Art Out of Place
Dates: 2009-12
Between 2009 and 2012, 21 Australian and overseas artists and collectives were invited to live and work in one of 16 regional communities across the state, each residency lasting 2 months. Charged with creating new work through a protracted engagement with the local social and environmental context, the outcome of these residencies took many forms including artworks, workshops, online archives, exhibitions and publications.
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M12 Collective, Ornatarium (2011)
Artist: M12 Collective (Richard Saxton, Kirsten Stoltz & David Wyrick)
Work: Ornatarium (2011)
Partner: Denmark Arts & Greenskills WA (Centre for Sustainable Living)
Location: Denmark, Western Australia
During their eight-week residency in the southern town of Denmark, the Colorado-based collective M12 immersed themselves in the region's history, environment, and wildlife. The resulting work Ornitarium, a site-specific architectural sculpture and functional bird hide, was inspired by local knowledge and appreciation of the birds that populate the region's wetlands areas, regional timber types and building methods.
Ornitarium functions as both a bird observatory and social space intended to adapt to the needs of the Denmark community and environment over time. Ultimately a multi-purpose space, it provides a site for the observation and study of birds, a gathering point during a bushwalk, a place to spend the night, and a quiet spot for contemplation.
Cooperative Ornithology, the title of M12's gallery installation, is designed to complement the site-based nature of Ornitarium. The installation has been curated in partnership with master taxidermist, Michael Buzza (founder of the Museum of Natural History and the Academy of Taxidermy) and includes objects collected by Denmark locals, Basil Schur and Tina Smith.
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Sohan Ariel Hayes & Michael Woodley, Birndi Wirndi - Worlds Apart (2010)
Artist: Sohan Ariel Hayes & Michael Woodley
Work: Birndi Wirndi - Worlds Apart (2010)
Partner: Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation
Location: Roebourne, Western Australia
In late 2010 Perth-based artist, Sohan Ariel Hayes, spent two months in Roebourne working with Michael Woodley from the Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation. In addition to holding several editing and filmmaking workshops for Juluwarlu's multimedia trainees and presenting an outdoor projection at the Cossack Art Awards, Hayes and Woodley worked closely together to create Birndi Wirndi - Worlds Apart, a projection work that aims to assist in sustaining the cultural struggle being experienced by the local Yindjibarndi community.
Birndi Wirndi - Worlds Apart depicts the hearts, minds and spirits of the Yindjibarndi people who, although challenged by the enormous forces of WA's mining boom, still stand strong. Birndi Wirndi was originally projected across the facade of Roebourne's old Victoria Hotel. Closed in 2003 at the request of the local aboriginal community, the hotel had been a site where the excesses of the 1960s mining boom played out with terrible impact on the Roebourne community.
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Explore all Art Out of Place art projects:
Explore other Spaced programs:
Future Recall (2013-15). Future Recall artists, with support from Western Australian Museum staff, looked to reinterpret aspects of local heritage through the creation of new works that reflect the synthesis of community, artistic, historical and scientific perspective.
North by Southeast (2015-18). North by Southeast was a program centred on an exchange between Nordic and Australian visual artists, concluding with an ambitious group exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.