Body of Evidence is a multi-medium exhibition inspired by the impact of Art on Health held at the Adelaide Convention Centre 30 May – 1 July, 2016 featuring John Blines, Gina Czarnecki & The Australian Dance Theatre, Meg Cowell, Ian Gibbins, Naomi Hunter, Cheryl Hutchens, Hans Kreiner, Kerryn Levy, Deborah Prior, Damien Shen, Angela Valamanesh & Thomas Yeend. Curated by Carollyn Kavanagh.
I contributed an installation piece and two videos, one for an internal LED screen running through the exhibition, and one, a special projection project, on a huge window of the SW corner of the Convention Centre, along with one by Meg Cowell, during the nights of 22-25 June 2016.
Syntaxin: Kiss and Run
2016. Timber, steel, brass, glass, digital prints, magnetic-optical disks, magnetic tape, plate glass, found objects. Dimensions: 182cm W x 41cm D x 165cm H (approx).
‘Syntaxin’ is a protein with a vital role in the molecular mechanism, called ‘Kiss and Run’, that controls the release of chemical messengers from the ends of nerve cells (synapses). The relevant structures can only be seen by specialised microscopes. This work uses Ian’s own electron microscope images of synapses, obsolete data storage devices containing those images, and found objects to illustrate the mystery of ‘Kiss and Run’. The texts come from recent scientific publications on the matter. Click here to read them.
Postcards including images of synapses with text taken from papers about syntaxin:
Here are some images of the installation itself:
Situs Inversus
2016. Digital HD video window projection. 6200 x 1080 pixels, approx. 3 minutes duration.
‘Situs Inversus’ is rare birth abnormality in which the positions of the internal organs are reversed. Sometimes, the internal organs are duplicated in mirror image, which is fatal. This video takes those ideas to generate images which are mirror symmetrical and can be read equally from both sides of the window. The underlying images are derived from Ian’s videos of living cells, his body, and the Adelaide Convention Centre, including the projection window itself.
Here is the projection video:
and here is a pic of the projection itself on opening night, viewed from North Terrace:
Situs Inversus Viscerum Totalis
2016. Digital HD video LED display. 1920 x 1080 pixels, approx. 6 minutes duration.
This version of video used the same underlying images as those in the projection piece, but sequences them in new ways with different text.
Here is a version of the video with audio. The backing track is made from sounds recorded at the Convention Centre itself.