New Horizons

writing the earth has been an online space to explore a collection of ideas through cross-disciplinary ways over the last few years.

This space has come to an end, with ideas and theories discussed over the time now being applied to new post-graduate research pursuits and a new blog.

The new blog is the The Flâneur and is exploring, considering and raising awareness about urban design and planning in Hobart, Tasmania and surrounding areas. 

This discussion will be done through a variety of people, writing about a wide selection of themes, from many different backgrounds and interest areas. The posts include referring to global ideas and practices and applying to them the urbanscape of the area. The Flâneur also aims to instigate events, happenings and practices to the real environment of Hobart, investigating possibilities that affect many communities worldwide.

I hope you will enjoy The Flâneur.

The Rivulet

I live near a rivulet. Most nights I go walking there. It is a place to forage blackberries, walnuts and apples, while avoiding the hemlock and admiring the willows. I encounter others on these walks. Cats; pademelons; possums; rabbits; wallabies; the odd bandicoot and platypus; native hens, a variety of ducks; blackbirds; doves; currawongs; forest ravens; some times a heron; black cockatoos; and if you are lucky, an owl - either a masked or boobook.


Thule

My connection to this place has informed recent artworks. The first is one I have returned to after a year is based on:

'My embodied sense of place is formed through walking in the dark along this path and observing this feeling of [European] cultural transplantation. The Gothic ‘otherness’ and sense of the beyond is felt through the aesthetics of the uncontrolled water and darkness of the environment. In my journey through this place, at this point of time, I am aware of the space between my body and surrounds. This brings a feeling of isolation and disconnection, and recognition that there is something beyond the space that I am unable to grasp.

My series of images visually express the experience of my night journeys in this place. The photographs sit alongside text of a poem titled ‘Dream-Land’ (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe...'

More images of the series can be found here.




Twenty Minutes

The second is a collaborative work with Felix Wilson.


'The series is an exercise in constrained creativity. Walking together on a regularly trodden path and making photographic images every minute over this period. The images on the left-hand side pages are Felix Wilson’s responses, with my own images of the right-hand side pages.'

More images of the series can be found here.




Postcards from the Rivulet

The rivulet is a place which Felix has also explored recently in depth. He is currently selling postcards of his interpretation of the body of water as it passes through the urban environment into the sea. From his blog:

'I made some postcards of photographs from the project I worked on last year about the Hobart Rivulet. 

I want to send them out into the world, so for $3 I will pen a little note about the photo on the back and send it to you anywhere in the world, or send me an email and we can swap (leaves, poems, pebbles, seeds, whatever). 

Buy here with Paypal: http://www.felixwilson.com/index.php?/projects/postcards-from-the-rivulet/or Email: felixdwilson (at) gmail.com'.

Mona Foma 2013 [Colin Offord and Yilan Yeh]

Colin Offord and Yilan Yeh

These two artists performed as part of the Morning Meditations sessions, which happened each day of the festival in a small, circular shaped room with a timber vaulted ceiling. The intimate performance space allowed a personal connection between the artists and the audience, and provides the opportunity for more of an aural conversation to occur, rather than a direct interpretation of ridged musical performance.

This fascinating 'discussion' by Offord and Yeh was created using a variety of instruments, some which had been adapted. The instruments were not conventional, and introduced the audience to the mouthblow, moonbells and waterbells. The instruments brought a new kaleidoscope of enriching sounds and tones, conjuring vast geographical imagery.

The instruments were also works of art within themselves, with Offord adapting the objects throughout the years to fit his musical visions. The images below show some of these instruments, along with Offord and Yeh.

[Image: Felix Wilson]

[Image: Felix Wilson]

[Image: Felix Wilson]

Mona Foma 2013 (Benjamin Skepper]

Benjamin Skepper

This artist's work is a combination of classical meets experimental music, amidst a visual background of corresponding images and intriguing costumes and head wear.

My first introduction to Skepper's work was in the interlude waiting for the performance to beginning and looking and the items on stage - a harpsichord, a cello and a sewing machine. The juxtaposed objects became recontextualized as Skepper played them in an aural feast of layered sounds, with hints of electronica and the baroque. This was all done in a calm  manner, as the artist gracefully moved about the stage, echoing the composed manner of a Japanese tea ceremony, martial art practices, etc, (seemingly drawing on his own cultural background). The way Skepper's body moved through the space of the stage, also reflecting the sounds he was creating, and was as much a part of the performance as the music.

Half way through the performance Skepper's crest fell off. This event was probably dismissed by many as they concentrated on the music. But I found it interesting. The removal of the feathery head wear, alongside the artist taking off his dark glasses, revealed Skepper. Not just physically, but in a way which allowed the audience to become closer to understanding the thinking behind the construction of the experimental compositions.

