SCANZ2015:water*peace

July 14, 2014/in Wai /by Ian Clothier

Artists, tangata whenua and locals in the environment of Taranaki, with the Waiwhakaiho River and Taranaki Maunga (mountain) in the background. This photo is from the recent Intercreate event “Ko Tatou te Tangata.”

What

Water is essential to survival, revered and respected worldwide for its power, creative and curative abilities.

Wai, water or flow is central to the worldviews of many indigenous cultures of Earth, and is of special significance to tangata whenua (the people of the land) of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The scientific study of water and the onset of turbulence was central to the development of Chaos Theory.

Today water monitoring in the environment has become important to sustainable approaches to water management.

Water as a resource has become intensely politicised and monetised, in contrast to the view that access to fresh water is a fundamental human right.

Peace is also essential to the sustainability of humans on Earth.

SCANZ2015:water*peace brings together people from diverse backgrounds,connecting everyone in a positive expression of our relationship with water and the power of peace.

Where

Water*peace begins on the with noho marae (overnight stay) at Parihaka in Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand. The 18th and 19th of each month are special days of the celebration of Te Whiti and Tohu, prophets of peace in colonial times. They were leaders during an infamous episode of New Zealand’s history, and Parihaka is today world renowned for the stance on peaceful protest in the face armed constabulary.

On the afternoon of the 19th, SCANZ participants will return to Nga Motu New Plymouth where they will stay and work on the campus of the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki. Over a two week period they will collaborate, work with visit and be visited by locals, conduct workshops and create works and projects to be exhibited on the banks of the Huatoki River walkway.

There will be a public activity day, viewing of the installations and night time projections in Huatoki Plaza. A walking symposium on the final day will follow the path of the works along the Huatoki up to Pukekura Park.

When

Saturday January 17th – participants arrive in Nga Motu New Plymouth. There is a welcoming on to the WITT campus.

Sunday January 18th – travel to Parihaka (depart 8am). Overnight stay at Parihaka. Group discussion in the evening with residents of Parihaka.

Monday January 19th – mid to late afternoon return to New Plymouth.

Tuesday January 20th – morning – first presentation by invited guests (likely to be a tangata whenua group).

Wednesday January 21st – morning – second presentation ( local electronics specialist Andrew Hornblow).

Thursday January 22nd – morning – third local presentation (environmental group).

Friday January 23rd – morning – fourth local presentation (likely to be a raranga/weaving session, may involve travel).

Saturday January 24th – day is open to explore Taranaki, do project work, take part in spontaneous collaboration or take a beach, coastal or mountain walk.

Sunday January 25th – day is open to explore Taranaki, do project work, take part in spontaneous collaboration or take a beach, coastal or mountain walk.

Monday January 26th to Friday January 30th – working on projects / collaboration / testing / installation / preparation for weekend presentation.

Saturday January 31st – Day of installation of projects along Huatoki walkway and or Pukekura Park. This is also the public activity day in Huatoki Plaza. All applicable projects presented in the Plaza. Night time projections either in Huatoki Plaza or Pukekura Park.

Sunday February 1st – commence hui / walking symposium at 9am along the Huatoki walkway. Poroporoaki / reflections on the residency in the late afternoon.

Monday February 2nd – participants depart accommodation for outward bound travel.

Please note the above schedule may change and is subject to confirmation by appropriate organisations and individuals.

Environment

October 13, 2013/in Other projects, SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature, Wai /by Ian Clothier

reload_synch_refresh by Darko Fritz, a SCANZ 2013 project which is permanently installed in Pukekura Park, Nga Motu New Plymouth, pointing to the need to refresh our relationship with the environment

Concern for the environment is a major driver of Intercreate projects. This is partly due to global warming and species loss, and is also due to our engagement with indigenous groups, for whom the environment is of urgent concern. This has resulted in projects in our local botanic garden, and partner projects that involve indigenous peoples. Our main cultural partner is Te Matahiapo Indigenous Research Organisation.

Another pile of boulders, another dynamited marker rock

A section of the Huatoki river/stream walkway passes through central New Plymouth Nga Motu

While we were very pleased with the SCANZ 2013 exhibition in Puke Ariki library museum, for SCANZ 2015, we want to locate art works along a river walkway, the Huatoki.

Intercreate has a permanently installed data sensor to internet connection in Pukekura Park, first used for the project The Park Speaks above.

