Dämmerschlaf
Image: Mikala Dwyer, The hanging garden of moonman marigolds, 2016, installation view, Dämmerschlaf, Artspace, Sydney. Courtesy the artist, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery and Anna Schwartz Gallery. Photo: Artspace.
Dämmerschlaf explores the liminal states of creative practice and the processes of translation involved in the making and interpretation of art.
As Artspace’s first exhibition for 2016, it showcases site-specific work of three of the inaugural Artspace One Year Resident Studio Artists – Nick Dorey, Mikala Dwyer and Clare Milledge.
Dämmerschlaf is the German word for the term “twilight sleep”, which describes the medicalised sensation induced to prevent the memory of pain through a combination of analgesia (pain relief) and amnesia. Collaboratively creating an immersive experience, the artists probe the invisible forces which intrinsically link us together and address perceptions of reality, alternate spiritualties and the supernatural.
The exhibition looks at the stage of the “in-between” and the physical and conceptual divide of the studio and gallery. Unique to Dämmerschlaf, patrons will be given an opportunity to watch the artists build upon the exhibition and work on other projects in a designated space in the gallery, allowing rare behind the scenes insight.
Curator Talia Linz explained that the exhibition deals with “a state of not knowing”. She elaborated: “The works in the show might have started from a concrete solid idea but they have been given time to evolve in the space.”
According to Linz, the use of organic materials and an interest in the processes of alchemy and natural flora unite the three practices. Dämmerschlaf encapsulates “the idea of something taking root, germinating and growing over time”. Like the actual plants in the exhibition, “the artworks are living and changing”.
A number of public programs will be hosted during the course of the exhibition, including artist talks with local sustainability collective GreenUps followed by cocktails, and a screening of Containment, a part graphic novel, part speculative documentary and part observational essay about the future of nuclear waste. (SH)
GreenUps: Artists talks, cocktails and Containment screening will be held on February 2, 6pm–late. Admission: $10 (all proceeds go to GreenUps).
Exhibition: Jan 28–Feb 28. Artspace, 43-51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo. Free. Info: artspace.org.au
BY SHON HO
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