QUT Senior Research Fellow Dr Keith Armstrong has a significant solo exhibition showing at the University of Technology (UTS) Art Gallery, Sydney.
The exhibition, Over Many Horizons, is a major exhibition which questions how humans must evolve to sustain as a species in the future, Dr Armstrong said.
Over Many Horizons enables Dr Armstrong to explore the use of fibre optics, interactive microfiche-based imagery, soundscapes, robotics, motorised lighting and film projection to interpret and question deep ecological themes, inspired and developed during a series of residencies with Australian environmental scientists.
Comprising five artworks, Deep Ecology, O Tswellang, Inter-State, Shifting Dusts, and Seasonal, Over Many Horizons represents a major Australian showing of Dr Armstrong’s work.
This interactive and experiential exhibition encourages audiences to ask, ‘why is today’s environmental crisis a crisis of ‘us’, and how must we therefore evolve?’
Dr Armstrong said the exhibition demonstrated the deep connections between art and science and how one could be a vehicle to enable interpretation and advancement of the other. The exhibition is co-funded by National Science week, and is also a public event of Sydney Design week.
“This project is part of a new strand of research in ‘social and ecological practices’ that I will be leading as part of QUT’s forthcoming Creative Lab Research Centre,” Dr Armstrong said.
“In this group we will explore the possibilities of arts-led thinking within teams that cross disciplines and professions in order to advance some of the thorny issues of our era such as inequity, social justice and environmental collapse.”
Dr Armstrong’s ongoing research has long focused on how scientific and philosophical ecologies can both influence and direct the design and conception of networked, interactive media artworks.
With work shown extensively in Australia and internationally, Over Many Horizons, which is supported by the Australian government through the Australia Council, will be on display at the UTS Gallery until September 23.
A public program next week involves an artist talk, panels and workshops.
Dr Armstrong is an actively practising new media artist and his work is profiled at www.embodiedmedia.com
Media contact: Rose Trapnell, QUT media team leader, 07 3138 2361 or 0407 585 901 rose.trapnell@qut.edu.au
