Archive for February, 2008
The first of a series of 11 wanderings Orlagh and I are doing around western Sydney took me on a wander around the center of Fairfield with Tiffany Le Shoy. (It that began with me getting lost and having to be rescued by Tiffany) then revealed the confusing arrangement of some public spaces at the same time as the very human scale and vibrant life on streets that have not been sucked dry by a shopping center. From shops of fabulous gold jewelery to discount hardware stores spilling out onto the street I noticed the care and creativity taken over the look of the street, and I saw people sitting, chatting, carrying bags of groceries and even cars stopping for pedestrians…
Alice Angus, co-director of Proboscis, is an artist inspired by rethinking concepts and perceptions of landscape and human relationships to the land. Over the last six years she has been creating a body of art work exploring concepts proximity and remoteness, technology and presence, against the lived experience and local knowledge of a place. With Proboscis her work combines artistic and curatorial and she is currently working on: ‘Lattice’ a project for the British Council’s Creative Cities initiative in East Asia; ‘Anarchaeology’ a new commission with Render at the University of Waterloo Canada, to ‘excavate’ stories and experiences in the Waterloo Region, ‘Snout’, a collaboration with inIVA (Institute for International Visual Arts, London) and researchers from Birkbeck College exploring relationships between the body, community and the environment; Topographies and Tales (2004-2007) a collaboration with Joyce Majiski investigating issues of landscape and identity in the North. Recent projects range from ‘Social Tapestries’ a 5 year research programme exploring the social and cultural benefits of local knowledge sharing enabled by new mobile technologies, ‘Navigating History’ a series of commissions in libraries and ‘Landscapes In Dialogue’ a web based series of video clips and essays inspired by a residency with Parks Canada.
Orlagh Woods is an artist whose work combines photography with filmmaking to explore how people and societies communicate with and through each other. She is an experienced arts manager having worked on large projects including Collect & Share, a Europe-wide network promoting lifelong-learning in galleries across Europe, has successfully managed a visual / media artists’ professional development programme and ran an International Residency Programme and artist studio in Northern Ireland. She holds degrees in both Fine Art and Accountancy/French. She is also an experienced TEFL teacher. Her role within Proboscis is Creative Development. She works collaboratively within the Proboscis team to research and develop ideas and projects, make artworks and document & evaluate creatively.
Lattice::Sydney starts 23 February. Stay tuned!