The creative collaboration ‘Nexus’ is an exhibition by of the College of Arts, part of the Live Futures 2020 festival. Proceeding into corporate forums such as Science Week and Design Week, the discussions and innovations are part of a web of global projects throughout the year. The artists presented their work during ConnectED, a platform of talks and presentations on innovative design at the Red Centre, University of New South Wales. It is a preview of their projects for Live Futures 2020.
The broad aim is to encourage partnerships: to make creative expression accessible to rational thinkers, scientific theories accessible to conceptual thinkers, if we can afford to make such generalizations about our thinkers—we clearly can’t— this is what the Live Futures 2020 concept is all about.
What kind of installations can we expect to see from our collaborators on the Nexus project? Innovation and provocation are priorities.
Charlie Schneider is interested in invasive species, the way they have impacted our social consciousness, how echoes of colonialism are apparent in the natural environment, though introduced species such as cane toads and rabbits, how these species have become an aspect of our slightly confused cultural identity. He paints and scours forms in clay slip on windows on the modern aspect of the University building, creating a fragile poetry between past and future, the primitive and the contemporary.
Carlo Lina’s images are one frame staged dramas depicting the impact of flooding on our cities. As well as the scientific data on flooding Lina plans to investigate its cultural and religious significance. “… from the American Indians, to the aboriginals, to the Jews. Water has always been linked to both life and death.” Lina’s photographic proposal will see him collaborate with actors from NIDA, and digital imaging and animation artists to construct flood scenarios and document their impact. Perhaps through the collusion of urban planners, architects and anthropologists the possibility to harness the power of flood-waters into water sensitive design, provide the basis for permaculture, drought management, to inform our scientists about of better ways to use hydroelectric power energy for the future.
Yufei Liang explores the very nature of revolution with an interactive installation addressing protest and police confrontations. Protests are historically a sign of shifts in social and cultural ideas and a re-evaluation of values and morals. The passive and aggressive balance of demonstrations is always difficult to manage, and often results in injury and death, so how might protestors and politicians, for example, collaborate to ensure opinion is heard and the message is not lost in violence? The Internet will change the way we interact with our governments, petition and lobby for change, might Liang’s proposed performance with interactive projections challenge the way we perceive the people and their voice?
SHAN is interested in engaging the Arms Race. The Arms Race is to many a retrospective idea, a throw back to the cold war, but breaking news continues the saga of this defining moment of science, the splitting of the atom. Interdisciplinary artist SHAN proposes that the issue is on the forefront of the international political agenda. This work includes collaboration with prosthetic design practitioners, playful and provocative statement, what SHAN describes as an offering, a mixing of ingredients to extract a potent response. The work deals with new technology in the area of prosthesis and the proposal is aimed at informing and encouraging discourse on the proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the world. The work will come in three stages, culminating at the World Futures Conference in Boston this year.
Once they gain momentum ideas can influence the actions of people. The feedback generated will be integrated into the Idea Nexus and fed back into consecutive Live Futures 2020 events, provoking the ideas of others through discussion, all around the world.We can all be involved thanks to the tools at our disposal, our social media and shared databases of knowledge.
Peter Charuk, a student from the College of Fine Arts was selected to contribute to the Climate: Science + Humanities conference at Harvard University after his involvement with Live Futures. The meeting brings 40 international graduates who cross over different fields to Harvard to focus their expertise on the issues of climate change and the environment. This is an example of the resonations multidisciplinary practitioners can have, and the possible impact of their incisive artistic gestures.
I documented and interviewed Nexus on behalf of Live Futures. ConnectED took place at the Red Centre, UNSW from June 28 to the 1st of July. Watch this space for interviews with SHAN, Charlie Schneider and Carlo Ambrosio T Lina.
