Permutations - back window installation




Permutations plays with narratives of interconnection across the transient zone of the Bearded Tit’s back windowpanes. The threads and felt fibres unfurl around tiny mushrooms and beeswax nodules on the clear glass, alluding to the permeability of inside-outside and shifting correlations between binaries and perspectives. A ‘permutation’ is one of several possible ways in which things can relate or be understood in relation to each other. Then in multiple, these possibilities are open-ended, unpredictable and co-evolving. Patterns, rhythms and connections develop and conjure relationships that merge and entangle.

A selection of my Respire sculptures can be found in the Bearded Tit's curiosity cabinet. The mushrooms in Respire are dried and dead, displayed like scientific specimens in glass lungs. But when growing, fungi - just like humans - breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, the opposite to plants. All living systems breathe. Breathing is unavoidably an interconnected ongoing activity; we are always breathing the same air as our surroundings. Each inhale and exhale reaches beyond our skin's porous boundaries.


These works continue my interest in the shifting relations of material narratives, interconnections and impermanence. 
Permutations and Respire are meditative site-responsive works reflecting on ways that we are entangled with the complexity of our surroundings and with each other. These works conjures attentive relationships between the contextual and the personal, spirituality and ecological systems, present time and layered histories. 


Permutations and Respire will be exhibited in Manybody Theory at the Bearded Tit, 183 Regent St Redfern, from 29 October to 14 December 2019. 


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MANYBODY THEORY
Featuring Nadia Odlum, Kath Fries & Eva Nolan
29 October - 14 December 2019

SHOW #43 The Bearded Tit

* * *

Life is wonderfully chaotic! Caught up in intersecting webs of cause and effect, every action, relationship and idea we conjure has the potential to become part of a complex choreography of moving parts. It can feel overwhelming to see yourself as part of this infinite array of possibilities, where everything is connected to everything else. But isn’t that the joy of experimentation? Three artists in MANYBODY THEORY revel in the ‘in-between-ness’ of us and others, our work and the natural world.

In our STREETSPACE, Nadia Odlum nods to the messiness of a living arts practice in her installation 'Unseen In Between'. This work is an ode to the unrealised experiments and discoveries that sometimes arise from the cutting room floor. In THE SALON, Kath Fries’ dried oyster mushrooms and recycled textile fibres crawl up The Tit’s windowpanes and spring forth from the walls, holding fast on a bed of beeswax and entangling themselves in architectures. Inside the CURIOSITY CABINET, oversize specimens propagate inside glass lungs like scientific oddities. You as audience are implicated, as these bodies and yours stand across from one another while all inhaling the same air. On our TAXIDERMY T.V., Eva Nolan further complicates the human vs nature divide, presenting a slow, tightening mandala of intricately drawn species that that render such divisions absurd.

Hey, at least we can all acknowledge that “it’s complicated”.




This exhibition is taking place on Gadigal country, we acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional custodians of this land, to their elders past, present and emerging. 

Hive drawing sessions, Super-organism exhibition at Kudos Gallery



Hive drawing session, 19 November 2019 at Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen
Kath Fries, Penelope Cain, Barbara Doran and visitors Fiona Davies, Michele Morcos 


Hive drawing session, 19 November 2019 at Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, 19 November 2019 at Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen




Hive drawing session, 19 November 2019 at Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, 19 November 2019 at Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen
Kath Fries, Penelope Cain, Barbara Doran and visitors Fiona Davies, Michele Morcos 

Hive Drawing is a 400cm wide scroll drawing using handmade beeswax crayons, pollen and turmeric. Each participant joins their closed hand to the outline of a proceeding one and draws around its circumference, continuously building onto what has been drawn before. The subtle wax markings are then dusted with pollen and turmeric, making them more visible. Both honey and turmeric are often referred to as superfoods as they have natural active compounds with potent ant-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Brushing the turmeric and pollen onto the wax drawing by hand is also suggestive of the crisis of insect pollinator losses, in some parts of China farmers have to pollinate their crops by hand, painstakingly spreading pollen from plant to plant using a paintbrush. Hive Drawing (collaboration) brings people into contact with the tactile and aromatic nature of these materials, connecting them to each other via this haptic hand mapping. The work will grow and unfurl over the duration of the exhibition, tracing out further interconnections and shifting understandings linked by the honeycomb-like repeated shapes of each individual participating hand.