On the above linked website of Skepper's, there is some writing explaining the ideas behind his music, such as this definition of the meaning of his record label, which I'll finished with:


' Contrapuntal: Redefining the Concept

It is a simple to destroy ideas, matter, and orthodox ways and term it “punk” or “avant-garde”. However, rendering meaning to the process of destruction is achieved most effectively from a theoretical basis.

“Contrapuntal” is a musical term referring to the art of combining two or more independent melodies. J.S. Bach mastered contrapuntal composition in music, though Skepper redefines the term pointing to a different type of composition: harnessing sound as his independent melody, Skepper collaborates with creators across different disciplines who represent their distinct “melody” - graphic design, fashion, photography, contemporary dance and choreography, performance art, visual art, video art, film … experimentation and innovation the key to collaboration.'

Mona Foma 2013 [Mahmoud Ahmed]

Mahmoud Ahmed

When watching Ahmed's performance, I considered a previous show I had seen by Leonard Cohen; each artist is a master of their craft and offers a tight performance, full of warmth and generosity. And each are in their 70s and seem to be full of energy, dancing on stage as they sung.

Ahmed's story is described on the MOFO program:

'Ahmed is an icon of the ‘golden era’ of Ethiopian music – that is, the decades prior to the military
coup of 1974, which put an end to Haile Selassie’s rule and suspended musical nightlife in the country for the next fifteen years.

Before this, back in 1962, Ahmed was a handy man at Addis Ababa’s Arizona Club, the hang-out for Emperor Selassie’s Imperial Body Guard Band. He stumbled on his fate (sorry, but it is kind of a dramatic story) when the house band’s lead singer failed to show up for the gig…

He quickly became famous in Ethiopia, and from there a huge hit with the African diaspora and fans of African music in Europe and America...Ahmed will be flanked by Australian-Ethiopian jazz band J-Azmaris. This Melbourne-based group showcases the rich, hybrid style of Ethiopian music, as well as the contribution of the Ethiopian community to contemporary Australian music.' 

Image from 2007
[Image by SimonRoy from http://www.last.fm/music/Mahmoud+Ahmed/+images/167719]

Mona Foma 2013 [Chicks on Speed]

Chicks on Speed

The art and music collective was this year's Artists is Residence for the festival.

Their work, I'm sure is usually neatly labeled under: 'feminist', 'pop', 'avant-garde' and 'post-modernism' categories. And despite the perhaps frivolous exterior one may think when they first stumble on their work, their ouvre is serious and has been aesthetically influential. The collective could be considered in regards to other groups such as the Guerrilla Girls, with both groups creating their own imprint in the history of visual culture, and both have a sense of style that represents a place and time in a society. In the case of Chicks on Speed, this place and time was Germany in the 1990s, with their work perhaps understood alongside the experimental art and music of the country which begun to rise from the underground after the fall on The Wall.

Chick on Speed's main performance of the festival included an 'academic' from a university in Queensland who perform critique of art in contemporary culture in a prose that match the style of the collective, and stayed on stage throughout the rest of the show, dancing with the group. Academics can be fun.

[Image from: http://www.au.timeout.com/brisbane/music/events/2439/chicks-on-speed-dj-set]

Mona Foma 2013 [Bickram Ghosh]

Bickram Ghosh

Ghosh plays the tabla - an Indian drum which is played through extremely sensitive movements in the hands, creating the varying tones and sounds.

The MOFO website states:
'Bickram is one of the world's finest players of the tabla - the Indian drum: his career includes gigs with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. He draws on his traditional training and fuses it with electronics and improvisation, backed by Hindustani vocals and heaps of extra bang.'

His captivating performance included other musicians, complimenting the rhythmic sounds of the tablas with intense drumming, reminiscence to the Lightning Bolt drumming style.

My only (small) compliant about the performance is in regards to the ability to see Ghosh's finger movements as he played. A live projection of these detailed hand gestures onto the large screen behind would have good to appreciate the complexity of the craft.

Sound Checking before the concert at PW1.
[Image from Bickram Ghosh's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.595348993825070.149595.111117512248223&type=3&l=d9f52a8a24]

Mona Foma 2013 [Tina Havelock Stevens]

The beginning of the new year also marks another MOMA FOMA - a music and art festival in Hobart, Tasmania. This is the 5th year of the festival, with the more compacted program still see offering an eclectic range of musician, artists and activities from various spectrums and areas of the world.

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting about some of the performances and artworks I saw in the festival. Enjoy.