Collaborators on The Park Speaks were Ian Clothier (system concept), Julian Priest, Andrew Hornblow, Adrian Soundy, Aafke Visser, Mark Dwyer, Aafke Visser, Peter Wareing and Jock McQueenie.

The data to internet to control audio system, built for The Park Speaks was used for Wai, exhibited in Albuquerque as part of ISEA 2012

Wai was a milestone in our collaboration with Te Matahiapo. Following the direction given by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, we endeavoured to involve local indigenous groups. Via Jo Tito we were put in contact with Gordon Bronitsky, who was able to establish links for us to Navajo or Dineh people. This resulted in Andrew Thomas contributing the audio that was heard, and Johnson Dennison, a Navajo Medicine Man contributing to our tomo whakaari (dawn opening ceremony). This was an extraordinary event.

This is the test set up in Noosa Australia, where we connected the plant on the left and a tree in New Zealand to our project website and their live voltage data to control audio files.

Using the system established for The Park Speaks we tested connecting across the Tasman sea, joining Australia and New Zealand in one integrated creative system. Trans-Tasman integration project has become World Tree Orchestra which seeks to connect trees globally.

This data sensor by Pierre Proske measured soil moisture content, which was relayed to a set of output devices mounted on poles. Audio based on the data was output at dusk.

Additional projects in Pukekura Park include Brickets by Pierre Proske. Intercreate has a resident Creative Engineer Andrew Hornblow, who assisted Proske with developing the technology to broadcast data as audio during dusk. This was a SCANZ 2013 project.

Layers of audio by Nigel Helyer referenced multiple notions of underworld and filled one end of the Fernery in Pukekura Park botanic garden.

The above project by Nigel Helyer Songs from the Underworld, was received postively by visitors to the Fernery in Pukekura Park, and adopted by the staff who maintain the park and the Fernery. Some of the audio included chanting by members of Te Matahiapo, in a work that engaged with ideas of the Underworld, in both Western cultural and Maori terms.

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media art projects

March 15, 2013/in Car Garden, Featured, Media Art Projects, Other projects, Second Nature, Wai /by Ian Clothier

Intercreate is commissioning two innovative art works, to be realised in 2014. The Media Art Projects aim to inspire artists and creative teams to think boldly about combinations of cultural ideas and contemporary media technologies, that could be implemented in public space and/or Pukekura Park. These projects are open to Aotearoa New Zealand artists here and abroad.

Being Light

February 7, 2013/in Car Garden, Other projects, Wai /by Ian Clothier

Shaman Don Patricio in the ‘Car Garden’, Albuquerque.

Being Light: a festival of light and ideas explores ideas about light across Maori, Navajo, Mayan, Pueblo and Western European culture. The festival has two parts, activities in the day with stalls and market; while in the night there are outdoor projections on the side of buildings. Attendance is free.

We live in a time where there is great interest in bringing together indigenous and Western cultures, art, science and technology. Currently involved are: Patricio Dominguez, Ian Clothier, Mike Andrews, Mike Sutherland, Issa Malluf, Agnes Chavez, Tom Greenbaum, Jamila Colozzi, Courtni Hale, Glenn Parry, Enrique Hynes, Julia Pyatt, Sandra Wasko-Flood and Susan Caffrey.

Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru (of Aotearoa New Zealand), Will Wilson and Richard Lowenstein have expressed interest. We are in contact with Santa Clara Pueblo and have invited Mayan participation.

At night, artworks are projected onto the exterior of buildings. The projections consist of a programmed selection of:

• projection works by leading artists
• visualization of energy data from humans
• audio works and music themed on light
• sculptures that use light are installed outdoors at night

During the day, the festival includes

• the creation of an energy labyrinth as a participatory art work in both construction and then walking the labyrinth. Activities include instructions on how to turn your phone into an electromagnetic field reader
• videos where shamans and senior representatives of cultural groups are paired with video students, to make short videos that reflect beliefs about light
• solar powered art works
• visualizations and sonifications of light energy
• activities and market stalls themed on light and sun in the day time
• sunflower painting for children; knowledge sharing of indigenous knowledge about growing sunflowers
• stories of the sun and the power of the sun
• solar powered objects and artefacts
• scientific stalls that express the Western science view of light – wave particle duality
• information stands expressing cultural viewpoints on light
• music themed on light

Wai: overview

November 11, 2012/in Other projects, Wai, Wai Exhibition /by Ian Clothier

Wai (for ISEA 2012 Albuquerque)

Te Hunga Wai Tapu consists of: Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Ian Clothier, Jo Tito, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Sharmila Samant, Leon Cmielewski, Josephine Starrs, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Johnson Dennison, Andrew Thomas, Dugal McKinnon, Sophie Jerram and Gordon Bronitsky. Aerial imagery courtesy of Land Information New Zealand.

