Above is an image from the proposal by Darko Fritz to place a large “reload_refresh_sync” symbol in the grounds of Pukekura Park.
Darko Fritz has become known for his horticultural units, which involve writing internet error messages with living plants. “reload_refresh_sync” is a reference to the reload button on browsers; to the refresh of information from servers and perhaps by extension, the need to refresh our relationship with the Earth.
This page should be treated as speculative, as it contains some thoughts on positions of the works exhibited, but this needs now to be negotiated. Much is likely to change.
The general shot above shows the level 2 main entrance. In the centre is the moa and kiwi. Some aims for the install are: 1. Mingling works with the Museum collection, opening dialogues to co-located spaces and objects. 2. Clustering works in groups, to make SCANZ exhibition works more apparent. 3. Having tours and a guide map to works. 4. High quality presentation and images are required for the Leonardo publication. The lighting conditions are suitable. Images less than really good will not be used.
Above is the opposite corner of the level two display area.
This is in the Taonga (Treasures) Galleries, which we have to ask special permission for. I’m suggesting that we project Mike Paulin’s work on the side of the sail in the centre of this photo.
Above the signs is where we are considering putting Josh Wodaks’ images. Also in the Taonga Gallery.
We plan to project Te Huirangi Waikerepuru’s work on a translucent screen, in the Taonga Gallery. This is the view of the gallery from just inside the entrance.
Sonja van Kerkhoff and Sen McGlinn are proposing a spiral free standing structure and we are suggesting in the above area. Its at the top of the stairs.
This is an option for Janet Laurence. There is an opportunity to engage with a range of subjects. This clearly is the native insect and bird life section, with a full moa skeleton and kiwi in cases.
A clearer shot of the display cases in this area.
This would be another option for Janet Laurence.
This could also be as well. Its spectacular in a mundane sort of way. All the display cases have lights, some are dimmable.
On one side of level 2, there are three cases in a row. We are thinking of the outside ones containing jellyfish by Anne Pincus and the middle containing the cyanobacteria by Hideo Iwasaki. One thing we are suggesting is to supplement some of the existing information in this area, which covers the period 65-21 million years ago, by including information about bacteria in this time period. Or single celled life forms if that is suitable.
This is a front view of a case for jellyfish or bacteria.
There is a large gate way towards the rear of this photo that is framed by blue panels. The left upright panel is a proposed position for Tracey Benson’s work, although this involves some negotiation, to see if hanging vertically rather than horizontally is OK.
This is the right hand side of the blue gateway, and suggested for Kura Puke’s work. All positions do need positive responses from the artist and we can have one to one discussions to resolve any matters arising.
This area is just around the corner from the blue gate way area above. It is proposed for the Galactic wind data project by Nina Czegledy and collaborators.
This image above is a detail from “After Eden” an installation by Janet Laurence. The Australian artist is known for her work with endangered species, scientific vessels and containers, and incorporating items from the biological collections of museums in installations.
The words on each of the exhibitor pages, will change as further discussion takes place and a greater awareness of the works results. We began by examining the works from the point of view of how some of them interconnect with each other in terms of content. This was so we could form a rationale of where in the collection might be a good position for the work.
Janet Laurence’s subtle and carefully modulated installations speaks of the sensitivity of the artist to content, subject and placement. In the context of SCANZ 2103: 3rd nature, there are connection points to the vessels and containers of science in the work of Hideo Iwasaki; to animals – fish in the medusae of Anne Pincus, and Mike Paulin’s model of a shark; and birds in the project by Pierre Proske and Damian Stewart. This is perhaps due to an embedded interdisciplinarity in Laurence’s work, which traces across several subjects including science, biology, installation, projection, lighting and containers.
Image above: Galactic super wind: Matter blasts out of the starburst galaxy M82 in this composite image (X-ray: NASA / CXC / JHU / D.Strickland; optical: NASA / ESA / STScI / AURA / the Hubble Heritage Team; IR: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Univ. of AZ / C. Engelbracht).
Nina Czegledy, Ramon Guardans, John Fass, László Kiss, and Jose David Cuartas Correa are collaborators on Galactic wind data visualisation project (working title), 2012. This involves using live NASA data of galactic wind, which is visualised as drops of water falling into a tank. Nina Czegledy is a trained artist-scientist, Ramon Guardans is a United Nations Environmental Monitor, John Fass is an interaction design specialist, László Kiss works out of The Kitchen Budapest and Jose David Cuartas Correa works in multimedia design and is a proponent of free software: clearly this team is interdisciplinary, utilising the skills of the collective to create a connection from Puke Ariki to galaxies in space, via the records of interstellar energy bursts. Achieving this work involves people from three continents and five countries. An interest in cosmology is shared among many groups of humanity.
