NOX Night Sculpture Walk

Tomorrow’s artists today

EXHIBITION PROGRAM

10-12 May 2019

Daniel Cavanagh

Louisa Dawson

Katherine Bourne

Tash Abram

Jesse Rye

Amy Malek

Violette Kirton

Rosy Leake

Anastasia Vorgias

Nani Graddon

Atanas Djonov

Natasha Graham

Gaia Starace

Harry Gale

Kate Mcguinness

Arlia Patterson

Hannaneh Qiumarsi

Anna May Kirk

Yosef Yitzchok Sebban

Jack Poppert

Alexandra Byrne

Harry Copas

Eloise Steele

Holly Dixon

Ka Yuan Lai

Natalie Tso

Gabrielle Connole

Nikeeta Arthur

Victor Lau

Sam Shorrocks

Billie Posters

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Randwick City Council is proud to partner with the University of New South Wales to once again bring NOX to the Randwick Environment Park.

This biennial event offers the unique opportunity to experience the beauty of the natural environment, enhanced by sculptures from UNSW Art & Design students, turning the park and wetland into an illuminated gallery.

This year, we introduce art after dark, a screening of short films and animations from the UNSW School of Arts and Media, which are inspired by the themes of ecology and sustainability.

Public art adds so much to the community – it brings people together to share an experience that is out of the ordinary, sparks conversation and fosters a sense of togetherness. Our hope is that NOX allows you to enjoy this beautiful space, get to know your community a little more and enjoy the conversations that will spring from fantastic artwork all around you.

Kathy Neilson Mayor Randwick City Council

MAYOR’S MESSAGE

Randwick Environment Park comprises 13 hectares of parkland, bushland and wetland, providing valuable habitat for native birds, lizards, frogs and mammals. More than 90 species of indigenous plants have been identified to date. The Park contains the single largest (3.6 hectares) of the endangered Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub and endangered Sunshine Wattle. Randwick Environmental Park remains one of the few non-coastal bushland reserves of the eastern suburbs.

Originally part of the Randwick Army Barracks, the barracks included a rifle range and horse riding training ground during World War One. Redevelopment

by the Department of Defence was carried out from 2000 – 2010. Randwick Council protected the very significant conservation values and ensured the remaining bushland was preserved. Council also imposed a range of conditions to protect the environmental values of the reserve.

In 2010, Randwick Environmental Park was transferred from Commonwealth to Randwick City Council ownership and the reserve was opened for the enjoyment of the community and conservation of its flora and fauna.

RANDWICK ENVIRONMENT PARK

FOREWORD

The first iteration of NOX Night Cinema will involve around 15 short films produced this year by UNSW film and media students continuing the creative partnership with Randwick City Council.

Before or after completing the night walk, audiences are invited to view new short work produced by UNSW students. There are different strands of work – animations that take on the challenging brief of ‘Ocean Plastic-Plastic Ocean’ and narrative projects that take a light-hearted approach to serious first world problems such as waiting in the forest for a bus that may never come, the perils of taking a smoko, or being placed on call waiting while in a combat zone. The work will be curated to select the most appropriate projects for public demonstration.

The animated art work is intended to inspire a change in attitude or action through the distillation of a complex or difficult message into an engaging aesthetic animated form. And in this case specifically about the issue of plastics in oceans. Much of the work is developed collaboratively, and with no budget, in the greater Randwick area. The intention is to develop effective group working methods and to foster a lifelong spirit of collaboration. We encourage you to view the work and speak to the artists as the great opportunity offered by NOX is bringing

the community together. We hope that you enjoy or are motivated to action by our works.

Dr Greg Dolgopolov

Coordinator NOX Night Cinema

Senior Lecturer in Film School of Arts and Media UNSW

This third iteration of NOX will involve the installation of 31 artworks, the majority of which are being produced by UNSW Art & Design sculpture students with the assistance of the Environmental Research Initiative for Art (ERIA) UNSW and the tireless contribution of Randwick City Council and its events staff.

