island aRtists cockatoo island aRtis sUsan PhiliPsz BoRn 1965 in GlasGow, scotland liVes and woRks in BeRlin, GeRMany
Interested in the emotive and psychological properties of song and how it can be used as a device to alter individual consciousness, Susan Philipsz’s work deals with the spatial properties of sound. Using her own voice, singing without instrumental accompaniment, Philipsz engages her listeners, temporarily altering their perceptions of themselves so that they become aware of the environment they are in. Creating her own versions of popular music, political songs and film experiences, the artist draws on personal and collective memories to collapse private and public distinctions. The Internationale (1999) is Philipsz’s version of the historical call to action of revolutionary groups worldwide. Originally composed to celebrate the workers involved in the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871, the song came to represent communism. In this work the anthem is transformed from rallying cry to a soft, solitary, a cappella voice, broadcast from one solitary speaker and the voice haunts the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island.
Cornelia Parker has steamrollered and exploded objects in reference to ‘cartoon deaths’, while simultaneously foregrounding the uneasy state of modern existence.
qiU anxionG BoRn 1972 in GUanGyUan, sichUan PRoVince, china liVes and woRks in shanGhai, china
Qiu Anxiong makes paintings, drawings and video, and has a particular interest in animated drawings. His works respond to the turmoil of cities undergoing transformation and interject calm into the pace of urban life. Qiu’s Buddhist beliefs and his study of the Confucian classics have led to his quiet and contemplative paintings and, more recently, videos. In Jiang Nan Poem (2005), the artist’s first video work, he refers to the passage and return of seasons and time. A simple, poetic and sensitive work, at first glance it appears to be a still image of trees that have shed their leaves, but the perceptible movement of a bird gives away the truth of the moving image. Filmed over the course of a year, this video poem is a study of life and continuity. MR
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cockatoo island turbine hall
2008 Biennale of sydney GUide
qiu anxiong Jiang Nan Poem, 2005 courtesy the artist and Boers-li Gallery, Beijing
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