NRCG Exhibition Catalogue - Virtually Impossible

Northern Rivers Community Gallery & Ignite Studios

VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE A NDREW CHRIS T IE + SPRU NG! ! INTEGRA TED DA NCE THEAT R E

VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE Virtually Impossible is a collaborative project between Sydney based multidisciplinary artist Andrew Christie, and SPRUNG!! Integrated Dance Theatre, a not for profit community organisation providing dance and theatre training and workshops for people with a disability.

During his time as a Northern Rivers Community Gallery (NRCG) Ignite Studio artist-in-residence in 2018, Christie became acquainted with SPRUNG!! and participated in weekly rehearsals, even taking preliminary 3D infrared scans of the dancers’ bodies in anticipation of further collaboration. And though Christie’s time with SPRUNG!! was relatively brief, the impressions left on both parties proved to be too deep to ignore.

Over the past nine months they kept in contact in any way possible, discussing via email and Skype what a SPRUNG!! – inspired artwork might look

like alongside the organisations current work-inprogress, Things Impossible – from which this exhibition derived its adapted title. What resulted from these early discussions was the conclusion that Christie would apply his experience with 3D technologies to develop sculptural and digital works for Northern Rivers Community Gallery inspired by SPRUNG dancers. Coupled with Christie’s multidisciplinary practice involving performance, sculpture and digital media, the result is a series of virtual worlds through which the audience can navigate once fitted with a headset able to translate real movements within the gallery within these digitally constructed ones.

Sometimes related to a single dancer, other times a conglomeration of group inspirations, anecdotes, fabricated narratives, dreams and daily routines converge with Christie’s own creative input to make their mark on the gallery audience, enhanced by musical compositions and

occasional excerpts from interviews with Christie.

Some scenes are quiet and contemplative, others are chaotic and at times disconcerting, but much like SPRUNG!! as an organisation, they rely on giving agency to the dancers which they use and pass on as they choose. What Christie notices and attempts to elucidate, is that until you have someone’s voice to invite you into their world, any artwork made in their name will often be little more than a vanity project.

While it was agreed among all involved in the project that the production of these works did not indicate an opportunity to make specific political statements about persons with disability, the convergence of dance and new media in this way shines a light on the issue of societal ableism showing subtle threads throughout.

Glass cubes inspired by Alice’s passion for mime, or a room of infinite treadmills drawn from Max’s regular visits to the gym echo the multiple

but often unrecognised barriers for disabled people. When asked, “What do you wish more people knew about people with disabilities?”, one SPRUNG!! dancer had a poignant and revealing response: “What do you wish we knew about people ‘without’ a disability?” Though it is crucially important to have open and inclusive discussions about disability and difference, the primary concerns of Virtually Impossible are more unifying and inclusive themes. Case in point, on one occasion the viewer is placed in a dark and seemingly unforgiving landscape, until they direct themselves to the front of a neon sign which mimics the handwriting of a note sent to Christie from SPRUNG dancer Kane expressing how dance affords him the ability “just to be free”. Virtually Impossible is an exercise of the freedom these dancers want for themselves and others. The use of new technologies provides the advantage of merging the performer and observer experience in otherwise inconceivable

people use disability as an excuse and say I can’t do that. I say, if you “ Some want to have a go, try; someone will be here for you, to help you.

”

Kane – dancer with SPRUNG!! Integrated Dance Theatre

ways. The spaces are very clearly designed with highly considered features but are received by the viewer on their own terms, moving through these diverse worlds with only limited constraints, leaving the level of their immersion to their own capacity and willingness to do so.

The concrete realities channeled in these representations move beyond the incorporeal, with singular elements being extracted from within the digital realms and 3D printed as tangible sculptures, further emphasising the collision of reality and digital media. The result

of the combined works is a shared, ongoing and experimental interaction that does not divert attention away from critical issues but embraces them as surmountable challenges best addressed with optimism and even humour.

The increased participatory agency that virtual reality lends also emphasises the role of each viewer to help empower those who might be overlooked and underappreciated due to arbitrary and uncontrollable factors which have no effect on the capacity for change and compassion that is common regardless of our cultural or political classifications.

exhibition 28 August – 20 October 2019 Northern Rivers Community Gallery

images cover: ‘I’ll Be Waiting (Liam)’ VR scene render, 2019 back: ‘Take me with you (Tara)’ VR scene render, 2019 inside fold: SPRUNG!! rehearsal, Kate McDowell, Liam Bruce, Michael Hennessy, Tara Coughlan, Max McAuley, Andrew Christie inside (left to right): ‘Just to be free (Kane)’ VR scene render, 2019; SPRUNG!! rehearsal, Kane, Max McAuley; ‘White Spirit (Max)’, VR development render, 2019 images courtesy of the artists Images and text are copyright of the artist, Andrew Christie and Sprung!! Integrated Dance Theatre, and Northern Rivers Community Gallery (NRCG). All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise without the permission of the copyright owners.

Northern Rivers Community Gallery & Ignite Studios 44 Cherry Street, Ballina NSW 2478 t 02 6681 0530 | e nrcg@ballina.nsw.gov.au nrcgballina.com.au

Supported by Program partner