Heliotrope

Background: This work is situated within site specific ephemeral installation practice and the phenomenology of perception. In particular the work is in dialogue with precedence such as the Art of Light and Space Movement, and with contemporary practitioners such as Olafur Eliasson. Heliotrope examined issues of interior and exterior and interiority and exteriority by bringing imagery from the gallery surrounds into the interior through a natural light projection system in conjunction with a bespoke curved mirrored screen activated by the presence of the viewer within a constructed social context. Contribution: Heliotrope explored metaphors of light and our relationship to a larger context through an immersive installation, video projection and performance. Heliotrope also shows video footage of dawn and dusk filmed at Europe’s first commercial Solar power station in Andalucía, Spain. The two encounters contrast presence and duration in our encounter with light. By grounding the introspective aesthetic experience within the context of activated spectatorship the project seeks to overcome the artificial distinction between the phenomenological and activated spectatorship modes of installation practice. Significance: Heliotrope was shown at Blindside Gallery after a competitive process. Blindside’s selection committee is staffed by artists, curators and arts administrators from Melbourne’s Tertiary Art Schools. Typically, 12-24 proposals are drawn from 100 or more applications in each selection round. The distinguished writer Professor Melissa Miles contributed a catalogue essay to the exhibition.