Public entering the site will be lured onto a 1.5 km wetland walk punctuated by intriguing installations addressing site themes of:

• ecological transformation and mindfulness

• site transformation

• artist/public co-creation through play

All artworks on this journey will be powered and lit by renewable energy systems, requiring careful reflection on energy expenditure and production in each case, with bespoke solutions. Deployable energy allows the artists to free their work from the grid and not only situate powered works in remote sites, but also create works that relate to those sites. This freedom, combined with the artists’ imagination and ingenuity, imbues each work and the show with an endearing charm – a charm that is particular to NOX and reflected in the jewel of a site it temporarily inhabits.

Welcome to our journey.

Allan Giddy

Founding Director NOX Night Sculpture Walk

Director of the Environmental Research Initiative for Art UNSW

FOREWORD

Daniel CavenaghWhere’s the love? (2019)

Polyethylene, PVC, Stainless steel

The earth’s environment is very sacred. Yet, our attempts at restoration are quite minimal. As such, with a high priority of recycling, I’ve decided making plastic bags a clothing fashion. Plastic takes several hundred years to completely break down, as such why not make use of it.

On top of this, why not also, advertise it as a clothing for everyday use. The fashion industry constantly changes, and as such, why not give “polyethylene fabrics” a chance. If it is noted to be one of the biggest environmental killers, then, why not cherish them?

Katherine BourneThree Crying Showers (2019)

Audio, Water, Timber, Steel

Three Crying Showers encourages conversation within an urban setting, around issues of water ownerships and usage on the 2nd driest continent on the planet. The three showers radiate a glowing warm light and the beautiful contralto voice of Marian Anderson singing ‘Hear De Lambs A-Cryin’’. Livestock are the first to suffer during times of drought, and often in the city we take our clean and seemingly endless supply of water for granted. The shower as a domestic object highlights our oblivious everyday over-use of the precious and dwindling resource of clean water.

Louisa DawsonBlow Up (2019)

Oxford Nylon, Air Blower

This work consists of a large inflatable Howitzer cannon, that slowly inflates and deflates cyclically. Through this process the cannon becomes flaccid and then erect, which is a slightly ribald joke that criticises the fluctuations of war, destruction of life and global tensions. The title of the work gives two meanings. One is to blow up; as to inflate. The second is to detonate or explode.

Tash AbramCAUTION: Subject to Drought (2019)

Aluminium Reflective Glass 1, Steel Poles

Flood metres highlight the danger of rising water levels when surpassing a certain depth. The metres Abram has created are the invert of this concept. As part of a complex water drainage system leading to the Botany Aquifer, the wetland of Randwick Environmental Park plays an important role in filtering pollutants and delivering water to the next wetland. Water in the Aquifer is fed back into all sites for irrigation purposes, meaning the preservation of this system is essential to the survival of multiple eco parks in Sydney. These metres highlight the danger of drought in this system, accentuating the alarming effects lower water supply could have on the entirety of these sites and its natural life.

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Jesse RyeInterference Station MK1 (2018)

Mild Steel, Paint, Copper Wire, VLF Receiver, Loudspeaker, Amplifier, Car Battery

Interference Station MK1 is a live sonic based work situated in the lakebed of the Randwick Environmental Park. ISMK1 is an auditory intervention comprising a long antenna, VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio receiver and loudspeaker. It renders tangible the omnipresent cacophony of radio waves permeating through the earth’s ionosphere, breathing voice to lightning, solar and other electromagnetic events. In addition to this the station also picks up artificially created noise such as power, man made radio, electromagnetics, and inaudible residue of countless technological articles.

Violette KirtonUntitled (2019)

Silk, Cotton, Linen, Grey Gum (Eucalyptus Punctata) Bark, Leaves and Sap

In an attempt to connect the artist to nature, these anthropomorphic forms act as a bridge between the human and the animal, the synthetic and the natural. These textile pieces are naturally dyed using flora found local to the Randwick Environmental Park of the Gadigal and Bidjigal peoples. Inevitably, these silk bodies will fade and evolve due to the universally transforming effects of weather and time.

