A good fit
Barbara McConchie
Valency, a chemical term used to describe the combining power of an atom measured by the number of hydrogen atoms it can displace or combine with. It describes the power or the competence of the atom to perform or connect. In this exhibition, the artists work form visual intersections with theories, debates, processes and outcomes that have an origin in different scientific disciplines.
People have a strong need to know things, perhaps matched only by another need to classify things. Science provides us with knowledge of our physical world, invents processes to aid and assist us in this world and within ourselves. It is so much a part of our current existence that at times we fail to notice the impact the sciences have. Only until we stumble across inconsistencies, find ourselves in real need of understanding how things work and happen, lose species and permanently change and effect our environment are we conscious of the benefits and detriments that science can provide and is responsible for.
Photographic reproduction is the slipperiest of arts. Contemporary photography vacillates between constructed forms of documentation where context is everything, to visualising the impossible through computer manipulation or enhancement. Its relatively short history, tells us its images are based in a form of truth or fact, and consequently it becomes a powerful medium to explore the most elusive and intangible theories. Luke Laffan realises this and with a strong sense of humour examines what is fondly termed pseudo-sciences. What better way was there to prove such things as ghosts, aliens and monsters, but better yet criminals, violent people, people prone to illness, lazy and deceitful people exist than to see a photograph depicting one?
If you have ever tried to design a vessel there are a number of features that need to work such as will it hold liquid, should it have a lip or a spout, and of course - will it look and feel good. These are essentials for practical and aesthetic purposes. Yet design, an important element of crafting, can also describe pure concepts. Anna Gianakis' ceramic geometric vessels which fit one against the other can be arranged to describe expansion and contraction, dispersal and randomness to represent the different states of liquids - solid, liquid and gas. The result is a refined and eloquent exploration of form and physical matter.
The art of language is not only the domain of writers but politicians and orators as well. Political science probes the uses of diplomacy, policy, vision and manipulation. Language the great communicator and classifier is the powerful tool of governments, it limits, defines, protects, enhances and supports the communities it represents. The problem is language is only as good as those who wield it. Avi Amesbury inspects our path to reconciliation with an examination of political policy, of the convoluted pathways of text, and concludes that the alienation of those who do not speak these languages is assured.
Human wellness when one is well is often taken for granted. When faced with disease, prolonged illness and death our perceptions and opinions are tested. Finding cures for disease is a scientific, medical, ethical and moral stew. To find answers the search can compromise our beliefs as Bronwen Sandland has discovered. Through art Sandland proposes that understanding our perceptions and rethinking our beliefs may change our minds or it may help us to maintain a close look at our processes and to ensure that we strive to be as humane as possible.
Our fascination with the natural world seems at odds with our ability to pay it no heed when it serves an economic need. Finding acceptable alternatives and common environmental goals is like finding rare butterflies - perhaps they do not even exist. Ken Yonetani's video of a fragile installation comprising of ceramic tiles patterned with extinct butterfly forms being crushed by the audience who attend the opening night, is a poignant demonstration of the ignorant devastation caused by people en masse. The desire to see and experience overwhelms the work leaving a trail of shards and dust. When will be able to really change our habits and conveniences to ensure we retain the environment that we currently have?
There are elements of our world that science is hard pressed to explain. Wonder, elation, heart break, hate and violence are concepts that we understand and that behavioural sciences work to explain and anticipate. As people we share commonalities but the experience of these things is unique. The world of emotion is best described through stories: aural, written, performed, filmed or represented by visual art; it is stories that are our guides through the maze of the emotional life. Gropp's work lures us with a sense of authority as she creates new forms based on scientific glass equipment, but this is only the beginning. Gropp whispers stories though the symmetry of her objects, how she places them together or away from each other, how they attach and their fluid content are reminiscent of our vital organs and the work allows us to create or search for the story, the meaning as only art can.
Art, similarly to science is made up of many vastly different fields, they share common goals of knowledge and understanding, differ radically in process and materials but germinate from the very simple starting point of asking - what if…? Art and science are also the domains of imagination and like any competent atom will seek and find each other in unexpected yet illuminating ways.
August 2005
Barbara McConchie is the curator of the Valency exhibition and is the Executive Director of Craft ACT
See also: Profile: Barbara McConchie
