Where Lakes Once Had Water (Video artwork and catalogue)

Background Researchers Sonia Leber and David Chesworth were invited to travel with a team of Earth scientists to the expansive, ancient landscapes of Australia's Top End to observe their research and create a responsive artwork. Three field trips enabled them to engage with and film Traditional Owners, rangers and participants from the Mudburra, Marlinga, Jingili, Elliot, Jawoyn and Larrakia communities. The project explores different ontological approaches to understanding Australia’s biodiversity and heritage. Contribution Where Lakes Once Had Water is a 30min, two-channel audio-video artwork. It is a longform cinematic essay exploring climate history and change, knowledge systems, Indigenous custodianship, Earth science, non-human timeframes, assembled ecologies, multi-sensory ways of knowing, and notions of deep time. The substantial accompanying catalogue includes 90 images extracted from the video work and four essays. Sophie Knezic’s essay situates the researchers’ work in a lineage of 20th century sound art and acoustic transduction; Fiona Gruber focuses on their working process and Tim Flannery provides insights into the geological science and climatic change underpinning the project. In the final chapter the researchers speak with Wiradjuri scientist Michael-Shawn Fletcher about long-term interactions between humans and climate. Significance Commissioned and funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), the work was acquired by UoW Art Collection. The 136-page catalogue was published by Bundanon in association with CABAH, supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation, designed by Public Office and available from Perimeter Books. Arts writer Fiona Gruber produced ABC Radio National feature for Science Fiction and the CABAH website. A symposium accompanied the exhibition at ANU Drill Hall Gallery. In 2022, the work was further exhibited at the Tarrawarra Museum of Art (VIC) and at Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin.