An outdoor exhibition of contemporary art and live activations exploring our connection to one another and the wondrous, tumultuous complexity of our coexistence.
Interspecies and Other Others investigated the human condition, history and habitat through the presentation of artistic works that explored mythological tales and liminal forms. Interrogating notions of transference and place, the artworks performed vital acts of reclamation and resistance. They spanned geographic and cosmological planes to address the impact of human endeavour.
Contemplating how the speculative and often contradictory self builds fluid, non-binary relationships with the other, the exhibition examined mortal, flora and animal symbiosis. It disrupted the linear conception of time imposed by colonialism and gave voice to Indigenous knowledge. Tracing recurrent cycles of growth and decay, life and loss, Interspecies and Other Others called for a new epoch. It held history and complicity to account.
The exhibition showcased nineteen large-scale works by fourteen artists, including sculpture, photography, installation, video and sound art presented in dialogue with heritage façades, nestling into courtyards, and at the end of winding paths.
Accompanied by a five-week program of performances and discussions, the display spanned four acres of heritage-listed, architectural and garden landscapes at the Abbotsford Convent. Between 26 August - 2 October 2022 audiences were invited to navigate a curious nocturnal world, linger in lesser-known nooks, and venture into the nether reaches of the precinct after dark.
Artists
- Commissions by Megan Cope, Lyndal Jones, Atlanta Eke and Abdul Abdullah with David Charles Collins.
- Site-specific displays of photography, sculpture and sound art by Tony Albert, Dylan Martorell, Geoff Robinson and Shan Turner-Carroll.
- Video works by Zanny Begg, Karrabing Film Collective, Almagul Menlibayeva, Marianna Simnett and Yeo Siew Hua.
Abdul Abdullah
with David Charles Collins
The Interloper (2022) was a commissioned photographic series made up of three self-portraits by Abdullah and a collaborative, fourth work by Abdullah and Collins, which were presented in dialogue with an arched, heritage façade.
Featuring a curious fox-headed man, a life-size mannequin horse and an array of farmyard animals, the series offered contrary depictions of nurture and nature.
Prompting contemplation about how we project ourselves and how others perceive us, the installation examined the idea of an imposter. It reflected on notions of trespass and blurred the line between authentic and fake to unpack how social and cultural stereotypes are propagated.
Megan Cope
Rematriation (2022) salvaged remnant roof slate from a recent restoration project, as the raw material for a new site-specific installation.
By repurposing this discarded stone, Cope drew attention to the impact of mining practices on Indigenous communities, flora and fauna species.
The artwork also addressed the loss and reclamation of language, and the role that language plays in the formation and expression of cultural identity, through multilingual texts written in a phosphorescent mineral.
A Woi Wurrung vocal performance and Wurundjeri dance accompanied the work.
Vocalist: James Henry
Composers: Aunty Gail Smith, Michelle Mills
Dancers: Nhabu Togip
Advisers: Aunty Gail Smith, Aunty Julianne Axford
Atlanta Eke
The Sacred Heart Real Tennis Court (2022) was an architecturally designed installation for public use, performance, moving-image and sound.
Made of industrial scaffold and recycled shade cloth, the built form resembled an 18th Century tennis court that perpetually transformed from transparent to opaque through an alternating sequence of light and video projection.
Using the game of tennis as a choreographic device, performances explored the concept of morphic resonance — how one self-organising system learns from another across generations and geographies.
Architect: Timothy Birnie
Composer: Daniel Jenatsch
Videographers: Hana Miller, Jacob Perkins
Lighting Design: Ben Shaw
Lyndal Jones
Abbotsford Landscape with the fall of Icarus (after Pieter Bruegel the elder 1555) (2022) was a commissioned installation that evolved across the run of the exhibition.
Presenting the mystery of an anonymous cosmonaut having fallen from the sky, the work raised critical questions about mortality, our symbiotic relationship to the natural world, and propensity for indifference.
Intrigued by the idea of space exploration and the sheer ambition of that enterprise, Jones reflected on a long history of human overreach and the cataclysmic environmental consequences, which may result from an unchecked colonisation of space.
Fabrication: Cliff Dolliver, Amy Turnbull
Consultant: Annalea Beattie
Lighting Design: Ben Shaw
Tony Albert
No place (2009) is a photographic series exploring identity from the perspective of the artist and Girramay people. Three works from this series were scaled and integrated into a row of architectural apertures.