Tina Havelock Stevens

Havelock Stevens' art/sound performance, Submerged,  marked the opening of the festival. The description on the MOFO website described the work as: 

'Tina is an 'extreme drummer', video artist and observational filmmaker. We're going to crane her into the Derwent River, and she's going to play the drums 'underwater style' while she's down there.'

And indeed she did. Clothed in a costume that resembled some seaweed-like creature of the deep, Havelock Stevens and her drum kit was lowered fully into the water and played for fifteen minutes or so. The sounds of the drumming from inside the body of water was amplified to the encircled crowed. The effect was dense, with each note becoming deeper in tone and lingering for longer.

Another interesting aspect to the performance was the crowd interaction. Anticipation rippled through the audience as we watched Havelock Stevens be fitted into the crane structure and wired up. The crane and the artist slowly rose upwards, with Havelock Stevens drumming a pulsating beat as she travelled through the air and into the water. Not really knowing what to expect with the act seemed to leave the viewers waiting, questioning and then smiling as the soaked sea-creature rose again from depth below.

A video of the performance can be found here.

[Image from: http://canberracontemporaryartspace.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/map-of-tassie/]

Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight [James Attlee]

James Attlee's new book Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight considers themes of the moon and the cultural and philosophical meanings it has in a variety of societies.

'The search for moonlight leads from the streets of the author’s own neighborhood to a Buddhist temple near Kyoto and into the Arizona desert. The soundtrack to these wanderings is as diverse as their geography. The midnight song of a mockingbird in Brooklyn; the grumbling of a Japanese volcano at a steaming, sacred spring; a Beethoven sonata, bounced off the lunar surface.'
[from: http://jamesattlee.com/]

Attlee is someone I am familiar with through his research on the work and life of American artist Gordon Matta-Clark, such as Gordon Matta-Clark: The Space In-Between (with Lisa Feuvre).

Interesting to see the diversity of subject's he writes about, and to contemplate the theme of the moon that appears to be under explored, and yet is so prominent for most of us.

Tom Wright on Francis Bacon

An interesting talk by Tom Wright about Francis Bacon, as part of a a series of lectures to coincide with the Art Gallery of New South Wales' exhibition on Bacon.

His talk entitled London after the Rain, gives an insight into the artist's ideologies and work through the war-damaged landscape of London during World War Two, alongside the characters of crime and murder that inhabited the same small area of of the city as Bacon.

Wright's perspective in the talk is influenced by his theatrical background, creating an atmospheric scene of the dark London streets, which became empty spaces through the impact of the war. He argues these spaces were reflected in the behavior of murderers such as John Christie, and could be seen to later re-reflect in Bacon's psyche and works. While Bacon's own war-time experiences included removing dead bodies from the shelled ruins, that arguably would have made an impression on the artist.

The talk can be found here.

Visualising the Tasmanian Fires

The visualisation of conflicts, human-made and natural disasters and other similar landscapes of catastrophe, is a well-known phenomenon. Current technology has allowed us to share this information throughout the world in a manner which is increasing uses graphical and image-based means of display. This is coupled with the human desire for current information and knowledge in order to have a sense of connection to others and the larger whole.

I have been thinking of these points during the last few days in relation to the current changes in the surrounding landscape and skyscape of the place where I am currently based. On Friday 4th January, the island of Tasmania experienced unusually hot weather: 42 C (107.6 F), but with an Apparent Temperature in the capital, where I live, reaching 50 C (122 F). A wet winter had apparently increase vegetation growth throughout the state, while the sudden extreme temperatures coincided with dry lightening strikes, and close-to-cyclone strength winds. The combination of these events has resulted in masses of bushfires (also known as wildfires) throughout the island. While the phenomena of the bushfire is a regular occurrence during the summertime in Tasmania and Australia, these current fires bring a new kind of intensity. The amount of fires and inability to access some of them (due to a significant amount of the island consisting of dense forested areas, and because of the peninsular location one of the largest fires), has resulted in many new fires joining the existing ones over the last few days.

In order to make sense of what has been happening I have been following may online sites and social networks in the last few days. The reasons for me doing so was foremost to understand where these fires are and where they are travelling to - keeping in mind some of the fires were indeed 'travelling' up to speeds of 100km per hour (62mph). My curiosity and 'human desire for information', alongside a deeper sublime fascination of the visual recordings of the fires, have equally kept me fixated to the coverage and changes in my current surrounds.