Amy MalekRoom 9 (2019)

Hair, Rope, Paint, Oil

Room 9 surrounds the potential violence of innocent objects or materials. The union between innocence and discomfort. The danger from oneself. If removed from harmful objects, one would need the innovation to self harm, inspired by the restrictions within a psychiatric ward. Room 9 responds to the discourse of deconstructing aesthetics, and creating affect in art.

Rosy LeakeA Most Violent and Uncompromising Act (2019)

Recycled Concrete Stormwater Pipe, Mirror, LED Light

A Most Violent And Uncompromising Act is a contemplative response to contemporary urban infrastructure. While the growth of a city relies on mass excavation and tunnelling work, such activity carves up the land and replaces a natural material for an artificial and unsustainable alternative. By stripping disused concrete pipes of their function and placing them as an object of spectacle, I force contemplation of an otherwise unseen object and its processes. The contrasting materiality of concrete and light I hope will generate a sense of hypnosis whereby the viewer is left with a sense of loss, dislocation and alienation from reality as time and space is questioned.

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Anastasia VorgiasNot So Eco Footprint (2019)

Unfired Ceramics

Dyslexic artist, Anastasia Vorgias, is known for exploring the miscommunication surrounding both her experience with dyslexia and the understanding of our current ecosystem. Not So Eco Footprint is an interactive sculptural installation, comprising hundreds of bone-like sculptures which are scattered in the audience’s path. Based on a visit to the Isle of Pines, where she saw the devastating effect of tourism on the natural coral reefs, Vorgias created an installation to both make a statement for environmental protection and also to challenge the stereotype of untouchable artworks. By forcing the audience to step on and crush the bones, they are invited to experience the uncomfortable feeling associated with damaging the sculpture. This mirrors the irony of tourism as a harmless activity, while actually destroying the environment tourists travel to experience.

Atanas DjonovOutcast (2019)

Solar Panels, Batteries, Electronics, LED Video Projector, Plywood, Plastic Drums

A red rocket, made out of recycled plastic drums houses a video projector. A projected image is displayed underneath the rocket and shows an animated sequence of clouds moving over the slowly rotating planet Earth. The accompanied soundscape broadcasts the original radio communication between the launch control room and Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space with Vostok spacecraft on 12 April 1961.

Nani GraddonStay on the Path (2019)

Stoneware Ceramic, Shells, Glass, Sand, Glaze, Slip Cast Porcelain

Ground covering plants are an important part of maintaining an area’s biodiversity. Randwick Eco Park, and its surroundings, are dotted with the native ground cover called the Eastern suburbs Banksia scrub. These ceramic objects are abstracted versions of this scrub.

The abstracted plants aim to draw the viewers’ attention to the ground, and what might lie beneath their feet. The ceramic being both fragile, and hardy is reminiscent of the ground covering scrub. This work encourages considerate interaction between human and plant. To admire but not to degrade.

Touch at own risk as parts of the surfaces are sharp.

Natasha GrahamNaturally Domestic (2019)

Pillow Covers, Flora, Mirror, Lamp, Bricks

Sydney-based artist Natasha’s work seeks to locate a ‘naturalness’ in the domestic set up. What defines comfort and tranquility? She combines natural and manufactured textures to shift the notion of ‘bed,’ to an environmental setting, where the She invites the audience to touch as they wish. Natasha is in her final year of BFA at UNSW Art & Design. Her practice sits somewhere between painting and sculpture. She is fascinated by the relationships and undercurrents between ‘ordinary’ concepts/notions, seeking to flesh out what is commonly overlooked.

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Gaia StaraceMoon Rings (2019)

Mixed Sand & Concrete Sculptures, Acrylic Sheets

Moon Rings is the harmonic dialogue between the cosmos and the earth. Two circular sculptures reflect light & shadow on the blue perspex — “moon rings” dropped from the sky and sitting in water — creating a sacred, poetical space of contemplation.

