Exhibition floor talk | To Play & Win
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Output Type
Other
Publication Title
Exhibition floor talk | To Play & Win
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Arts and Humanities; ECU Galleries
Description
Artist | Serwah ATTAFUAH | Paul CAPORN | Stuart ELLIOTT | Janet LAURENCE | Bjoern RAINER-ADAMSON | Paul MONCRIEFF | Miriam STANNAGE | Tyrown WAIGANA
TO PLAY & WIN
Exhibition Statement | To Play and Win aims to use Chess as a metaphor to make sense of current issues within our society like climate change and the environment. The importance of First Nations and Surrealism is incorporated with the show highlighting the strong historic links using Chess as a reference. An important outcome of the audience engagement will be to illustrate that they are the authors of their own destiny. Every move matters with an infinite number of choices along the way.
We have much to learn from Aboriginal people who have a living memory that has existed for tens of thousands of years. During this time Aboriginal people successfully cared for country using living memory. The interconnectedness of the Aboriginal view of the world is important in understanding the best ways to tackle climate change and to care for country. An interconnected living systems way of thinking that is very different from the traditional Western view of treating nature as an externality.
In Chess everything is also interconnected and is best played by using a system and memory-based approach.The six contemporary artists are from diverse backgrounds and will guide the audience through insights using the exhibition themes. Artist Bjoern Rainer-Adamson develops works that subvert existing technologies. Stuart Elliott designs Chess sets that reflect the basic principle of the game i.e. strategic conflict or turf war rather than the traditional decorative approach.
Climate Change is unforgiving and a poor move in chess is the same. A good strategy and series of moves can produce successful remediation and regeneration. Janet Laurence’s work “In the Shadow” documents the remediation of the Homebush Bay area in Sydney from industrial contamination, like the pawn becoming a queen. Paul Caporn often focuses on reuse of materials in the creative process which creates unexpected outcomes and opportunities.
Understanding of Aboriginal culture and knowledge systems can be compared to the way that some Chess players can play many games at once while memorising and returning to each one. Like returning to a location. The exhibition will explore specific symbols that retain some type of knowledge in reference in time, place and event. Tyrown Waigana, a Wandandi Noongar multidisciplinary artist, can explore this territory relating timeless characters and symbols back to a location. To promote female empowerment and equality, Serwah Attafuah associates Western Sydney landscapes with surreal cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands, populated by Afro-futuristic abstractions. The Chess Queen can become a metaphor for modern female empowerment in the metaverses that Serwah creates.
Additional Information
Exhibition dates: 13 October - 10 November 2022 | Curator Talk: 15 October 2022 3-5pm