in extremis

Arts House Jill Orr Antipodean Epic - photo by Christina SimonsClimatic extremes are the new meteorological normal for our planet. Arts House presents in extremis – a screen and audio-based exhibition at the North Melbourne Town Hall from 31 October 2017.

The exhibition offers human, interspecies, plant and geological perspectives, and visceral experiences of the fragility, resilience and collapse of systems and ecologies. in extremis is lightning storms, dry winds, urban heathaze and contorted railway lines; parched riverbeds and flooded cities; panting, sweating, fainting and hallucinating. Exhibiting artists include:

Migration Patterns Saltwater – Leah Barclay
An immersive sound installation exploring the fragility and complexity of marine life that live in a world of sound and vibration. Drawing on a large database of underwater recordings from the coastline of Queensland, this work traces sonic migration patterns and shifting ecologies from the smallest micro crustaceans to the largest marine mammals on the planet.

Latitudes – Daniel Browning
A sound work inspired by three UNESCO World Heritage sites: Lake Mungo in south-western New South Wales, the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route in Japan and the Valcamonica rock art valley in northern Italy – as sites of human occupation and refuge, each of the locations speak of cataclysm, alienation, adaptability and return.

The High Ground – Madeleine Flynn, Tim Humphrey and Jen Hector
A new installation in the North Melbourne Town Hall Clock Tower, The High Ground is a test of human empathy in confined spaces. Participants undertake a negotiation within a delicate and precarious situation. Only one person can make it to the top. In collaboration with Jen Hector (Australia), Live Umbrella (Finland), and Sophie Weeks and John Ash (UK).

Antipodean Epic – Jill Orr
A performative photographic and video journey that incorporates seed both in abundance and scarcity, Antipodean Epic utilises costume to create characters, or creatures, as a means to ask: Are the creatures the end of their species or the beginning of another? Are they displaced or transported viral creations? Are they unwanted interlopers within the seed stock? Are they the carriers of a potential future or remnants of a distant past or both?

Human Sundial Project 3 – Zoe Scoglio
An invitation to travel through time and space whilst staying still, Human Sundial Project 3 creates images both within the screen and the audiences minds eye – this project draws attention to the vast revolutionary movements and related rhythms of our planet.

Repatriate – Latai Taumoepeau
Australia’s nearest island neighbours in the Pacific Ocean are already severely impacted by extreme weather shifts, increased tropical storms, sea level rise and the contamination of the water table effecting food gardens. Repatriate brings this experience of climate change anxiety closer to the Australian people and all audiences.

Untitled – wani
Coloniality’s imposition of westernised systemic structures through globalisation has literally brought our climate to its current condition, where the most vulnerable and marginalised are often the most devastated by climate change. Melbourne-based artist wani explores displacement, erasure, anti-blackness and stories of dispossession that de-centre whiteness in a new audio/visual work-in-development, presented as a special open studio to accompany in extremis. wani is Artist-in-Residence for Arts House’s The Listening Program.

in extremis takes place at Arts House – North melbourne Town Hall from 1 – 11 November 2017. For more information, visit: www.artshouse.com.au for details.

Image: Jill Orr, Antipodean Epic – photo by Christina Simons