At the end of my last post I was looking at the Incinerator Gallery at Moonee Ponds. At Screen Space I had been told that they had curated a
video program at the Art Fair, including a video by Peter Daverington. I had looked briefly at the videos at the Art
Fair and not seen any that interested me, but I then realised that there were
several video sessions and the one I would be interested in was on in the
afternoon. So I went back to the Art
Fair.
Back to the Art Fair
I did see the Daverington video. It starts off in a very abstract-geometric
fashion and eventually introduces synthetic scenery (which seems to be a theme
of today). I have seen it before, but it
was well worth a second look.
Presentation: most of the videos were shown on flat-panel
displays with headphones; one was projected at a large scale with sound through
speakers. Unfortunately the sound for
this video included quite loud synthetic noises meant to represent the clucking
of a hen, which made it hard to hear any subtle sounds that might be coming
through the headphones.
There was also a space set up as a proper theatrette,
showing (in the afternoon) a video by Baden Pailthorpe about drone warfare in Afghanistan. Certainly the darker space, seats, a proper
screen and multi-channel sound system made a difference (though one of the
speakers had a problem). The bare
mountain scenery in Pailthorpe ’s video also appeared to be synthetic, but
unlike the Piccinini piece the whole thing was an overt techno-fantasy about
something that ought to be a techno-fantasy but is all too real.
Globelight at the Abbotsford Convent
The last instalment of my weekend art binge was a visit to
Abbotsford Convent, in the opposite direction from Moonee Ponds (and a moderate
hike from Victoria Park station). By now
it was dark, so I was able to see the various works to best advantage,
especially the outdoor sculptures.
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| Outdoor sculpture by Sean Diamond |
Among the outdoor works an
intriguing piece was a pendulum by James Tapscott, the organiser of the
festival. This was a globe that swung
freely over a satellite dish, The colour
of the light inside the globe could be controlled and affected a sensor hidden
in the dish, which controlled the generation of sounds.
Among the works inside buildings the most spectacular was Orb, a large disk with lights forming
vertical stripes that turned on and off in various patterns. There was a sonic component to this work also.
There were a couple of interesting video projection
ideas. One work had two projectors aimed
at a considerable number of hanging gauze panels; not a new idea, but well
done. Another had what must have been a
small screen at the bottom of a long triangular tube: looking down it produced
a dazzling kaleidoscope effect.
Kaleidoscopes were a sub-theme of the weekend: apart from the Perpetual Light Machine there
was a work in the Art Fair that made a similar use of mirrors, though it didn’t
have a screen inside it.
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| A projection by Kate Geck |
The last thing I saw was the audio-visual performance by Abre
Ojos (Scott Baker). This
used three video projectors: as well as the main screen there were two more
pointing at the ceiling showing a separate video feed, all being controlled in
real time by Scott.
Globelight has another major component , a month-long
exhibition at Anita Traverso Gallery in Richmond, which I had seen on an
earlier visit to Melbourne.
On Sunday I went home!
Art organisations
My little art binge of a day and a bit sampled quite a few types of art organisation. One high-end public gallery - ACCA. One municipal gallery, with its brief to show
local artists and to bring art from other places to the local populace - Moonee Ponds Incinerator Gallery. One very commercial Art Fair, though to its
credit it did offer a bit of space to non-profits and the like. One not-for-profit space, which I assume
survives on grants and voluntary labour - Screen Space. And one festival, which has come about
largely because of the vision, energy and huge personal input of one person, James
Tapscott – Globelight.