Gaia Starace is a multi-disciplinary artist focused on site specific installations: drawing from her classical education in Architecture and her Italian cultural upbringing, she explores the spiritual, physical and emotional connections between humanity and nature within a visionary and playfulness framework.

Kate McGuinnessA/S/L (2019)

Multimedia

Inspired by Australian character comedy of Zoe Coombs Marr, Anne Edmonds and Rodney Todd A/S/L is a series of video portraits that epitomise certain cultural aspects of men living in Australia. In my own imaginary dating website, the characters advertise themselves to the audience. It’s tacky and absurd. The portraits poke fun at stereotypical masculinities in order to subvert conventions of Australian machoism.

Harry GaleA Cry for Torrents (2019)

Video Media Projected, Canvas

A Cry for Torrents consists of both audio and visual components that speak about the two-year absence of water over the lake located at Randwick barracks. Without the presence of water a lake turns dry and is unable to support many of the ancient ecosystems living here, responsible for carrying unique and sacred diversity. The conceptual purpose of my work is to highlight the importance water has in order for life to flourish, thus calling to the skies in the hopes to summon the long awaited downpours represented through a video projection of water appearing and disappearing through its transparent, fluid existence.

Arlia PattersonTin Forest (2019)

Ball Pit Balls, Ping Pong Balls, LED Lights

Seeds are laid to tell the story of The Tin Forest, by Helen Ward. Arranged along the pathway the seeds guide you through a sensory environment of light. Combining with Baudrillard’s theory of simulacrum, the seeds represent the inability to grow due to human intervention. The simple nature of the sculpture contrasts the chaotic environmental mess humans have generated over the years leaving us with representations of representations of the real, resulting in the inability to create something original; “never again will the real have the chance to produce itself” – Baudrillard.

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Hannaneh QiumarsiTangle (2019)

Carpet, Plywood, LED Strips

My work explores the merging of two objects with deep histories - the Australian fig tree and the Persian carpet. I invite the viewer to engage with the weaving of founding roots with ancient practice, a reflection of my Persian heritage and views towards my newfound life in Australia.

At first, the arrangement of the man-made with the natural seems incongruous. However, it opens up a visual and metaphorical dialogue between the material and the site. The missing segment of carpet speaks to what has been left behind when simultaneously trying to maintain connect to old familiar traditions and immerse oneself in a different culture on the other side of the world.

Yosef Yitzchok SebbanThe Gates of Vilna Shas (2019)

Wood, Cement, Vases, Velvet, Tassels

The Vilna Gates embossed and printed on the cover and front page of the Talmud, (the books that Hasidic Jews study every day) represent the passageway through one world of ‘what you know now’, and invites the reader into a world of knowledge, study and education, the world of the unknown, the world to be discovered. For this reason, the gates have been placed in between the oval and Randwick Environment Park to act as a portal from a world you know and understand; the oval where everything is clear, into a world of mystery and knowledge; the shrub and indigenous plants.

Anna May KirkLyre (2019)

Two Channel Speakers, Audio

The Australian natural landscape is characterised by a unique soundscape. However with rapid destruction of natural environment, these soundscapes are becoming ever more endangered. Lyre is a sonic artwork that tells the story of the Lyre Bird. Widely renowned for its perfect ability to mimic any sound, it has in recent years been recorded mimicking the sounds of the machinery that is destroying its environment. Lyre creates a duet between two Lyre Birds as they sing to one another in an increasingly uncertain world, demonstrating the complex entanglement of humanity, technology and the environment in Australia.

Jack PoppertBae City: Terms of Political Engagement (2019)

Timber, Video Installation

Bae City: Terms of Political Engagement, explores the notion of public political discourse, and what expectations the public has of its political representatives. Are we more concerned with giffs or memes that show our politicians falling over and failing, than we are their policies?

What has become of the over-turned butter-boxes and milkcrates, where public debates of important issues used to take place?

As an installation, Bae City recalls the public podium - the heart of the democratic ideal. But it conceives of the podium as fallen and discarded; a potion-man’s carriage upon which debate falls behind the attempt to sway and convince.

