hybrid robot plants in a shopping mall

a very exciting opportunity has just come along - to be a part of a group show at west space gallery's offshoot, west wing. this came about as a result of the unfortunate closure of the bus projects gallery earlier this year - where i had been booked to exhibit in may. the closure meant the postponement of that exhibition until new premises could be secured or an off-site opportunity presented itself. west space came to the rescue with their gallery space in the melbourne central shopping centre.

the show is in late january - more details soon.

the location offers a great chance to engage directly with the architecture of the site. i chose a small room to put my work into due to its suitability for a very real engagement with the building's functional components. a series of pipes runs vertically right through the room and if you press your ear against them you can hear the distant sounds of the shopping mall.

 the small room through the right door

 the pipes that pierce the room vertically

 an odd interruption into the white cube

the work i had proposed for the bus gallery show was very much designed to fit a very particular space - a long, skinny space. this new space affords me an opportunity to engage with the site in a different way, most especially because of the 'intruding' elements of the foundational architecture that break into the otherwise white cubical office-like space. 

discovering that i could hear water flowing and the echoing sounds of the extended building through the pipes was a key element in generating ideas for making work in the space. here's a small list of ideas that are getting the ball rolling:

 - the secluded, isolated nature of the space (office room, door) lends itself to being a microcosm environment. this makes me think of things like museum dioramas and zoo exhibits for reptiles or nocturnal animals.

 - the sound element is most intriguing, making me consider encouraging the viewer to listen to the pipes. also makes me think that maybe plants could be listening to pipes, as if tapping them.

 - the ceiling is made of corrugated perspex, the kind of roof that is common as backyard terracing for verandas in the suburbs. with my work i automatically then think of hanging plants and outdoor lighting.

 - the rock that also pierces one wall suggests a hidden infrastructure, something more earthy and traditionally constructed than the more obvious shiny facade of white walls and other commercially oriented presentations of the shopping centre.

out of these thoughts i have been getting a strong desire to construct an installation of hybrid plant/robot machines that are clambering about in the space, listening to the pipes and using the sound they gather from that to stimulate the growth of new plants.