IS THIS ART? March 2016 is curated by Giorgia Gakas of dLux MediaArts.
With thanks to Create or Die for their generous donation of the exhibition space, to Dr Andrew Yip for mentoring the Emerging Writers Program and to Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham for donating his time and expertise to lead a tour of the exhibition.
dLux MediaArts is a for-purpose organisation that actively promotes and works with emerging and established artists engaging with technologies. Formed in the early 1980s by a flourishing community of emerging and experimental artists, curators, practitioners and filmmakers in Sydney, dLux has been known as Sydney Super8 Film Group, then the Sydney Intermedia Network and since the 1990’s as dLux MediaArts. This generational change in name is a direct reflection upon the organisation’s efforts in remaining contemporary within changing socio-cultural trends and valuable work in supporting and presenting the diverse practices of artists working with emergent technologies over a more than thirty-year history. Confluent with this history, a core commitment to providing a platform for emerging artists working with technologies to show their works is at the heart and soul of the IS THIS ART? program. This edition of IS THIS ART? is also a contribution to keeping Sydney night life alive.
In 2016, dLux will enter into its second year of presenting a special edition of IS THIS ART? in partnership with The Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum Now festival. This annual highlight to an exciting quarterly presentation program has returned to audiences as a special event and pop-up exhibition at Marrickville’s Create or Die! For the first time in a two-year history IS THIS ART? will venture beyond the medium of single channel video art to showcase the expanded field of creative works made by emerging artists approaching technology via video, installation, performance, sound and robotics mediums. This exhibition will engage with art in new and exciting ways and join a selection of Australia’s most promising emerging artists as they examine the artistic potential of technology and explore a variety of themes and aesthetics including post-Internet satire, male grooming habits, death and regeneration and found objects.
IS THIS ART? March 201 presents work by ACAB COLLECTIVE, TIM BUCHANAN, FRASER BULL-CLARK, ELLA CONDON, LUX ETERNA, ELLEN.GIF, GET TO WORK, DAVID GREENHALGH, JOSH HARLE, LUKE HESPANHOL, YU KAO, ANDREW STYAN AND JAMES MAHER, RORY MCKAY, ANNIE MCKINNON, MANDY PRYSE-JONES AND SIMON SAVAGE, SELINA SPRINGETT, LOU STEER, RHYS VOTANO and, NICOLA WALKERDEN.
Catalogue Details:
ACAB Collective, Shoreline, 2016, Mixed Media: water, silver acrylic, neon paint, e-waste, salt crystals, guitar wire, 2-part epoxy, sand, Styrofoam, expanding foam, concrete, plastic bags, silicone, UV light, projection. Dimensions variable
Tim Buchanan, Material Landscapes, 2016, Paper, Oculus Rift, Performance
Frazer Bull-Clark, The Big Shave, 2016, digital video, audio, 9:38 min
Ella Condon, Tracing Moonlight, 2016, digital video, audio, 9:45 min
Lux Eterna, D U N E, 2015, digital video, audio, 8:08 min
@Ellen.gif, Leave Ellen Alone, 2015, digital video, audio, 3:58 min
Get To Work, Get 2 Work, 2015, digital video, audio, 2:38 min
David Greenhalgh, 2PM, 2015, digital video, audio, 4:28 min
Josh Harle, Trafalgar St Tunnel, 2015, digital video, audio, 4:28 min
Luke Hespanhol, Maybe, Maybe Not, 2015, computer generated video, audio, 5:20 min
Yu Kao, Cubebot, 2015, cardboard, timber, plastic, robotics
Andrew Styan (Video) and James Maher (Soundscape), Underbellies, 2015, digital video, audio, 5:13 min
Rory McKay, 2014, digital video, performance, audio, projector, speaker
Annie McKinnon, Listening to people, listening to people, 2015, mp3, chair, headphones, audio, 3:22 min
Mandy Pryse-Jones and Simon Savage, WE LIVE IN YOUR WORLD, 2015, mp3, chair, headphones, dimensions variable
Selina Springett, Domesticity 1.0, 2014, sink, taps, headphones, speaker, audio, dimensions variable
Louise Steer, Dirty Laundry, 2015, poem, performance
Rhys Votano, Creation, 2015, digital video, audio, 9:25 min
Nicola Walkerden and Olga Solar, Rings and Divisions – On Saturn’s Edge, 2014- 2016, 16mm & super8 film to digital video. Original composition ‘On Saturn’s Edge’ by Olga Solar, 5:51 min
