Two South-East Queensland artists will feature in an international exhibition which reflects on the challenges facing the world today.
Experimenta Emergence opens at the Noosa Regional Gallery on June 14 and promises to “present the work of contemporary artists who explore emerging societal and environmental changes and offer other perspectives, imagined possibilities and directions”.
Curator Lubi Thomas told industry publication ArtsHub the exhibition was a “conversation” that used diverse media, from VR to animation, to provoke inner dialogue.
“Each artwork is a nodal point. The exhibition becomes a journey of curiosity – audiences are encouraged to expect the unexpected,” Ms Thomas said.
She said leading Australian and international artists would feature a diversity of art forms including screen-based works, installations, robotics, participatory and generative art, adding accessibility was a core focus of Experimenta Emergence, which featured Auslan-interpreted opening speeches, audio guides, children’s activities and sensory-friendly resources.
Among the 13 exhibitors, which hail from countries in Europe and Asia and other Australian states, are Sunshine Coast sound artist and researcher Leah Barclay and Brisbane visual artist and educator Daniel McKewen.
The event website states Dr Barclay’s work Tidal Motion offered an immersive, embodied listening experience that drew attention to the planet’s ecological interconnectedness.
“Through sound, vibration, and light, this installation allows audiences to dissolve into the depths of the ocean while highlighting the balance, tension, tides, and temporality of Earth’s ecosystems.
“Driven by real-time data from K’gari and the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland, the installation explores our collective responsibility for vulnerable marine species and habitats.”
Dr McKewen’s work Kairos is an “oculo-chrono-metric artwork, a seeing clock that combines computer vision and real-time animation to react to viewers in the gallery.”
The website states: “With this ability, instead of telling time, Kairos destabilises its own utility as a temporal instrument. It creates a different register of time as it responds to being seen with a cascade of playful emoji ‘complications’ which reconfigure the clock’s function.”
The Experimenta Emergence launch event will be held at the Noosa Regional Gallery, 9 Pelican St, Tewantin, on Saturday, June 14, from 3pm. Access booking details.
