Curated by Joni Taylor and the New Landscapes Institute with new work by Zanny Begg, Vanessa Berry, Future Method Studio with Alvaro Carrillo and Carmen Blanco, Heidi Axelsen and Hugo Moline and Sarah Breen Lovett.
In partnership with the NSW Government Architects Office, artists and architects were selected to created contemporary responses to the historical material uncovered in the architecture archives of Sydney. A selection of ephemera such as maps, plans and photographs were uniquely exhibited alongside new video, sound and installation work.
The public program Groundwork: Reloaded brought the exhibition ideas outside of the gallery onto the streets and waterfronts and invited the audience to become participants in a variety of playful and thought provoking environments. Part of Artr and About this incorporated discussions, walks, urban interventions and temporary architecture.
New Commissions
Artist, cartographer and author Vanessa Berry creates psycho-geographic maps that highlight the mysterious structures around us: glasshouses, aqueducts, transmission towers and other curiosities of the urban environment. Berry’s maps came alive through a series of urban explorations and artist lead walks around the CBD and the aqueducts, canals and creeks of the inner city.
Sarah Breen Lovett’s Otherscapes is a research / performance project drawing on knowledge gained from Indigenous Australian, Druidic and academic resources. It looked specifically at the history of the tree groves in Centennial Park and explores the political and cultural reasons behind changing horticultural practices through audio interviews and mapping.
Heidi Axelsen and Hugo Moline work at the intersection of art and architecture and take their work out of the confines of the gallery and onto the streets. Their fictional archives and maps created for Owner Occupy, The Last Public Architecture augment the city under the control of these “dwelling machines”, imagining another possibility.
Watertopia by Future Method Studio, Alvaro Carillo and Carmen Blanco presented a proposal for the integrated and democratic access and use of the harbour and foreshore through debate, discussion and play. Their use of inflatables and collage evokes a playful approach while still revealing the magnitude of these timely discussions.
Zanny Begg’s film How to Blow up a Bubble That Won’t Burst is inspired by the Binishell, an experimental dome structure built for schools during the 70’s using inflatables and concrete. The narrative traces the Binishells from their construction in suburban NSW, back to the architect Dante Bini in his home in Napa almost five decades later, where he responds to the current student’s questions about utopia, crisis and the future city.
GROUNDWORK WEBSITE (external)
CURATOR — Joni Taylor
ARTISTS — Zanny Begg, Vanessa Berry, Future Method Studio + Alvaro Carrillo and Carmen Blanco , Sarah Breen Lovett and Heidi Axelsen and Hugo Moline.
PRODUCTION — The Operative
EXHIBITION DESIGN & FURNITURE — Dan Hollier
GRAPHIC DESIGN — Charlie Cummings
PROJECT CONSULTANT — Barbara Schaffer
GOVERNMENT ARCHITECTS OFFICE HERITAGE CONSULTANT — Matthew Devine
MEDIA & MARKETING — Jamie Parmaxidis
