The whirlwind of data and opinion surrounding climate change can be overwhelming; how do we form something meaningful and informative out of all of the figures, news, opinions and anxiety surrounding this topic?
Art connects us to the problem in a felt way, it encourages engagement, deep thinking, problem-solving and questioning.
The title of this exhibition (1.5 Degrees) comes from the challenge of the global community to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees (above pre-industrial levels). It is about the science of climate change, communicated in diverse and intriguing ways.
17 Artist from across Australia explore our relationship to the planet, through explorations of the juncture between science and art, and the very human response to the looming threat of climate change.
CURATOR NOTES | Autumn Tansey – Guest Curator (ABOUT) | ABOUT ART AVISO
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NATURE AS DATA -Ghost Trees - the memory and loss of environment
POA
An artistic, visual and sonic representation of hard scientific data. Laser scans, point clouds and bio-acoustic recordings of endangered ecosystems are presented through an artistic lens generating an emotional engagement with climate data.
Society’s willful blindness to data is a core theme. This artwork immerses the viewer within mists of data cloud points and ghosts of real forests. By overlaying the real and memory, the work explores the liminal space between technology and nature.
Taking the viewer on a journey from blindness to sight and back again.
Produced in collaboration with scientists from the Terrestrial ecosystem research network (TERN)*. It uses massive datasets produced from 3D laser scanning of vulnerable native forests in Australia. These scans produce Cloud points, a mist of data and ghosts of the real.
The data is situated between the real and the virtual, ephemeral yet fixed by coordinates.
They are literal memories of environments that one day may disappear. They are nature as data.
*The goal of TERN is to provide open access for researchers to Australia’s land-based ecosystem monitoring infrastructure, data and research tools and thus contribute to a broader understanding and long-term sustainable management of Australia’s ecosystems.
Artist Statement:Nature as Data.
Nature as Data is a collective working with art, sound, science, environment and technology. As artists our objective is to translate scientific data about climate change in an emotional and imaginative way.
Artists:
James McGrath graduated as an architect in 1994 and lectured in design and digital visualization at the University of New South Wales. Over the last 20 years his paintings have been exhibited in London, Paris and Sydney. He also has trained as a painter by working as a studio assistant to the Neo-renaissance painter Patrick Betaudier in Paris and Arthur Boyd in Australia. His work is equally motivated by the inherent differences and tensions that the marriage of painting and 3D digital video engenders. For last 15 years he has been represented by Olsen Gallery, Sydney.
Gary Sinclair is a music composer, sound designer and sound artist living in Sydney. Currently working in public art, experiential projects and science storytelling.
Gary brings forensic detail to research and development and translates this into expansive and emotionally engaging public works.
From a background as a recording artist, through composing and sound designing for screen and media for his professional practise: Tactile Music. Gary has developed an expansive and diverse skill set across music, sound, public art, broadcast, science and media. Exploring the spaces between music, sound design and sound science.
PRICE: POA
ART AVISO PROFILE James McGrath
ART AVISO PROFILE Gary Sinclair