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Alexandra ByrneCharting AERAS (2019)

Powder Coated Steel, Photoluminescent Pigment, UV Light

Wind… Air in motion… Invisible energy…

Charting AERAS is a drawing in three dimensions that takes its inspiration from weather maps, windmills and electromagnetic energy.

This work is intended to be viewed both in daylight and at night. The photoluminescent pigments glow in the darkness with an intensity that varies depending on the level of exposure to light. Viewers are encouraged to manipulate this exposure by drawing with light on the work’s surface using the UV torches provided. This intensity of luminescence fades over time, imbuing it with a powerful yet transient energy like the changeable fluctuations of the air.

Eloise Steele Tears of A Clown (2019)

Recycled Wine Bags, Mixed Media, Durational Performance

Recollecting childhood memories often evokes a feeling or sensation instead of a clear narrative. I have recently been attempting to unpack blissfully innocent memories of my childhood. Dancing through the ‘big fridge’ and playing hide and seek at my local bottle shop as a young girl conjures feelings of excitement and curiosity. However, revisiting these memories with full consciousness of how alcohol has played a vital role in the destruction of my most intimate relationships has left me feeling confused as to how I should reminisce.

Holly DixonVID (very important dad) completing VIT (very important task) (2019)

Performance, Lawn Mower, Electrical Conduit Piping Cage, Lighting

I find the idea of lawn mowing faintly hilarious and yet slightly sinister.

The idea of all the dads of suburbia turning out en mass every weekend, kitted out with excessive amounts of gear, as though going into battle, only to do something as domestic and mundane as crop their lawns has always made me smile.

And yet the idea of all the dads of suburbia marching out with unceasing regularity to control their lawns, cut back their borders, and generally assert dominance over their own patch of earth is for me an uncanny and rather ominous reflection of the way in which we as humans treat our environment.

Harry CopasSorry To Burst Your Bubble (2019)

Acrylic on Nylon, Jumping Castle Inflator, Timer, Mosquito Frequency, Speakers, LED Lights

As the housing crisis inflates, young people in Sydney face an uncertain future. Eventual home ownership seems unlikely, with prospects for their children looking somewhat dim. Sorry To Burst Your Bubble incorporates the home owning dreams of around 90 local primary school students. Their hand drawn visions have been stitched together to create an inflatable ‘castle’. The accompanying soundscape, inaudible to most current homeowners, is normally used to deter younger generations from congregating in urban areas. Sorry To Burst Your Bubble’s playful appearance promises fun but emits a repulsive tone to young ears.

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Ka Yuan LaiCaffeine Clinic (2019)

Acrylic, aluminium, silver chrome film, coffee, ready made dental tunic

Caffeine Clinic is an intergovernmental institution from the year 2055 creating solutions to the coffee bean crisis that threatens Earth’s way of life. What began as an exercise in resolving unrelenting coffee demands ultimately became a united global effort, as governments around the world soon realised the impending necessity for an alternative coffee product. The deprivation of the world labour force from extended periods of coffee shortages would have titanic and therefore cataclysmic effects on social life across Earth. In response a synthesised version of the Macchiato coffee was created. This new yet familiar coffee product defused a global meltdown.

Gabrielle ConnoleGirls Have Stamina Pt 3 (2019)

Film Projection

Girls Have Stamina Pt 3 is a film projection and sound work onto bark at the Randwick Environmental Park.

Connole raises questions of girlhood to womanhood, innocence and safety risks for women and girls. Throughout Connole’s practice she collaborates with rural girls across country NSW and Victoria, Connole is driven to celebrate girl’s fierceness and encourage authentic self-expression. The figure so innocently dances amongst gum leaves and bark, if you listen closely you will hear the little girls laughter.

The location of the work being old defence land is incredibly important; this little girl’s innocence contrasts the 200-year-old history of colonial darkness.

