ARTLINK (2012) Contemporary Art Magazine Australia/Oceania
Every Space Project Needs an Artist
Vol 32. No. 2 September 2012 Issue: Experiment, Guest editor: Din Heagney. Pages 7-11
Sarah Jane Pell is a pioneer artist, researcher and explorer. Her work involves going where no artist has been before, not to join art and science but to explore inter-field knowledge transfer at the furthest edges of human endeavour like deep space and deep ocean research. This essay highlights the work and philosophies of Pell and her colleagues Dr. Vermeulen, Pitts, Framais and Lee spanning biotechnology, space science, performance and art. International and Australian questioning around experimental models and practices. Where the Artist Run Initiative is going as a site for true experimentation and does funding herald the death of this? Are Biennales a seedbed for testing new models? What happens when art escapes the gallery and goes underwater or into space? Political radicalism and experiments in propaganda in art from the occupy movement. We are now suffering from the abject failure of the grand experiment of globalism.
Sarah Jane Pell (2012) Every Space Project Needs an Artist, ARTLINK Vol 32. No. 3 http://www.artlink.com.au/issues/3230/experiment/ Purchase via ARTLINK Online
ARTLINK Vol 32. No. 3 2012 Cover. Dr. Sarah Jane Pell. Stephanie Britton, Din Heagney. Hiroshi Ishiguro. Experimenta: speak to me, 5th Biennale of Media Art exhibition. Photos © RMIT Gallery 2012
'Experimentum, Experimentum, Experimentum'
Guest Speaker ARTLINK Launch, Experimenta: speak to me, 5th Biennale of Media Art exhibition
..ARTLINK Experiment Vol. 32. No. 3, 2012 reaffirms that artists continue to commit to healthy acts, activities and activisms that are risky, vital, unpredictable, and sometimes provocative in nature. Guest editor Din Heagney worked with ARTLINK to showcase a range of practice, research and knowledge of both scholarly investigation and sensory indulgence. Artists, academics and curators share, demystify and reflect on their perspectives on pioneering, independent and unconventional art and artist initiatives. Let’s be honest, the cover of this ARTLINK issue is hot pink for a reason! I enjoyed Phip Murray’s article and response to Dr. Donald Brook's reflections and I quote: Artists – willingly or unwillingly – experiment. It is a dynamic process. It creates movement, change, chance and challenge to the status quo - yes? Let’s remember that it doesn’t take many people or many resources to make a significant impact on the world. Think of that nameless guy who stood up to a tank in Tiananmen Square; remember Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Julian Assange… This issue explores the strategies of artist: Peter Drew exhibits in the streets to defy the layers of cultural frameworks of galleries in search of an unmediated exchange with public audiences. p.19 Kelli McClusky: the head girl of the celebrated PVI Collective, Perth describes the fantastic locative media mapping and art assault on the city formery known as Glasgow! p.56 Belgium artist & biologist Dr. Angelo Vermeulen develops techno poetic and pioneering biotech/energy projects with the MELiSSA research unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) 2011, and the A&S Green Energy Plant, Oostrozebeke 2012. His work refers to space habitat, global energy crisis and world’s technological future. pp.13, 15. Artists who engage with data streams, written language, politics, landscapes, sound, bodies, the list goes on...We are here because ARTLINK is committed to a deeper engagement in contemporary art of Australia and the Asia Pacific, both at home and abroad. The choice to launch the special ARTLINK Experiment issue on the occasion of the Experimenta: speak to me, 5th Biennale for Media Arts exhibition here at the RMIT Gallery, Melbourne today, speaks this to us. [Excerpt from the Speech].
