sculpture on the edge speaking gig.... monumental v/s ephemeral.

I've just wheeled home from a talking gig at Sculpture on the Edge.... I was one of the key note speakers at the sculpture symposium and this years theme was 'Monumental v/s Ephemeral - the changing face of sculpture'

phew! them's fighting words!

I was invited by Jan Ireland (the force behind SotE) to speak - obviously representing team ephemeral... I thought it might be useful to jot down something of what I said (I did not present a completely formal 'paper' or closed speech - I tend to write a few notes to myself - to keep me on track and to highlight specific wordings that I fancy... so this is a slightly modified version of what I hope I presented! - including a few of the pics from my powerpoint that I used to highlight my cause.

My name is Rhonda Ayliffe... and just in case you suspect you are alone in are scratching your head and wondering what I might be doing talking about sculpture -  fear not - I'm surprised too. Generally, when asked I explain my art-making - I say I have an inter-disciplined practice (this way no one medium or arts practice has to take the blame for what I do!)

I'd like to start by briefly saying - I'm not convinced about the wording of this year's theme.... 'monumental VERSUS ephemeral'? 'the CHANGING face of sculpture'? really? I think this is something of a misnomer....

arguably humans have always made ephemeral art objects.... and ephemeral works have certainly existed alongside monumental, monolithic sculptural works... and long after monumental works are no longer viable, I suspect the ephemeral will carry on. There is nothing either new, nor changing about the ephemeral and today  I will be talking about an idea I'm currently exploring through making.... and how/where the ephemeral sits within my practice.

First - lets think about some definitions for the purpose of my chat.... 
monumental = BIG, (be that in size, scale, or money) permanent (think stone, metal, clay)
ephemeral = fleeting, impermanent... (oh and I'll add something else to this as we go on)...

for now I'd like you all to cast your minds back.... imagine eras/ages/civilisations/countries from long ago.... Egypt, Mesopotamia, Inca, Mayan Aztec, Ancient China, Greece and Rome... (do I need to go on?)

Now as I rattled each of these off, I'm sure that many had immediate visions ..... and I'll bet there has been some overlap with what I'm about to show
(ahhhhh enter an abundance of power-point images... of pyramids, the sphinx, large stone sculptures, stepped pyramids of the Mayans, Greek marble human forms.....)

I contend that monumental sculptural work (and I include here the ultimate monumental sculptural form - architecture) has gone hand in hand with the rise and rise of an empire... or what is considered civilisation.... so lets think of the pattern that has repeated itself in all these ages and geographic locations.... as military leaders or religions or economies have risen to power, with it gaining access to a wealth of resources... so we have seen the emergence and ascent or monumental sculpture. 


and what is the purpose of all this large, permanent monolithic structures? garden ornaments? 

hardly!

monumental sculpture made a monumental statement about power.... be that political, military, economic or cultural domination - make no mistake, dominant powers celebrated and consolidated and reflected their dominion through monolithic structures : monumental sculpture was part-propaganda, part-PR, but always ALL about power.

even as the Renaissance saw both the rise of the merchant class and the idea of the artists as individual genius, the monumental art game continued. On and on - unto the Industrial revolution (now the real game of colonisation on a grand scale could begin... and so to could artists quest for ever bigger hunks of metal) 

sculpture we can see became a tool of colonisation - and then globalisation, the icon of so-called 'taste' or 'class', the weapon of the wealthy, the spoils of the battle... 

monumental sculpture uses monumental amount of materials and money.... to make a monumental statement about - well...  monumental power and greed

given enough resources - heck an artist can even move mountains (think Turrell and Roden crater) - or create a fitting bauble for the bling-bling art collector...

BUT

just as monumental sculpture has been the centre-piece and sentinel of cultural domination... so too do they serve as monument and remnant of cultural demise. 

what then of the ephemeral?

first I'd like to put ephemeral into two piles - just because something is impermanent doesn't mean that it's not monumental in scale, resource-use or money....

Chirsto and Jean-Claude's wrapping of Little Bay is a spectacular example of what money, (arty) muscle and a bevvy of willing minions can accomplish.... go forth young people! dominate that landscape (bugger the crabs and little creatures!)

nope, I'm thinking about the other pile of ephemeral - I'm thinking about work that is less complicit in purpose and product than Christo and (puppy) Koons and co. with the dominant art paradigms

 I'm thinking about ...

* work that touches the earth lightly (Richard Long, Hamish Fulton and more)


* work that engages with the environment and creates a dialogue or sorts (Nash and more)

* work that exists beyond the gallery or museum (guerilla knitters and more)


* or extends into the practical (artist-as-family and chaco kato's compost cylinders from CERES)

 

all this provides fodder for my practice and is the leading edge of my thinking and making....

'closed book' circle - and installation of encyclopaedias, local rock, and brick... 

Bermagui headland - SotE 2011

 a flotilla of paper encyclopaedia boats - ephemeral art work,

(non-sanctioned SotE 'event')

Bemagui, 

Saturday March 5 2011

.......

sculpture on the edge...

Late last night and early this morning I set up my two pieces as part of Sculpture on the Edge...

In the small sculpture show I have a version of the installation piece ‘panton volvit plenus orbis’ – (everything turns full circle)....

And on the headland I have an ephemeral piece made from 16 world book encyclopaedias set out in a circle (actually as compass points - volume one points north, the rest follow the simple points)

On top of each closed volume is a rounded rock, collected from the base of the headland where these are set up - except for volume one - which has half a brick and a small rounded grey river rock.....

I'm really pleased with the piece...... some visitors may recall my piece on the headland from last year and may make the connection (last year I set up a tower of world book encyclopaedias...). This piece was created in direct response to all the problems and controversy surrounding the site on the headland in Bermagui.... it got to totally ludicrous levels - so that even a week ago the SotE committee still couldn't be sure if the event could go ahead on the site... In a nutshell - the local koori family's laid claim to the piece of land - and the site does contain remnants of traditional middens and artifacts - in response NPWS and the local council have block vehicular access to the area.... and then with SotE,  there was a heck of a kerfuffle about what sites could be disturbed and in what way in order to install sculptures... Now I have no problem with any of this and the local korri land council had no drama with SotE doing whatever wherever - I thought SotE needed to be mindful of the site and make sensitive arrangements BUT know one seemed to know anything and anything..... and no one was willing to make a decision, lest it be the wrong one! - NPWS shifted responsibility to BVSC, who shifted it to back to NPWS and around and around it went ...... oh boy!)

I figure a circle of closed books and a brick captures the moment - even if simply for a closed audience.


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