Exhibition floor talk | Nexus 22
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Output Type
Other
Publication Title
Exhibition floor talk | Nexus 22
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Arts and Humanities; ECU Galleries
Description
Artist | Laura MITCHELL (PhD) | Brenton ROSSOW (PhD) | Harrison SEE (PhD) | Xinwei XU (PhD) | Steven BAITZ (MA)
Exhibition Statement | The NEXUS series encompasses the showcasing of the artworks by higher degree by research candidates (HDR) and staff in the School of Arts & Humanities. Specifically highlighting HDR candidatures NEXUS|2022 is the fourth in the series. Our curatorial rationale for this iteration is focused on peer mentoring Masters by Research and Doctor of Philosophy candidates in various aspects of professional exhibition practice. The candidates are required to submit an application containing an artist’s statement, biography, and up to five artworks for selection. As a curatorial team we then bring the works together in installation and present them as a cohesive whole. This whole may not reflect the candidates vision, which is the point. Presenting the works differently to these novice researchers is a great privilege and one that we do not take on lightly. A high degree of trust and respect is required from both sides. We hope they and the public the works are designed for are surprised and delighted.
The artworks selected for the exhibition are not required to be resolved but do need to reflect the research undertaken by the candidate. Part of the artwork ‘Iterative Boat Studies’ (2020–2021) by Harrison See (PhD candidate) for example was chosen because it sketches an installation concept speculating on how a particular set of works might be installed for his final exhibition scheduled for 2022. Brent Rossow’s (PhD candidate) artwork similarly exhibits short exerts from a much larger animated film. Here we use installation practice unfamiliar to Rossow presenting the work as an immersive graphic novel, emphasising the complex fracturing of narrative. The ambient cacophony overlays the entire exhibition with sounds of a foreboding contemporary Australian: crickets, wind, stormy rain, birds, bodies moving through the bush, and human meanderings and rantings. Laura Mitchell’s painting, Retrosuburbia: homage to Warhol (2020–21) epitomises her PhD research focused on critiquing consumer culture in order to highlight what we may have jettisoned in our obsessive desire for the new. The earliest in their PhD candidature is Xinwei Xu. Our installation of Unread The Diamond Sutra: emptiness in materiality, (2022) references the cave in which the Diamond Sutra was stored, the musicological and taxonomic context in which it now resided. We also emulate calligraphic with its lyrical undulating rhythmic materialty. We used Steven Baitz’s (Masters by research) artwork as a bridge that ties the walk through the gallery space together. The grids punctuate the installation, emphasising the architectural space to carry the viewer with peripheral vision.
There are many conversations created by this installation, we would like to highlight some, such as the reference to the Australian landscape—architectural sites and the persistent call of the bush, imagined and real, constructed and poetic. Metaphors and analogies run through all of the works. There is no overarching media or style, and yet the concerns link. It is a testament to the breadth and depth of the HDRs in the School of Arts & Humanities.
Additional Information
Exhibition dates: 9 August - 1 September 2022 | Floor Talk: 24 Aug 12.30–1.30pm