This work is part of the Super-organism exhibition by Kath Fries, Penelope Cain and Barbara Doran, exploring pattern finding and self-organising systems. The term super-organism is usually used to describe an interdependent social organisation where individuals are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods. Classically this term is applied to insects, but we are reinterpreting it more widely negotiating the interdependence of individuals and the collective nature of exchange systems. As the anthropocentric world has become increasingly digitalised, expanded notions around super-organisms as a mode of being are becoming increasingly relevant.




Hive drawing, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing session, Kath Fries studio, November 2019, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen

Hive drawing, Kath Fries, November 2019, Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing, Kath Fries, November 2019, Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen


Hive drawing, Kath Fries, November 2019, Kudos Gallery, beeswax crayons, turmeric and pollen

Our Super-organism project plays out as generative and responsive evolving conversations, beginning with an interest in honeybees as a typical super-organism and an indicator species of ecological change. This expands into creative engagements with human systems of economy from an individual and colony perspective; to systems of information exchange, from the analogue of speech, breathing and wing-vibration, to digital networks and eco-systems. Such creative engagements contribute to wider haptic discourses addressing the growing need to develop embodied practices of interconnection that draw on ecological resilience.

 … At this point in history, now that we have locked in ecological disruption on a scale our species has never known, we must learn the lessons of ecology. And the number one lesson is that resilience is the key. Resilience, not dominance, is the real strength, especially in hard times. And the secret to resilience is connected diversity, cohesion, cooperative coexistence. That means that in many ways our most important task right now is to build social cohesion while learning to live within natural limits ... all these point the way towards holding off the worst ecological impacts of climate disruption while building the resilience to avoid the societal collapse it could trigger …
Tim Hollo, As the climate collapses, we can either stand together or perish alone, The Guardian, 10/10/19 link

For this exhibition we have developed some physical outcomes from our conversations about super-organisms as modalities to negotiate the interdependence of individuals and the collective nature of exchange systems. In the gallery space, the works unfold this concern in an organic series of static, moving and participatory works, utilising physical space, sound and smell. Avoiding perpendicular lines, smooth surfaces and resolved edges, these works invite engagement, change and messiness.

Super-organism 
Kath Fries, Penelope Cain, Barbara Doran
15 October - 2 November 2019
Kudos Gallery, 6 Napier St Paddington NSW
Wed-Fri: 11am-6pm. Sat: 11am-4pm

Closing panel discussion: Saturday 2 November 2-4pm




--
The artists would like to thank Cynthia Loh, Chloe McFadden, Carmen Scheib, Audrey Pfister, Vivienne Fries, Aryadharma Matheson, Fiona Davies, Michele Morcos and Paul Cordiero for their assistance and support.

This exhibition is taking place on Gadigal country, we acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional custodians of this land, to their elders past, present and emerging. 

Super-organism exhibition

Super-organism is a multi-media, multi-sensory project by Penelope Cain, Barbara Doran and Kath Fries, exploring pattern finding and self-organising systems. The term super-organism is usually used to describe an interdependent social organisation where individuals are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods. Classically this term is applied to insects, but we are reinterpreting it more widely negotiating the interdependence of individuals and the collective nature of exchanges systems. As the anthropocentric world has become increasingly digitalised, expanded notions around super-organisms as a mode of being are becoming increasingly relevant. 

Our Super-organism project will play out as generative and responsive evolving conversations, beginning with an interest in honeybees as a typical super-organism and an indicator species of ecological change. This expands into creative engagements with human systems of economy from individual and interconnected perspectives; to systems of information exchange, from the analogue of speech and wing-vibration, to digital networks and eco-systems.

Super-organism
Penelope Cain, Barbara Doran, Kath Fries
16 October – 2 November 2019


Opening: 5–8pm Tuesday 15 October
Participatory drawing sessions: 2–4pm Saturdays 19 and 26 October
Panel discussion: 2–4pm Saturday 2 November 

Kudos Gallery: 6 Napier St, Paddington




HIDDEN Rookwood Sculpture Walk 2019

This year I'm curating the HIDDEN exhibitions in Rookwood Cemetery, 7 September to 7 October 2019, open sunrise to sunset. 

