The Waterworks Project

Culturally, spiritually, intellectually, water runs through our lives creating and suggesting connection and renewal. All life depends on water. Like those European explorers who encountered this land so recently, the artists who worked on the Waterworks project searched to make sense of the many manifestations and meanings that water has. It is no real surprise that survival was the thread that connected most of the thinking of the artists. The project saw the work of artists Cameron Robbins, Malcolm McKinnon, Lisa Philip-Harbutt, Jo Crawford, James Darling, Catherine Truman, Graeme Hopkins, Jonathon Novick and Elena Gallegos.

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Nola Farman's Wind Tree

Nola Farman's The Wind Tree is one of a series of three permanent public artworks commissioned in 1998 by Griffith Artworks, Queensland College of Art, and installed at the new Logan Campus of Griffith University south of Brisbane. The Wind Tree stands on a site that was once occupied by indigenous inhabitants and from the time of white settlement until the recent sixties, the homestead site of the dairy cattle stud Ellerslie. The Wind Tree has been christened according to a traditional pedagogical symbol: the Tree of Knowledge. Ross examines Farman's site specific work in relation to its complex functional and aesthetic qualities.

Toni Ross

Phillip George: Tranzlution

Stills Gallery Sydney 6 December 2000 - 10 February 2001

Joanna Mendelssohn

Staring at the sea, staring at the sand: the work of Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion

Humanity's universal relationship to the environment has always been at the heart of Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion's work, and in large part stems from their own working and living proximity to the ocean on the coastline of Scotland in the fishing village of St Combs. Kubler conducts an examination of some of Dalziel and Scullion's installations, many of which offer that most magical and rare thing in art, the miraculous. Kubler looks at their collaborative works General Release, Sargassum, Rain and Melt and the various ways they have explored the Nature/Culture dichotomy. In particular cyclical weather patterns and mankind's evolving interaction with Nature.

Alison Kubler

Reading the Waters

Norman has based this article around Terry White's concept of 'land literacy', a notion he defines as 'the ability to read and appreciate the signs of health [and ill-health] in a landscape'. From a cultural perspective, the land literacy idea quickly compounds itself into a multi-dimensional concept and perhaps a new discipline 'Landliteracy' that calls into question interdisciplinary demarcations, understandings of home, perceptions of the land and how we might experience place. Furthermore, Norman has used this concept as a way of discussing artmaking operations in relation to the landscape and the idea of 'waterliteracy'. Britain's Common Ground Movement, the work of Craig Andrae and the art project website redreadwater.com are here referred to.

Ray Norman

Wasted

Metis is a remarkable fusion of art and science. The first of these biennial events, held in May 1999, was inspired by Rebecca Scott from the CSIRO and Canberra artist Jill Peck, and featured works which resulted from a range of collaborations between artists and scientists. Metis 2001 - Wasted focuses on environmental themes including detritus, recycling, toxic waste and land degradation.

Jane Barney

A Festival of Island Cultures: 10 Days on the Island, Tasmania 30 March - 8 April 2001, Artistic Director: Robyn Archer

Belinda Daw

2001 eco-calendar: art events addressing ecological issues

Looking at Yourself Looking at Yourself

Martin Smith, Sharon Green and Annie Hogan Stratton Gallery, Brisbane 15 - 23 December 2000

Edwina Bartleme

A Water or a Light

Water figures in Australian art and Australian history as a vital thread binding together many narratives and imageries. Art that concerns itself with some manifestation of water demonstrates what can be considered a new phase in Australian art about the land. David Keeling, Nicole Ellis, Ruby Davies, Peter James Smith, Patricia Picinnini, Judy Holding and Danielle Thompson are all Australian artists whose work is manifested by this notion of the land and of water.

Stephanie Radok

7th Havana Biennial Uno mas cerca al otro

La Cabaña and El Moro (the old fort) and multiple city venues 17 November 2000 - 1 January 2001

Penelope Richardson

Time, Gentlemen, Please

Art Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 7-10 December 2000

Robyn Daw

Karra: River Red Gum

Karra was a visual arts project devised for the 2000 Adelaide Festival. Its focus was the River Red Gum, once the most widespread tree in south eastern Australia and quite justifiably an Australian icon. The project comprised an installation by three artists Chris De Rosa, Agnes Love and Jo Crawford in the Artspace Gallery, Adelaide Festival Centre, from 1 March to 20 April, and a 40 page publication with essays and visual material from many contributors. As curator, Thwaites' intention for Karra was for people to consider their connection with the tree as well as the urgent problems facing this ecosystem, such as salinity, diminished water flow and environmental degradation.

Vivonne Thwaites

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