Nikeeta ArthurFuture Flesh (2019)

Bioplastic, Leather, Latex, Tubes, Recycled E-Waste, Metal, Wire, LED Lights

The 21st century is a time of rapid technological development - a world where our minds are constantly connected to one another (digitally), have the ability to prolong our natural lives (surgically implanted machinery) and travel exceedingly fast without physical exhaustion (motor vehicles). Future Flesh explores the potentiality of biological and technological cohesion and the effect these changes may have on our relationships with our bodies.

Natalie TsoHeal (2019)

Mixed Media, Tree

Heal aims to address our inherent need to rest and be in the present in a culture preoccupied with being busy. The tree reacts to visitors’ hugs by lighting up to the rhythm of their heartbeats. Using the tree’s stature to juxtapose human’s smallness, I want to remind everyone that feeling vulnerable and seeking help is perfectly natural. Being recently involved in a serious car accident due to my own over-exhaustion, this work became a cathartic means for myself to heal. To visualise and be wrapt in one’s heartbeat is one of the simplest way to appreciate life.

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Victor LauTransience (2019)

Hand Cut Paper, Glass Cabinet, LED Strip Lights

Transience is a paper cut installation depicting flowers in bloom before inevitable decay. Self portraits are printed on these floral motifs yet the images are dismembered, reflecting the transience of youth and the passing of time

Billie Posters Hot Water Rising (2019)

Video

The code in this video is a metaphor describing how the gradual and ceaseless intensification of crisis and trauma in the global events that are our contemporary past and present are mediated in a way that prevents people from sensing the increasing urgency of crisis.

Biological features in ectothermic animals allegorise this ability to subsist in an ever perilous environment. Due to external homeostatic regulation a gradual increase in heat will go undetected right until the moment of annihilation, at which point there is no recourse.

Billie Posters is an emerging filmmaker and performance artist.

Don’t miss NOX Night Cinema screening of films and animations by UNSW students.

Now showing in the Randwick Community Centre auditorium.

Sam ShorrocksReclamation (2019)

Polyester Fabric, Nylon Rope

Drawing on the history of Randwick Environment Park and its surrounds, Reclamation is a work that aims to project the intangible values of a future society today. Iterations of the symbolic flags of Randwick Council and Indigenous peoples of Australia serve to repurpose the space and illustrate a new banner for the land, one which recognises these two histories and prophetically illustrates a new dawn based upon their inherent symbolic function in present day society. Ultimately, Reclamation is largely polarising in its threat of a new agenda, yet exists as a dogmatic pedagogical work that serves not to undermine the people, land or history of the Randwick area.

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NOX Night Cinema

Friday

5pm: Lily Lindsay performance

Archie Rose bar & food trucks

6pm: Sculptural Walk opens

Film screening opens

DJ Levins

6:15pm: Official opening of NOX

Welcome to Country and speeches by Mayor Kathy Neilson and UNSW representatives

6:30pm: DJ Levins

7pm: Hot Potato roaming performance

8pm: Sculptural Walk finishes

DJ Levins plays until 9pm

9pm: Archie Rose bar & food trucks close

PROGRAM

Saturday

5pm: Lily Lindsay performance

Archie Rose bar & food trucks

6pm: Sculptural Walk opens

Film screening opens

DJ Levins

7pm: Dusk Duo performance

8pm: Sculptural Walk finishes

DJ Levins plays until 9pm

9pm: Archie Rose bar & food trucks close

Sunday

5pm: Lily Lindsay performance

Archie Rose bar & food trucks

6pm: Sculptural Walk opens

Film screening opens

DJ Charlie Villas

7pm: Danielle Lamb solo

8pm: Sculptural Walk finishes

DJ Charlie Villas plays until 9pm

9pm: Archie Rose bar & food trucks close

PROGRAM

NOX Night Sculpture Walk 2019 cover artwork: Melanie Reeves Imaginarium (2019) Acrylic plastic, acrylic paint, air-dry clay, UV Light

Bar by

THANK YOUThanks to the Sydney food trucks who have supported NOX.

1300 722 542randwick.nsw.gov.au/nox