, Installation, 2018. Sterling Silver, Brass, Nylon Filament, Wood.
An homage to the secret mycelial network that connects all life beneath the forest floor.
Exhibited at “Botanical Mechanics” (curated by Grace Kingston) at Zero Gravity Gallery, Mothership Studios, Marrickville.
PRESS RELEASE
Botanical Mechanics
A group exhibition of experimental artwork at the intersection of plantlife, machinery and technology
Opening night: Friday the 15th of March, 2019 at 6pm
Running until: Sunday the 26th of March, 2019
Location: Zero Gravity Gallery, Mothership studios, 18/24 Sydney St, Marrickville
Curated by: Grace Kingston
Exhibiting artists:
Paul Matereke, Jason Wing, Cecily Lomax, Thomas Thorby-Lister, Thomas C. Chung, Tessa Rex, Tamara Hall, Onnie O’Leary, Christie Torrington, Jordan Charles Stokes, Monika Viktoria Diak, Herbert Peppard, Rowena Grace, Angel Gill, Pewka Zilla, Susannah Boothroyd, Misty Lee Talbot, James Mudd, Liron Gilmore, Jen Campbell-Smith, Louise Campbell-Smith, Monica Fahey & Joel Cohen and Cayn Rosmarin & Leigh Perrett
The methods and systems in which plant-life communicate, grow, feed, mobilise and reproduce is fascinatingly sophisticated. Surprisingly, many of these processes and systems are mirrored in our contemporary, technologically activated lives. Botanical Mechanics brings together a diverse selection of artists, scientists and creative practitioners to explore these intersections and to muse on how we might better work with and learn from the natural environment.
The gallery is located in a repurposed warehouse boasting three story high walls, which is ideal for large-scale installation work. Musician James Mudd is creating a live work using colour, movement and other properties of plant life to control a modular synth, similarly to how a doctor would monitor the vital statistics of a patient, but completely repurposed - essentially you can hear plants to experience plant life in a way that isn't visual. Indigenous artist Jason Wing is creating a sculptural installation memorial to the Aboriginal resistance warrior Pemulwuy who led a resistance against the colonial frontier for over twelve years. Wing has said “Pemulwuy is a symbol of strength, resilience, power, and more, yet there is no significant memorial to this incredible leader and freedom fighter”. Multi-disciplinary artist Cecily Lomax is engaged in the Posthuman research of bioorganic and tech symbiosis which will consolidate as a large hanging meditation on the future of our intertwined forms.
There are also a number of moving image and new-media works to be displayed; filmmaker Paul Matereke crafts a visual narrative based on the machine-based destruction of the natural environment at the hands of the state governments’ intervention in to Sydney Park for the WestConnex Project. Multi-disciplinary artist Pewka Zilla recreates a plant-based environment pixel by pixel to create an interactive game work that investigates identity within the intersection of online and offline worlds.
Scientific investigation will be activated in the gallery with works from Botanic Gardens research scientist and Maquarie PhD candidate Monica Fahey pairs with Joel Cohen visually model the potential evolutionary outcomes of leaf forms to be simulated over hundreds of thousands of generations – a process that could not in reality be observed within the lifetime of the researcher. Fahey’s research uses methods in DNA genotyping technology and environmental modelling to investigate the influence of past climate change and dispersal vectors on the distribution and speciation of Australian native flora. In addition, Multi-media artist Tessa Rex is creating a light hearted experimental work - Noctiluca Party. Noctiluca algae have luciferase down one end of the chain and photoproteins at the other, so when shaken together, glow. Noctiluca Party is a series of small beakers with Noctiluca algae strung together like party lights, with an agitating mechanism to keep the good times goiiiing!
Finally, a number of finely crafted painted, drawn and collaged works will be shown from (in)famous Sydney artists Onnie O’leary, Christie Torrington and Thomas Thorby-Lister who will be reinterpreting the concept of a botanical drawing and bringing it into the 21st century. However these artists are just the tip of the iceberg, make sure to bookmark this show in your diary now to avoid disappointment!