Tectonics Online Exhibition 2021

Tectonics: bringing together artistic practices united by lithic thinking beyond human scales

A variety of artists today are working with geoaesthetics and/or long-term scales of thinking that relate to geological processes or geological timescales. Vulcanism, earthquakes, weathering and/or the stages of change in plate tectonic processes are dealt with directly, or as analogical and metaphorical terrains for wider issues. The artists recognise the large-scale processes that may go backwards or forwards in time at scales that are more-than-human. Tectonic thinking looks at social, ecological, political, and human issues through the lens of ‘deep time’, particularly recognising forces causing change at different scales: from the local and structural to the significant or considerable. It reverses the polarity of human-centred reasoning. Diverse approaches and media are included in the online exhibition. Some creative works explore exchanges of energies or radiation; others work with geo-materiality. Responses include speculations, performance, video, sculpture and site specific works. (http://lethologicapress.org/tectonic/)

Curator, Dr Perdita Phillips, has included my transistor work for this stellar group of participating artists: Erich Berger Ecological Gyre Theory (Chantelle Mitchell and Jaxon Waterhouse) Ilana Halperin Lee Harrop Rob Kettels Linda Knight and Alys Longley Kelly Leonard Christine Lorenz Annette Nykiel Perdita Phillips Nien Schwarz Elizabeth Shores

The exhibition is one of the events for Ngā tohu o te huarere: Conversations beyond human scales, the 8th ASLEC-ANZ Conference Aotearoa 23-26 November 2021 Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

The exhibition may be viewed here
My page may be viewed here

The Sunflower Collective 2021

The Sunflower Collective is a self-organising collaboration of experimental artists, exploring issues of uncertainty, resilience, of place and art-making. Their work is informed by ecofeminist philosophy and also explores how collective knowledge is accumulated and communicated; how we can move as a collective to produce actions of change. The group formed in early 2021 to explore these types of connections in their research; the outcomes to be exhibited at Wayout art space in Kandos NSW from 12 December to 8 January 2022. The exhibition includes process-driven work, sampling and proto-typing and objects. Our aim is to develop visibility for the environment and to connect  to a wider audience. The exhibition will also develop a solar power component as a model for artists to use in work.

The artists are: Kelly Leonard - Broken Hill, Michael Petchkovsky - Blue Mountains, Snowy Monaro, Julie Briggs - Narrandera, Julie Montgarrett - Wagga Wagga, James T. Farley - Wagga Wagga

The project spans art forms, invokes locations and operates as a concep- tual weaving of ideas, processes and objects. There is no curator or hierarchy, no program, no set contact time or place. The seeds for the collective came out of a seminar hosted by the CAD Factory and led by USA environmentalist of international standing, Joni Adamson in 2019. The conditions of the past 18 months have meant that this type of learning program has not been able to be delivered in the regions. This reality, accompanied by the erosion of creative arts programs in regional universities and TAFE, means groups like the Sunflower Collective are essential to support, creatively and emotionally, regional creative practitioners. The Corona Virus has led to a huge loss of work in the arts sector and the Sunflower Collective’s exhibition and process is a  direct action to capacity build mutual peer support and care networks regionally.