Please join me for the opening event, Saturday 7 September 3-6pm RSVPor for one of my curator’s tours with some of the artists 10.30am-12.30pm Saturday 14 September, Saturday 28 September and Sunday 6 October RSVP



HIDDEN 2019 invites you on a contemplative and creative journey through one of the oldest sections of Rookwood Cemetery. Find your own pathways and connections, guided by site-responsive artworks engaging with the layered narratives and heritage of this special place. Experience handling cemetery soil, ritualised remembrances, heart-felt emotions and personal stories of memory and loss. Consider reflections on everyday life shaped by the inevitability of death, which resonates into the ways we choose to live, love, fear, believe and hope. 

Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim traditions inform several of these works, others draw on atheist, agnostic and broader spiritualties: reflecting the cultural, social and religious diversity of Western Sydney today. Our cycles of life – from birth to death – are entangled with the people, places and ecologies of the world we live in. Some of these artworks address a poignant sense of mourning environmental deaths, escalating extinctions and the pervasiveness of our climate crisis, prompting consideration about what it means to be alive here and now. 

Farewelling loved ones and returning their remains to the Earth is significant in all cultures throughout history. Here on Dharug country, it is important to remember the vast scope of human spiritual and physical connection to this place, stretching back tens of thousands of years. Many of the HIDDEN 2019 artists reflect on their families’ immigration history, from Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, Sri Lanka, Loa, Iraq and China. Travel continues as several of our artists are on residencies in Japan, USA, Germany and Indonesia, while others live in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Norway. Congratulations to all of the artists, it has been a pleasure working with you and the team at Rookwood. I’ve greatly appreciated the stories, memories and responses to place that you have shared with me over the past few months. 

Download pdf catalogue


HIDDEN Sculptures 
Anney Bounpraseuth, Audrey Newton, Barak Zelig, Cameron Stanton & Rachael Lafferty, Claire Tennant, Cybele Cox, Emma Devine & Samantha Kirby, Gillian Kayrooz, Helen Earl, Hilde Angel Danielsen, Pentagon Corridors, Jane Gillings & Irene Traucki, Julie Monro-Allison, Karmyn Gibson, Lachlan Warner, Leon Lester, Linda Brescia, Lisa Tolcher, Lisa Andrew & Rachel Buckeridge, Louise Morgan, Ludwig Mlcek, Liz O'Reilly, Mandy Burgess & Ro Murray, Marina Robins, Mimi Dennett, Nadia Odlum, Nerine Martini, Nuha Saad, Paul Greedy, Polly Williams, Priscilla Bourne, Renuka Fernando, Sharon Risdale, Sylvia Griffin, Tammy Wong Hulbert and Wesley Harrop.

HIDDEN Students
Rouse Hill High School, Cabramatta High School, Barker College, MLC School Burwood, L&L Riverwood Creative Community, Anne Leung ACU Strathfield, Harry Copas and Emma Sargent UNSW Art & Design Paddington.

HIDDEN Films
Cigdem Aydemir, Cynthia Schwertsik, Dante Lee, Jacqui Mills, Penelope Cain, Peter Kozak, Peachey & Mosig, Simon Bare and Spike Deane.

HIDDEN Curator
Kath Fries


Entanglements catalogue






Download 'Entanglements' catalogue pdf link
Thank you to Kristina Tito for the foreword; Rebecca Shanahan for the essay; Ellen Dahl for the documentation photographs; Michelle Tran for the design; and the Peacock Gallery Staff for their assistance and support. 

Entanglements - World in a Room

Kath Fries, Entanglements, 2019, detail view of work in progress


World in a Room


Pause a minute to inhale and exhale. Inhale again, this time apprehending that for all our specific and nuanced words for looking, there are far fewer equivalent words for smelling. Draw in the rich, animalic aroma of mushrooms, past your skin’s bounds to deep within you. It’s of you, and you are of it. It’s all connected. It’s all now.

