! 金 !

Research Background: !金! was an installation commissioned and curated into the visual arts program by Dr Kent Wilson, Senior Curator at the La Trobe Art Institute, as part of the Castlemaine State Festival 2019. The Castlemaine State Festival is a major Australian regional arts festival, with the 2019 visual arts program showcasing significant Australian and Asia-Pacific artists. James’ installation was presented in the Castlemaine Historic Market building, where he presented a body of process-based creative works. Research Contribution: !金! incorporated a series of process-based interventions, making reference to the gold rush of the mid 1800’s in Castlemaine and to its surrounds. !金! questions the roles of labour and value within the context of the Castlemaine Historic Market building and within contemporary culture. The resulting found detritus reassembled within the context of an institution opens up new relations encountered through its temporal, material and spatial qualities. The works also reflect on a thread of contemporary art and design practice that investigates situational-responsiveness, the labour involved in research and a focused analysis of physical materials overlooked or neglected in cultural development or urban/peri-urban progress. !金! contributes new understandings of material engagement with site, and ways of reconstructing, observing, occupying and honouring interiors. Research Significance: Curated into the Castlemaine State Festival 2019, !金! was experienced by over 10,000 visitors to the exhibition. James was also part of the ‘Aesthetics of Experience’ artist talks, which saw members of the public and local high school children visit James for his talk on the final weekend of the Festival. The Festival was also reviewed in The Guardian and Age newspapers, and James’ work was referred to by revered Australian art critic and writer Andrew Frost http://theartlife.com.au/2019/castlemainia-making-regional-arts-festivals-work/