There are five components to the Wai project. Te Iarere (communication across vast distances) involves data from a tree in Opunake, New Zealand Aotearoa. Tree voltage, temperature and light are measured. The live data readings control audio played in the exhibition space. Ian Clothier conceived and directed Te Iarere. Andrew Hornblow made the custom data sensors. Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy created the web interface. Darren Robert Terama Ward is a Maori musician who plays self made traditional instruments and Andrew Thomas is a Navajo musician specialising in the flute.

The second component is Pou Hihiri (the womb of the universe). The Pou is encapsulated in vinyl graphics, contains woven LED’s and has an audio component. Conceived and directed by Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Craig Macdonald made the Pou graphics and structure with audio by Dugal McKinnon and Sophie Jerram.

Video is the third component. Indian video artist Sharmila Samant has contributed The Wasteland, an exploration of Wai in New Zealand. The Maori expression for ‘Who are you?’ is ‘Ko wai au’ which literally means ‘of whose water are you’ and is understood by Maori to mean ‘of whose ancestors are you?’ Jo Tito, a contemporary Maori artist currently studying science has made two videos of Wai, which play inbetween The Wasteland and Ruamoko. Ruamoko is made by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in New Zealand Aotearoa, and explores both Maori and Western scientific views of earthquakes and volcanoes, the result of of flow phenomena in the Earth.

Julian Priest contributed Sink a model of anthropogenic ocean acidification. A conceptual work, carbon dioxide exhaust gasses are piped into a tank containing brine. Carbonic acid is formed, increasing acidity, which dissolves a scallop shell in the tank.

The fifth component is an animation and audio work by Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs Puwai Rangi Papa. Projected onto the floor, the words of Te Huirangi Waikerepuru are etched into the mountain landscape of his home – Taranaki Maunga (mountain).

Wai is supported by:

Gordon Bronitsky

November 11, 2012/in Wai, Wai Participants /by Ian Clothier

Andrew Hornblow

November 11, 2012/in Wai, Wai Participants /by Ian Clothier

ETITO – industry skills partner and leader
Andrew Hornblow is an inventor, engineer and National Moderator for ETITO, an industry training organisation for the electrotechnology and telecommunications industries. It is a standards setting body whose goal is to ensure that enough skilled people are available to work in these industries.

ETITO began the Bright Sparks programme more than 10 years ago to foster the skills of young people who are keen on technology. Through a website, an online forum, one-on-one mentoring and qualifications in schools, the Bright Sparks programme has unleashed the genius and creativity of hundreds of talented young people. Andrew Hornblow tours the country giving electronics workshops as part of Bright Sparks.

ETITO created Bright Sparks in 2000 to nurture those students who will be our nation’s future engineers, electricians and programmers. At its core, Bright Sparks is about bringing together people with an interest in technology so they can exchange ideas and information, and give encouragement to those who are just strating out. It’s also about getting young people to experience electronics directly through a project-based approach.

Hornblow has also provided customised – built from the ground up including the circuit board – electronics for creative projects Te Iarere, The Park Speaks, Taranaki Fence, and Haiku robots.

Josephine Starrs & Leon Cmielewski

November 11, 2012/in Wai, Wai Participants /by Ian Clothier

Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs (http://lx.sysx.org) are artists whose long-term collaboration has produced a variety of screen-based installations. Their recent media artworks are situated at the juncture of cinema, information visualisation, and data mapping, playing off the tensions between the large and small screen, and between information and sublime landscape.

Cmielewski is a Design Lecturer at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney. Starrs is a Senior Lecturer and Chair of Film and Digital Art at Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney of University.

Selected Recent Solo Exhibitions
2012 Incompatible Elements Canberra Contemporary Artspace
2011 Incompatible Elements, Auckland Festival of Arts, MIC | Toi Rerehiko, Auckland,NZ.
2010 Incompatible Elements, Performance Space, Carriageworks, Sydney.
2010 Land[sound]scape installation, Chinese Garden of Friendship, Sydney.
2007 Plaything installation, Sydney College of the Arts.
2007 Seeker installation, Artspace, Sydney, NSW.
2006 Seeker installation, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, S.A.
2002 Dream Kitchen, interactive animation, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.

Selected Recent Group Exhibitions
2012 Wonderland, New Contemporary Art from Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan.
2011 Incompatible Elements, Sydney and Sookmyung Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
2011 Waterways, Urbanition, SFAC Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
2011 Waterways, Urbanition, Carriageworks, Sydney.
2011 a.k.a Utopia Now, MONA, Hobart, Tasmania.
2011 Kitchen Carnage<<<(((Mods&Hackers)))>>> Game Modification, Hacking,Patching, and Code-Based Practices within Contemporary Art, YoungProjects, Los Angeles, USA.
2010 Encoded, Art Taipei 2010, Taiwan.
2010 a.k.a Utopia Now Experimenta Media Art Biennale, Melbourne.
2009 sms origins, Big Screen project, Federation Square, Melbourne.
2008 Land[sound]scape installation. Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China.
2007 Seeker installation, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria.
2006 Seeker installation, Contemporary Commonwealth 06, ACMI Melbourne Vic.
2005 In the Line of Flight, Beijing, China. Floating Territories installation.
2004 Media_city Seoul 2004, Bio-Tek Kitchen, computer game modification.
2004 ISEA2004, Finland. Floating Territories installation.
2003 Bio-Tek Kitchen, House of Tomorrow, Experimenta, Black Box, Melbourne.
2003 Computerspiele von Kunstlerinnen, Hartware, Dortmund, Germany, Bio-Tek Kitchen,
computer game modification.
2003 Version03, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Bio-Tek Kitchen.
2002 Trace, installation, Sydney Records Centre, The Rocks, Sydney.
2002 Transmediale Media Arts Festival, Berlin, a.k.a. digital video.
2002 European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrük, Germany a.k.a. digital video.
2002 Contagion, Auckland, New Zealand. a.k.a. digital video.

Selected Published Reviews
J. Randerson RealTime issue#104 August/September 2011. Critical Flows: climates and peoples. Review of Incompatible Elements solo show at the Auckland Arts Festival, NZ
J. Sjaastad ArtRadar Asia interview March 2011. Words in Art: Australian artist Josephine Starrs maps rivers with poetry.
J. Hurrell EyeContact, March 2011 Review of Incompatible Elements solo show at the Auckland Arts Festival, New Zealand.
K. Gallasch RealTime issue #95 Feb-March 2010 Lake Mungo as Medium
Review of Land[sound]scape Chinese Garden of Friendship, Sydney.
A. Finegan Artlink Vol 27, no3, 2007 Databases: Recombinant Interactives.

Wai opening

November 11, 2012/in Wai, Wai Exhibition /by Ian Clothier

Wai opened with a Tomo Whakaari, a dawn ceremony following Maori protocol at 6.53am September 19 at 516 Arts in Albuquerque. We were privileged to have Johnson Dennison, a Navajo Medicine Man contribute some Navajo ceremony.

Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Dine’/Navajo musician Andrew Thomas and his partner, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Ian Clothier, Johnson Dennison, Gordon Bronitsky and Rosemary Dennison just before the ceremonies started.

Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru and Ian Clothier outside 516 Arts. Te Huirangi is just about to start proceedings.

This photo was taken just after the ceremonies had ended, however during the Dine’/Navajo portion, everyone was asked to sit, either on chairs or on the floor. Johnson Dennison talked about what his words meant, then chanted a chant suitable to the occasion and recognising the land and the mountains. This was followed by prayer. The entire event was extremely special, particularly for an art work presented as part of an electronic arts event.

Wai installation

November 10, 2012/in Featured, Wai, Wai Exhibition /by Ian Clothier

In the foreground is “Puwai Rangi Papa” by Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs; on the wall is a shot from “The Wasteland” by Sharmila Samant. On the right is “Pou hihiri” by Te Urutahi Waikerepuru

Audio was an important part of the project. Click the link to hear audio by Andrew Thomas and Darren Ward. Darren Ward AndrewThomas

On the wall is Julian Priests’ “Sink”, with the Cmielewski and Starrs animation on the floor and Sharmila Samant’s piece projected on the wall.