Niall Barrington, Running Out (detail) 2019. Mixed media. Courtesy: the artist and Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, NSW.
Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre presents a group show, GROUNDSWELL: recent movements within art and territory.
“A groundswell is defined in two ways. Geographically speaking, it represents a natural phenomenon: ‘a broad and deep undulation in the water caused by an often distant gale or seismic disturbance’. It can also refer to a mass movement of humanity – what occurs when people come together and flex their power as a collective, creating a groundswell of support. Whether in the natural world or within society, a groundswell arises through an undeniable force of accelerated accumulation. Stirred by minor shifts in terrain, it expands to become something momentous. GROUNDSWELL: recent movements within art and territory makes the claim that one such collective moment is upon us now.
Increasingly, contemporary artists are shifting the conceptual focus of their practices to address the intensifying crisis of Australia’s diminishing water supply. Alongside scientists and environmentalists, artists have historically presented as some of the first responders to this crisis, bearing witness to its effects through their output. Powerful responses to the creeping effects of climate change have amounted through a range of creative forms including activist exhibitions, performance protests, culture jamming, grassroots community outreach and the development of new sustainable artistic practices. Community arts activist Arlene Goldbard refers to this frontline positioning as evidence of the artist’s status as an ‘indicator species’, sensitive to the shifts and changes impacting our social and environmental realities.
Resource allocation in the Northern Territory has always been a muddied water between state and commercial interests and the concerns of the people who call it home. Spanning geographies across the Territory, from the Top End to the Central Desert, and representing diverse, emerging and established practices, this exhibition brings together a selection of artists whose works address water sustainability across four key areas: access, contamination, scarcity and culture. Each artist has provided a personal testimony to accompany their work. For some of these artists, concerns for water have always been a conceptual touchstone. Others have only recently turned their attention to the subject, compelled by a mounting urgency. Within these attempts to make sense of how we think about water in an uncertain future, we can see the compelling first steps of an artistic movement in its own right.
GROUNDSWELL: recent movements within art and territory presents disparate, yet united perspectives on the issue of water sustainability. Positing questions and sparking conversations it seeks to inform a wider plan of action. As such it asks of you, the viewer, to engage where you can to become a tangible instrument of change and contribute to turning the tide on climate catastrophe. As streams form rivers that feed into oceans, these practices combine to form a collective force. A groundswell is taking place.”
– Carmen Ansaldo, SPARK NT Curator
