The Mesh (+OMH), portfolio

Developed over 3 years of intensive development and production, The Mesh (2017) was the lead, curated visual arts exhibition of the internationally-renowned Vrystaat Kunstefees Arts Festival, South Africa, built upon commissioned solo, Over Many Horizons (2016) which was awarded a prestigious commission for UTS Art Gallery, Sydney. Both interactive, experiential exhibitions investigated the ‘mesh’ of environmental, social and cultural ecologies forming our worlds, re-imagining place and action within networks of ‘re-futuring’ that ‘give time back’ rather than ‘take time away’, from futures. Developed during 4 prior years of extensive ecological field work, the study combined numerous transdisciplinary experiments across media art, science and humanities, collaborating with marine biologist and UTS School Life Sciences Director Prof. William Gladstone, Lisa Roberts’ Living Data program and UTS Institute Sustainable Futures’ Tania Leimbach. Showings included significant public programs and panels, funded by major public engagement events such as National Science Week, Sydney Science and Design Weeks and the South African Program for Innovation in Artform Development’s, Creative Industries capacity building program. Major installations included Seasonal: a reflection upon seasonal change and gross human disturbance. A large circular floor dish projected with gliding, multi-layer imagery of ultra-closeup organic materials, and a wall mounted dish with 3D-printed robotic, revolving light assemblies produced diffused organic patterns via light interfering organic materials, accompanied by real time processed found sounds, recorded at times of deep seasonal change in the bush. Audience movements caused subtle changes (disturbances) in video, sound layering/panning and robotic actions. Shifting Dusts was a video installation depicting a life-sized ethereal body, floating/spinning continuously within a backlit petri dish-like circle on a white sand dish, filled with an ambiguous mixture of fluids and solids. Interstate integrated concepts of art, science and futural thinking, through a large-scale backlit, re-imagined periodic table of ‘relational’ elements and a 1970s manual microfiche viewer, interacting with a complex generative soundscape programmed by Prof Roger Dean (UWS Marcs auditory lab). 5 other works supported and built the exhibition towards major audience acclaim, significant openings and strong critical reviews (e.g. feature article in Realtime, Altimedia, Artist Profile, etc.) with all panels and public events fully subscribed