The Brothers Gruchy, Tim Gruchy and Mic Gruchy
6 channel video installation, 2008 Pullman Hotel - Olympic Park Sydney
The history of this planet is believed to be just under 5 Billion Yearsat a moment when the global population approaches 7 Billion - two figures inextricably linked in an equation that defines the entirety of our existence.
Are human beings capable of comprehending such vast timescales and population numbers? On one hand our sense of defined boundaries protects us from being overwhelmed by the enormity of the cosmos, while conversely this same inability may limit our comprehension of the interrelatedness of life forms on Earth, thus causing us to endanger our very existence on this shared planet.
Over the time the Earth has formed, life has evolved with an ever-increasing diversity and complexity. We live incredibly short and fast lives in comparison to our ancient planet. What if the passage of life on Earth to date was concentrated and held within a test tube that possessed not only the history of all life forms but their information structure. Would it run simulations and create new universes? - one hopes this imagining is a cause for reflection.
The work is based on the evolution of life and connectively, from the primordial cellular activity through to depictions of peoples complex social interactions.
The content goes through an evolutionary cycle beginning with particles in liquid. These are aggregating and coalescing as they gradually float skywards.Over time these particles become depictions of people, their movement and activities. The aggregation and coalescence continues as does the overall ascendant motion. A liquid background flows through a number of phases, giving the work a fountain like aesthetic at times.It remains calm at all times whilst maintaining variant degrees of abstraction within the definitions.
The content is cohesive across the six screen array behaving as one continuous screen environment.
The screen space is made up of six flat screens attached to a suspended metal form incased in a highly polished perspex skin.
