Let's Play: The art of our time
Curator: Rodney James
Bunjil Place Gallery, Narre Warren
14 December 2017 - 25 February 2018
Contemporary neuroscience and cognitive brain theory, especially Embodied cognition, suggests that the minds not only connected to the body but also that the body influences the mind. Just as 60s Minimalism returned the body and sensory experience to the realm of art, so too contemporary neuroscience investigates the plasticity of the mind and it's ability to adapt and evolve. Tina Douglas's work in Let's Play takes cognition and brain function and turns it into a visual soundscape. Douglas's practice ranges from large monochrome paintings, that combine intuitive mark-making and the self imposed rule of the grid, free-hand drawings and improvised sound and video performances. The connection thread is the parallels that can be drawn between patterns and grids. and how information is reproduced and communicated through digital forms.
Felt, 2017 is an interactive wall work commissioned for Let's Play. In it Douglas engages physically, visually and aurally. People are drawm to touch the work through their attraction to soft, natural materials. Sensors trigger unexpected sounds and subtle vibrations upon touch. Douglas likens the work to a non-naturalistic terrain that allows participants to take any number of paths. Sounds are triggered bt proximity, broadness of strokes, and the depth and angle of touching. The triggers operate concurrently so that complex ;ayers of sound can evolve.
Douglas's work follows a long tradition of experimental sound performances by 20th century artists who used discordant sound patterns to create music based on random elements, breaking down the traditional division between the artist and the audience. In Felt, the soundtrack shifts and changes through the movement and position of the audience. Sound loops created by processing recorded sounds from the real world through computer programs foster a hybrid experience that is neither natural nor digital. Much like our everyday experiences, it lies somewhere inbetween.
Rodney James 2017
Let's Play: The art of our time, exhibit. catalogue.