Interconnectivity and co-creation between Kath Fries and living material has generated Entanglements. Recycled industrial felt, its past fibre life still distinctly evident, has been curved, twined, and rubbed between the artist’s palms to form new branches, tendrils, and capillaries. Fungus-forming mycelium reaches through the felt to spawn new lives, the mushrooms’ colouration uncannily reflecting a thread here, a tuft there. Curious shards have been recuperated from an alternate junk-heap fate. With both rough and smooth surfaces, these fragments speak simultaneously of interiority and exteriority, of positive and negative spaces, form and void. These aren’t binary states, but rather suggest a permeating wholeness: a galaxy of connection expanding across the gallery and down into the microcosmic worlds of the terraria that house the fungi. Death and life are intermingled; in Fries’ vocabulary, the underworld that the ancient Greeks feared teems with creation, mirroring the world of light above. 

Late capitalism has deeded us the Anthropocene era in which the things we produce, consume, and discard cause universal damage. Fries’ holistic comprehension of life counters this focus on individual gain achieved at all costs, including unchecked growth and oppression. An artwork doesn’t need to be monumental to be deeply materialised, nor does it need to be tradable to be significant. Entanglements models an alternative mode of being to capitalism’s products: a quiet, democratic attentiveness to the infinite and crucial interrelationships that comprise us all. Step closer. Pick your way through the works on the floor. Notice where your feet fall. Feel the forms. This consideration of somatic experience proposes a coming to understanding through haptic values. In this way of thinking, spectatorship–remember all those words for seeing–is only one way to attend, reflect, and understand. In navigating both the greater world and works of art via multisensory perception, we gain the opportunity to recognise our interrelationships with all things.   

At the core of Fries’ work lies her Buddhist appreciation of impermanence. Entanglements reminds us that life is flux and the act of creativity is ongoing, ever-changing, and relational. Walking meditations led by Fries in the Auburn Botanic Gardens cultivate attention to the present (at polar remove from the Gardens’ annual cherry blossom Insta-frenzy). As Rebecca Solnit suggests, “Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world through the body and the body through the world.”[1]We might further consider that walking (through a garden, through an artwork) invites consciousness of the self’s integration with the world, and in this way points to some recognition that we are both more and less than ourselves

It’s a sad irony that as global extinctions accelerate, our understanding of its other forms of intelligence is deepening: plants learn through experience and warn one another of hazards; animals use tools and work cooperatively. Like these collective intelligences, Entanglements is a symbiotic co-creation with other species, coming into being through the artist’s careful tending. The words ‘tend’ and ‘attend’ derive from the same Latin root word. That which we bring our awareness to, we care for. Take care. Pay attention. Feel this. It’s all of us, and more than us.




Rebecca Shanahan






[1]Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of WalkingNew York: Viking, 2000, p 29.





Entanglements
Kath Fries
1 - 30 June 2019

Opening: Saturday 1 June, 1.30 - 3.30pm

Deaf-led tour and workshop: Saturday 15 June, 12pm

Artist talks and workshops: Sunday 30 June, 1.30pm

Peacock Gallery: Auburn Botanic Gardens, corner of Chiswick and Chisholm Roads, Auburn NSW 2144

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 4pm (closed Mondays)

Recent work with beeswax, led lights and paper

Kath Fries, Clamber 2019, beeswax, paper, neon flex led lights and false walls.
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Clamber 2019, beeswax, paper, neon flex led lights and false walls, (detail view).
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Clamber 2019, beeswax, paper, neon flex led lights and false walls, (detail view).
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Clamber 2019 and Abode (fragile) 2019
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (fragile) 2019, beeswax, paper, charcoal, wood, neon flex led lights and prefab structure. The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (fragile) 2019, beeswax, paper, charcoal, wood, neon flex led lights and prefab structure. The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (fragile) 2019, beeswax, paper, charcoal, wood, neon flex led lights and prefab structure. The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (fragile) 2019, beeswax, paper, charcoal, wood, neon flex led lights and prefab structure. The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (fragile) 2019 and Abode (collapse) 2017-2019. The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (collapse) 2017-2019, beeswax, wire, neon flex led lights and found structure, (detail view). The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Abode (collapse) 2017-2019, beeswax, wire, neon flex led lights and found structure, (detail view). The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Cluster 2017-2019, Abode (fragile) 2019 and Abode (collapse) 2019.
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Cluster 2017-2019, beeswax, paper and led lights, (detail view). The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Cluster 2017-2019 and Abode (fragile) 2019.
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl

Kath Fries, Cluster 2017-2019, Clamber 2019, and Abode (fragile) 2019.
The Matter of Objects and Materiality, Gallery Lane Cove. Photo by Ellen Dahl