Below I would like to share a collections of the visual documentation and imagery that relate to the last two points above; beginning with imagery of typical online data documentation that reveal something more about the reality of the changed sense of place:

A screenshot of the regularly updated current weather conditions (from the BoM), in the southern area of Tasmania on the 4th January. This shows Dunalley's highest temperature of 59.9 C (140F) when the town was burning. The unusual reading of the weather station (the fires travelled near the station) gives an sense of the real-time happenings in the town, which was unreachable at the time.

Another screen shot from the Tasmanian Fire Service that also shows the unfolding of the real-time events. The lists is also frequently updated. Each time there is an update, fires are either added (and sometimes removed) from the list, while the status of the fire and amount of vehicles at the scenes is also ever-changing. Looking at the data over the days shows patterns that ebb and flow, digitally reflecting the physical changes happening in the landscape.

The Tasmanian Fire Service also has maps of each fire that equally are in a state of flux from one hour to the next, as the the fires travel across the topography. Each node in the orange representation above, often show how the wind has blown the fire and started new ones. While the some of the crescent and angled shapes give an indication of how the fires have been stopped because of residential settlements.

A Google Map which has been made that is also charting the course and types of the fires as they happen

An image via ABC News from NASA, that depicts the plumes of smoke from the fires. The direction and shape of these smoke patterns were also replicated on the graphical maps of the Fire Service, which each visual representation alluding to wind directions and speeds, and again digitally giving a sense of the real-life environment.

The weather site showed a gap this morning with a lack of the appropriate icon to represent the smoked filled sky

This was rectified later on

The fascination with the visual elements of these types of events can conjure sublime responses in all of us, harking back to one of Edmund Burke's original notions of the sublime that can be experienced as a reaction to a moment of terror. The images of the fires online, as well as my embodied experience within an environment outside of the fire zones, has evoked feelings of the sublime, due to the surreal otherness of these 'new' land and sky scapes. I noted some of these on twitter, and here are some more to end with:

[Image: Matt Green from http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/01/04/3664765.htm?site=hobart&ref=m21]

Screenshot from a video from ABC Hobart site

[Image: Lynne Meale from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-07/bushfire-carlton-tasmania/4455084]

[Image: AAP/News Limited Pool: Chris Kidd from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-06/boomer-bay-home-hit-by-bushfires/4454318]

[Image: AAP/News Limited: Chris Kidd from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-05/gutted-house-at-dunalley/4454092]

[Image: Shane Humpherys from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-07/fire-burns-inside-a-power-pole/4454770]

Life A User's Manual [Georges Perec]

'Thus a concrete programme was designed, which can be stated succinctly as follows.
    For ten years, from 1925 to 1935, Bartlebooth would acquire the art of painting watercolours. 
    For twenty years, from 1935 to 1955, he would travel the world painting, at a rate of one watercolour each fortnight, five hundred seascapes of identical format (royal, 65cm x 50cm) depicting seaports. When each view was done, he would dispatch it to a specialist craftsman (Gaspard Winckler), who would glue it to a thin wooden backing board and cut it into a jigsaw puzzle of seven hundred and fifty pieces.
    For twenty years, from 1955 to 1975, Bartlebooth, on his return to France, would reassemble the jigsaw puzzles in order, at a rate, once again, of one puzzle a fortnight. As each puzzle was finished, the seascape would be "retexturised" so that it could be removed from its backing, returned to the place where it had been painted - twenty years before - and dipped in a detergent solution whence would emerge a clean and unmarked sheet of Whatman paper.' 

[Perec, G 1978, Life A User's Manual, Vintage, London, pp. 118-119]

Fragmented Forms

Travelling by bus through the midlands area of Tasmania and perceiving the landscape as fragmented bursts along the way.

The place was formed by a moving glacier, sculpting the topography as a crescent shape, and contrasting to the numerous mountains and hills that surrounds the area and cover the windswept island.

Scribblers

When I was a child I read a book about 'Scribblers' - little creatures which would communicate by writing messages underneath the bark of trees. The marks were embedded in the tree's surface and formed wiggly lines in a language inaccessible to humans.

Whether or not the story is true is arguable. As one walks around a landscape of Eucalyptus, the Scribblers' writing is prominent. Traces in an environment that is not, and perhaps never can be, understood by the people of the north - the visitors to the place.

Experiencing Unbuilding and In-Between Spaces [April Krause]

I have just completed a thesis titled: Experiencing Unbuilding and In-Between Spaces: Analysing Works by Gordon Matta-Clark, Rachel Whiteread and Michael Arad.

For those who would like some 'very interesting' bed time reading, the document and it's visual response can be found here.

The Unbuilding and The In-Between, 2012, Inkjet prints, paper and in-situ flooring, variable dimensions

[Image: Julien Scheffer]