The above shot shows Brickets exhibited in a gallery location – for “3rd nature” the Brickets will be placed in a large bird enclosure (which will be monitored for the birds response)
These units record environmental data, once the traditional place of the scientist and here explored by artists. The output of the units cannot be known, and how the birds will respond is similarly unknown. While being fundamentally an electronic art work, there are ethical questions here, and also this work shows how well electronic art works can be released from the museum/gallery venue, inviting a different relationship to the audience and one less encumbered by concepts such as ‘art’.
Image from a walk event in 2011, held at 457 metres along a farm fenceline.
Trudy Lane has developed the concept of ‘Wonderlogue’ which are dinner-dialogue events that involve people from diverse disciplines talking about their viewpoints on the same subject. This has evolved into walking events, where the art work takes place in the landscape. For example, 457 metres of a walk are broken at points corresponding to the Earth’s 4.57 billion year history. At a particular marker, a kaumatua (Elder) and geologist might each comment from their perspective, driving respect for each other’s understanding and sometimes illuminating interconnections.
For the SCANZ 2013 exhibition, Trudy has collaborated with the US-based sound artist and musician Halsey Burgund to develop a location-sensitive audioscape for the walk. Using a map and an iPhone application, visitors can stroll through 4.5 billion years of the Earth’s history, hear the thoughts from past participants, and add their own. In this way an invisible pathway is formed across the museum, which references the museum collections, and provides a physical linkage from the works in the galleries to those outside in Pukekura Park and the environs of Taranaki.
Tracey Benson “Fauxonomy”. This work references places that are protected such as marine reserves, and also looks at land use around estuaries and coastal locations. The project will be hybridised to local Taranaki places for the exhibition.
Land forms and topography are referenced here, in images that straddle the division between geography and art. Into the fractal landscape, human activities and sensibilities are layered. Benson also works with indigenous groups in Australia, and is involved in several projects that empower through the digital.
“3-orange waharua a” is an earlier work by Kura Puke, who will present “Ka Wa Ka Wa” at 3rd nature. “Ka Wa Ka Wa” will be made for the exhibition.
The words on each of the exhibitor pages, will change as further discussion takes place and a greater awareness of the works results. We began by examining the works from the point of view of how some of them interconnect with each other in terms of content. This was so we could form a rationale of where in the collection might be a good position for the work.
The work of Kura Puke interconnects electronics through programming LED’s, and traditional Maori approaches to Toi (art), referencing tukutuku panels and other forms. “Ka Wa Ka Wa” is a reference to the native Kawakawa tree, and this is one connecting point to several works engaging with plants: the “Brickets” of Damian Stewart and Pierre Proske are located in trees, while Nigel Helyer’s work is located in Pukekura Park, as is Darko Fritz’s.
Another interconnective point is that the LED’s point to stars, and these are referenced in the works by Te Huirangi Waikerepuru and Nina Czegledy. Consequently this work by Kura Puke occupies a central interconnective point to the whole exhibition.
Josh Wodak. “2 degrees before 2028.” Digital image. 450mmx650mm. The image is based on projected sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. The red lines indicate less than two degrees increase in temperature (right hand side image) and higher than two degrees (left image).
One of the underlying themes for the SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature project is that there is some urgency to bringing together the wisdom of diverse peoples, and bringing together diverse ways of doing things: global climate change is growing more significant every day. We must do something about this, and these works by Josh Wodak point directly at climate change.
Wodak has been researching the impact of rising sea levels on low lying Pacific Islands. This data is then projected onto the human form, and the red lines indicated sea level height.
Wanting to take part in world wide action to resolve global warming is why we have brought art, science, technology and indigenous knowledge together.
Left: “Medusae”, 2010 Crocheted silver wire. Right: “Lior,” 2010 Crocheted fishing line.
The subtle forms of jellyfish are delicately caught in these works, as if they were floating in air. These works relate to the computational model of sharks by Mike Paulin, the floating cyanobacteria of Hideo Iwasaki and the reference to animals in Janet Laurence’s work. Lighting is also a key factor.
One other reason for the inclusion of the Medusae was to reinforce a sense of multiple scales in the exhibition. In scaling terms, smallest are the bacteria by Hideo Iwasaki and the electronics of Pierre Proske and Damian Stewart, then there are these jellyfish by Pincus, the objects selected by Janet Laurence, up to the human scale of the Josh Wodak works and Mike Paulin’s shark. The landscape is referenced in the works by Tracey Benson, Darko Fritz, Nigel Helyer and Trudy Lane. Kura Puke’s LED works point to the stars, as does the galactic wind work by Nina Czegledy and collaborators, and finally “Te Taiao Maori (the Maori universe)” by Te Huirangi Waikerepuru has vast scales of space and time.