Launch of Oceans of the Unknown

Welcome to the Oceans of the Unknown exhibition IMAS Exhibition space, Hobart, Tasmania by Peter Davies 5 August 2016 These works result from an extraordinary collaboration between Jan Hogan, Vanessa Lucieer and Annalise Rees. Funding by the UTas Cross Disciplinary Incentive Grant Scheme has allowed what started as conversations and enthusiasms to blossom into a full blown interpersonal creative process. Jan, Vanessa and Annalise represent multiple facets of the creative space where art and science meet. They have a broad mix of technical skills – print making, drawing, sculpture, ceramics , data analysis, visualisation and representation. BUT this is attended by a spirit of inquiry into fundamental spat of scale and engagement in our view of the ocean. Scale in space- from sheets of paper, rock and waves, to entire immerse landforms. Scale in time - from the effects of immersion measured in minutes, through seasons at sea, to geological regimes shaping landscapes. Engagement though observation – from the instantaneously contextual and random to the highly rigorous and codified. Engagement through shared world models- from the subjective and experiential to the deeply conceptual – both abstract and technical And all through this run the threads of stochastic randomness. The confluences of tide, wave motion, seepage and impact nested in a historical sequence of events – some controlled - some chaotic – to produce Jan’s layered and tactile works. The confluences of ordered scientific endeavour, and its own peculiarly stratified random humanity, with the seeming stability of the ocean floor, itself a product of overlapping geomorphological events, overlain with the uncontrolled swell of the ocean - lurching boat and sonar very which way and requiring complex mathematical adjustments to the observation of this hidden part of the planet, portrayed by Vanessa. The confluences of multiple energetic fronts produced both near and far that result in the ever-changing sea surface in Annalise’s vision - defying and dissolving simplistic Cartesian representation. It is through the realization and acceptance of these overlain complexities of scale, context, personal reference frame and randomness that we - as humans pulled and pushed by our constantly adapting cerebral cortex - come to develop WISDOM. A state so easily drowned out by loud calls for simple explanations and expediencies. These are the arcane thoughts, wanky to some, that entered my fevered brain on seeing this exhibition. It’s just this kind of interdisciplinary collaboration that helps break molds of thought. The Science-Art, Art-Science space is starting to crackle in Tasmania at the moment. This project is among those taking an early lead, with actors from the hard and soft sciences, visual arts, sound, video and performance. This exhibition should serve to shift perceptions that art can only service science through illustration and storytelling - and that it can open up a much deeper conceptual awareness. I’d like to congratulate Jan, Annalise and Vanessa on a remarkable journey, collaboration and body of work.