"Bunker Down: survival of the fittest I & II" by Sally Kidall
These are site-responsive virtual art installations created for NZSculptureOnshore 2023, New Zealand and Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Australia 2022. They were conceived by Sally Kidall, a sculptor and environmental conceptual artist. The works create surreal narratives reflecting on the ever-increasing symptoms of fear, dispossession and humanity’s desire to escape the impacts of our changing world. These interactive works aim to engage the viewer through their imagination to recreate this subterraneous project within their mind's eye using the clues offered on-site. These disconcerting stage sets offer platforms for reflection, evoking a sense of unease, raising thoughts and questions. The large graphic FOR SALE sign offers property details, layout + images of these imaginary security bunkers buried deep below the site. The bunkers' entrances are disguised using either existing doors or with the addition of rusty maintenance panels.
These are site-responsive virtual art installations created for NZSculptureOnshore 2023, New Zealand and Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Australia 2022. They were conceived by Sally Kidall, a sculptor and environmental conceptual artist. The works create surreal narratives reflecting on the ever-increasing symptoms of fear, dispossession and humanity’s desire to escape the impacts of our changing world. These interactive works aim to engage the viewer through their imagination to recreate this subterraneous project within their mind's eye using the clues offered on-site. These disconcerting stage sets offer platforms for reflection, evoking a sense of unease, raising thoughts and questions. The large graphic FOR SALE sign offers property details, layout + images of these imaginary security bunkers buried deep below the site. The bunkers' entrances are disguised using either existing doors or with the addition of rusty maintenance panels.
|
Sally Kidall: Project Artist
Project Artist
Sally Kidall is a site-responsive environmental artist, she travels internationally creating her vast interventions within challenging locations beyond the restraints of the gallery. Her background is in sculpture and interior design with an MA at Portsmouth Uni, UK and over 35 years of making her site-responsive art practise. She has exhibited through out the UK & Australia, India, Spain, USA, Ukraine, South Korea, France, New Zealand, Netherlands, Andorra, Germany, Italy, Senegal, Canada & Finland.
Recent shows include: Old Harbour Trail 2023, Jacobstadt, FINLAND; CAFKA_Contemeporary Art Forum 2023, Kitchener, CANADA; DakarOFF 2022, SENEGAL, RespirArt 2022, Pampeago, ITALY; International Forest Art 2022, Darmstadt, GERMANY, Site-Responsive Biennale 2019_ I-Park, Connecticut, USA; L’ANDART’19 Andorra International Biennial, ANDORRA; GroundSpeak_LandArt 2019 & 2021 _Schokland Island Museum, NETHERLANDS; regularly showing at Sculpture by the Sea_Bondi, AUSTRALIA & Palmer Biennale, SA. Sally's other underground project please visit website: Unearthed Seed Bank and Portfolio sallykidall.com |
Sally designed these underground buildings and initially proposed her controversial idea to Sculpture by the Sea 2022. By offering this virtual property FOR SALE her intention was to challenge the audience and raise awareness of the growing subterranean accommodation industry designed to service the growing fears and anxieties within our communities. In 2023 NZ Sculpture Onshore invited her to redesign this work for their exhibition site at Fort Takapuna.
Sally was initially inspired by a radio interview with the international urban explorer Dr Bradley Garrett. He was discussing the growth of international communities of 'Preppers' who are preparing for an imminent apocalypse. His book: Bunker, Building for the End of Time, (2020) was published at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Bradley accepted a commission from Sally to write an essay for this project and he generously shared his knowledge and ideas. Bradley is responsible for inventing the fictitious Dirk Talbot as the CEO of Bunker Down Subterranean Property Consultants, the press release and many of the technical solutions for the building's design, he has been an invaluable consultant for this project.
Artist's Statement
Through site-responsive interventions, both virtual and physical, I seek to challenge the predictability of expectations and ‘cultural homogeneity’ by creating metaphorical spaces and environments that explore the anxieties and insecurities of the Anthropocene Era. My research/practice aims to create experiential encounters with place through deep listening and reflection through themes of ‘earth-cry’.
My art practice is inspired by the complexities, equilibrium and fragility of the natural environment and by how our human-made systems work within, or in opposition to, these natural systems. The focus of my practice is the concept of transition, including notions of unpredictability, vulnerability and ephemerality. It is informed by issues relating to ecology, cultural displacement, consumption, materialism and changing climates.
"Now more than ever we need to understand the underland…it is vital to the material structures of contemporary existence, as well as to our memories, myths and metaphors.’"Underland A Deep Time Journey, Robert Macfarlane (2019)
Sally was initially inspired by a radio interview with the international urban explorer Dr Bradley Garrett. He was discussing the growth of international communities of 'Preppers' who are preparing for an imminent apocalypse. His book: Bunker, Building for the End of Time, (2020) was published at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Bradley accepted a commission from Sally to write an essay for this project and he generously shared his knowledge and ideas. Bradley is responsible for inventing the fictitious Dirk Talbot as the CEO of Bunker Down Subterranean Property Consultants, the press release and many of the technical solutions for the building's design, he has been an invaluable consultant for this project.
Artist's Statement
Through site-responsive interventions, both virtual and physical, I seek to challenge the predictability of expectations and ‘cultural homogeneity’ by creating metaphorical spaces and environments that explore the anxieties and insecurities of the Anthropocene Era. My research/practice aims to create experiential encounters with place through deep listening and reflection through themes of ‘earth-cry’.
My art practice is inspired by the complexities, equilibrium and fragility of the natural environment and by how our human-made systems work within, or in opposition to, these natural systems. The focus of my practice is the concept of transition, including notions of unpredictability, vulnerability and ephemerality. It is informed by issues relating to ecology, cultural displacement, consumption, materialism and changing climates.
"Now more than ever we need to understand the underland…it is vital to the material structures of contemporary existence, as well as to our memories, myths and metaphors.’"Underland A Deep Time Journey, Robert Macfarlane (2019)
|
Dr Bradley GarrettProject Consultant
Dr Bradley Garrett is a social geographer, explorer and photographer. His work has been widely published in academic journals and book chapters. He also writes for numerous publications including: The Atlantic, Vox, GQ, the Daily Beast, and The Guardian and his urban landscape photography is highly renowned. Dr Garrett's book Subterranean London: Cracking the Capital (2015) reveals extraordinary images of subterranean London layer by layer. In 2016 Garrett published London Rising: Illicit Photos from the City’s Heights, which documents the social, infrastructural and corporate verticalities of the city. His fifth book, published during the COVID pandemic in 2020, Bunker: Building for the End Times documents ‘prepper’ communities across four continents and their preparations for the impeding apocalypse.
bradleygarrett.com |
|
|
@ Bunker Down 2023
|