Adorning his subjects with Lucha Libre masks traditionally used in Mexican wrestling, the artist renders striking portraits of the warriors in his community. Set in the rain forest region of far-north Queensland where Albert grew up, the images articulate an impassioned, tongue-in-cheek resistance to skewed representations of aboriginal people.
Referencing the multi-faceted nature of identity within contemporary culture, No place speaks of empowerment and pride. It is a vigorous reclamation of collective agency and Country.
Dylan Martorell
Sonaflora Drift Yarra (2021) was a site-specific installation of soothing, plant-based melodies presented in conjunction with the display of visual scores.
This immersive listening experience involved sonic compositions that were created by analysing the structure of plants found in the Convent’s garden. These organic geometries were synthesised and interwoven with field recordings of the surrounding environment to produce a musical rendition of human-flora interaction.
A live performance expanded this repertoire to include wattle flower, gum leaf and bat colony compositions that were produced from material gathered further along the Birrarung (Yarra River).
Geoff Robinson
Pretty Valley, Bogong High Plains, June 2013 / Abbotsford Convent power supply, August 2022 (2022) was a set of eight sonic sculptures distributed across the precinct.
Robinson reimagined a previous work by transposing the aural ecology of a hydroelectric scheme located in Victoria’s alpine region to the Convent grounds.
Situating audio and sculptural components near visible points of electricity transfer, the artist invited reflection on the environmental impact of large-scale power generation.
Individually, the sonic sculptures were a subtle gesture. However, appreciation of the work grew as one journeyed throughout the exhibition and its layered, accumulative effect was revealed.
Shan Turner Carroll
Edge Of The Garden (2020) presented two photographs from a series of nocturnal apparitions, which were scaled to fit a pair of architectural portals.
Taken on the property where Turner-Carroll grew up in rural NSW, the images depict members of the artist’s family adorned in wearable sculptures.
Crafted from materials found on site, such as old sportswear, gaff tape, plaster and a terrarium, this performative investigation reimagined the use of every-day items to both unearth and re-earth the artist’s familial history.
Video Art Program
The video art program presented a looped sequence of films charting an epic journey through the arid planes of the Aralkum Desert in Central Asia; burning bushland in the Northern Territory; a dairy farm in the English countryside; an endangered rainforest in the Philippines and Tamil oral history.
Zanny Begg examined the experience of refugee communities through themes of love and language. Karrabing Film Collective interrogated climate change and industrial toxicity from a First Nations perspective. Almagul Menlibayeva highlighted the consequence of irrigation mismanagement in Kazakhstan. Marianna Simnett crafted a coming-of-age story against a backdrop of industrial milk production and Yeo Siew Hua honoured the legacy of fallen environmental defenders through the lens of South-east Asian folklore.
Film Prelude and Artist Interviews
The Interspecies and Other Others Film was commissioned for online distribution in the lead up to the exhibition. This poetic and philosophically reflective work reinforced and enriched some of the artistic and curatorial concepts explored within the onsite program.
Including artist interviews with Megan Cope, Abdul Abdullah and Lyndal Jones interspersed with surreal visions of the Abbotsford Convent after dark, the film offered uncanny juxtapositions to illuminate the curious, nocturnal world that the exhibition inhabited.
Director and Producer: Sarah-Jane Woulahan
Cinematographer: Stuart Mannion
Composer: Daniel Jenatsch
Choreographer: Astrid Mulder
Performers: Astrid Mulder, Adam Malone, Dylan Rodriguez, Florence Holmes, Derrick Duan, Sabina Maselli, Jeannie Brown
Editor: Sarah-Jane Woulahan
Voice Over Script: Kelli Alred, Sarah-Jane Woulahan
Voice Over: Kelli Alred
Welcome To Country
The exhibition launched with a Woi Wurrung Call to Country by vocalist Chenille Chambers that echoed over the garden from a second floor balcony, as well as a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country by Aunty Gail Smith.
Exhibition Credits
Curator: Kelli Alred
Lighting Design: Ben Shaw
Production Design and Technical Direction: Harvey Ogle
I thank Auntie Gail Smith, Aunty Julianne Axford and Aunty Charley Woolmore for their wisdom, guidance and support throughout the development of this project.
Interspecies and Other Others was supported by the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund, an Australian Government initiative.
Image Credits