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Science fiction meets art at the Gallery

Currently on show at Latrobe Regional Gallery is an exciting interactive multimedia exhibition sure to delight all ages. ‘Topologies’ consists of two works: ‘Transplants’ by Donna Kendrigan and ‘HyperCollider’ by Chris Henschke.

By Latrobe Shire Council - 10th January 2005 - Back to News

Gallery Director, Louise Tegart said that the works played with notions of science fiction and science theory which are explored through the use of image, motion, sound and interactivity.

"The works share a fascination for science aesthetics and technologies of nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These elements have been deconstructed and appropriated to create new perceptions of physical and imaginary space. Both works locate the exploration of science fact/fiction/ theory within a somewhat mixed-up, playful post-post-modern era," Ms Tegart explained.

"The first work, ‘Transplants’ is experienced via touchscreen on a 19th century botanist’s cabinet. It presents a fantastical botanical garden comprising plants from a far future where today’s genetic experiments have evolved to make a very different natural world. One can see grinning flower pods, oozing kidney plants and fruits that beat like hearts.

"This world doesn’t resemble a slick, shiny, cliched image of the future, but is as if time has shuffled past eras to create a crack-pot renaissance of styles full of the textures of dusty botanical catalogues and fading diagrammatic medical studies," Ms Tegart added.

"The other work, ‘HyperCollider’, is experienced via hands-on interaction with an antique wooden pinball machine. It explores Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity (circa 1905-1920s) within the confines of an impossible machine. The machine has been constructed from 1920s relativity textbooks and Einstein’s handwritten notes.

"The machine poses to be of this time but is a hybrid of future machines: part pinball game, part gramophone player and part particle accelerator. It is collaged together to create a musical time machine. This project plays with the absurdities that occur when relativity collides with quantum physics, and illuminates some of the strange theoretical worlds that exist on paper," Ms Tegart said.

Ms Tegart added that the audience interacted with the work through flipper buttons and an old spring-loaded trigger that must be pulled back and released.

"However, instead of shooting a steel ball, a selection of subatomic particles can be launched into the HyperCollider," Ms Tegart explained.

Chris Henschke is a Melbourne based artist whose main areas of research are in experimental virtual environments and interactive sound installations. He is studying for a Masters by Research in Animation and Interactive Media at RMIT and is a lecturer in interactive sound design and digital imaging at RMIT.

Donna Kendrigan is an artist/animator/illustrator based in Melbourne. Her short animation Seabound (1997) received an AFI Nomination in 1998 and has screened at festivals including the Annecy International Animation Festival; Ottawa International Animation Festival and Clermont Ferrand Short Film Market. In 2001 she began working in digital media, specialising in animation and interactive art, and completed a Diploma in Electronic Design and Interactive Media at RMIT in 2003. She has recently completed for Film Victoria and SBS the short animation, ‘Urashima Taro’, for the ‘World Tales’ series, featured now on SBS TV and SBS Online (www.sbs.com.au/worldtales).

The exhibition continues at Latrobe Regional Gallery until Sunday 13 February.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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