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Australia’s next generation of emerging contemporary artists, or ‘hatchlings’, have emerged with one particular artist at the top of the pecking order.
‘Hatched: National Graduate Show’ officially opened on the evening of Friday 13 May 2016 at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA). It was on this night that the judging panel announced Selena de Carvalho from Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, as the 2016 winner of the prestigious $35,000 Schenberg Art Fellowship, for her artwork Ecological Haunts (ii) (2015).
The 2016 Schenberg Art Fellowship Judges were Amy Barrett-Lennard, Director, PICA; Khaled Sabsabi, artist and Hatched 2005 alumnus; and Sally Quin, Curator of the The University of Western Australia Art Collection, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.
The judges were extremely impressed with de Carvalho’s work:
“This work is both intricate and affecting. It displays a deep level of enquiry by the artist as well as a confident and cohesive use of diverse media. It is a work that is experiential in the best possible sense, with the ability to draw viewers into its poetic sense of mystery and magic. Both subtle and sophisticated, the work allows for different levels of engagement, moments of solitude and room for contemplation.”
Ecological Haunts (ii) is a multimedia installation incorporating time-lapse video projection, 4-channel sound, tree stumps from the Arve Valley, glass blown dripper, Perspex, moss/rock from Mt Reed and clay from Bruny Island.
This work physically engages the audience who are invited to touch moss and clay buttons. When touched, these buttons fully activate the artwork initiating a cascading sonic portrait of a 10,500 year-old tree. The sounds heard are the sonification of the tree’s internal sap flow or xylem, the sound of the tree taking in water. In an age of global warming de Carvalho’s project speculates on how our relationship to the environment may change if humans were able to tune in and listen to non-human systems.
‘Hatched’ maps the trends and concerns of Australia’s next generation of emerging contemporary artists. Curated by Nadia Johnson, the 2016 edition of ‘Hatched’ features 34 of the most promising artists from 23 of Australia’s best art schools and universities.
This year’s exhibition is both personal and political with explorations of gender, sexuality and culture. Architecture, geometry and the relationship between the human body and the built environment are strong themes with many artworks taking the form of installations or structures.
Now in its 25th year, ‘Hatched’ is an eagerly anticipated annual survey of the newest artistic practices and an exhibition not to be missed.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA)
14 May to 17 July, 2016
Western Australia
Images: Selena de Carvalho, Ecological Haunts (ii), 2015, video projection
