SPACED 3: NORTH BY SOUTHEAST at AGWA
Coordinating Curator Dunja Rmandic, Associated Curator Projects
Art Gallery of Western Australia, 18 August 2018 - 7 January 2019
Organised by the WA-based International Art Space, spaced 3: north by southeast brings together 11 artists from Australia and the Nordic region.
Artistic explorers of a different kind are celebrated in spaced 3: north by southeast. Six Australian artists completed artistic residencies in the Nordic heartlands of Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden and five Nordic artists find their place in Western Australia’s rural and remote communities. Using sculpture, video, photography and installation, this show is an enlightening series of windows onto the world we know, and the world we have yet to understand.
The decision to place artists in regional and remote locations is motivated by the fact that even small and seemingly isolated towns are affected by global economic, environmental and social forces. The interplay between the strong sense of local identity, which is typical of these communities, and the effects of globalisation provides a fertile ground for artists to explore.
Participating Artists:
Robyn Backen (NSW), Michelle Eistrup (Denmark), Gustav Hellberg (Sweden), Deborah Kelly (NSW), Danius Kesminas (VIC), Tor Lindstrand (Sweden), Heidi Lunabba (Finland), Dan McCabe (WA), Linda Persson (Sweden), Keg de Souza (NSW), Sam Smith (NSW).
WALL TEXT
During two northern summers in Rejmyre,
We swam in those dark lakes.
We watch the experts blowing GLASS for the tourists and for those who have passed.
We walked in those endless forests,
We drove on those empty roads as the antlers cautiously watched.
We sat, talked and ate together,
This all in the light of day and night.
In this space,
She wondered can daydreams be multi-lingual?
And she said
I AM GLAD TO HEAR YOU ARE DOING FINE
Or was it…
JAG ÄR GLAD ATT HÖRA ATT DU MÅR BRA
What does ö or å or ä sound like in your ear?
She was from another place, far away and she was invited to take refuge.
In this place,
She jumped over fences to pick seven wildflowers, on that mid-summer night.
As the myth goes, she lay them under her pillow to dream of a new him.
In that town of forests and lakes, we walked, swam, ran, worked, and waited for the dark.
I reflect,
Am I a red wooden wall or a black glass cup?
How does the extraordinary silence of twilight, listen into my thoughts?
Reference from film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence by Swedish Director Roy Andersson. 2014 (Swedish: En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron)
Documentation of the 30 installed black glasses, 1 glass speaks for the group in Swedish (mother tongue)
Water Without End
