Convergences 2024

Monday, February 26, 2024

An exhibition of human and lichen site responsive installations by Marta Ferracin.

Convergences combines art, science, and technology to observe how humans and 'other-than-humans' form, cohabit, and respond within symbiotic relationships with their surroundings and primordial environments. The art space becomes a platform for dialogue about sharing with other species, including lichens. These conversations remind us to look beyond the dominant lens of the Anthropocene.

Shifting the unseen world into the macroscopic view and exploring the invisible, the exhibition highlights self-organised biological structures found in lichens and humans. At the same time, it demonstrates the importance of the air's components and quality, on which the delicate equilibrium of lichens, human life and the planet rely.

Exhibition will be closed for Easter long weekend (29 March - 1 April 2024)

Image: Marta Ferracin, Seen and Unseen (detail), 2024, electron microscopy image captured at Sydney Microscopy and Microanalysis at the University of Sydney, as part of an environmental research project assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag.

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Hybrid, 2024, audio extract

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The exhibition includes an outdoor biocanvas sculpture. The owner of the camping trailer's lichen cover-Australian John W.-intimately, contributes to the lichens care. Care for the manufactured assemblage leads to the care for the lichens' biodiverse ecosystem, both bonded into hybrid 'companionships'. John's narrative story is audible via outdoor speakers installed inside of the bio sculpture.

on.soundcloud.com

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Within a 3.5 x 2 x 1.6 Metre Field, 2024, daily interactions with the living biocanvas

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Observing a man-made camping trailer cover populated by lichens, the artist has treasured the rich Australian biodiversity within the semi-urban area where she lives. Just by being present in the same spot and noticing subtle appearances every day over a period of two years, by monitoring the weather and changes in the lichens, Ferracin has become aware of her interconnection with nature across the art of sentient observation and storytelling.

By daily journaling about the living biocanvas, Ferracin has become an 'urban field naturalist' with a passion for observing, understanding and finding inspiration in the natural world while immersing herself in the lives of lichens and all the consequent biodiversity that their ecosystems depend on.

martaferracin.pdf