
Sign O’ The Times
Not Fair 2016
524, Flinders Street Melbourne.
16 - 21 August
Curator - Kirsten Rann
Artists - Lillian Senga Addie, Steven Asquith, Jeremy Blincoe, Michael Candy, Isabelle de Kleine, Nick Devlin, Colin Duncan, Megan Evans, Joel Gailer, Connor Grogan, International Airspace, Tristan Jalleh, Anna Madeleine,Ilya Milstein, Geoff Overheu, Tim Page, Steven Rhal, Natalie Ryan, The Ryan Sisters, Mia Salsjo, Erica Seccombe, Debbie Symons, Jasmine Targett, Marshall Weber, Jason Wing.
Image - Installation view, Sign O’ the Times, Not Fair
About the curator -
KIRSTEN RANN'S 20+ year career has comprised a number of Director and/or Curator roles for various public institutions, private galleries, artist-run spaces and several major art festivals in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. While having curated and/or managed over 60 exhibitions across the globe - from large group exhibitions (80+ artists) to solo exhibitions - she's also had two book chapters and over 60 museum catalogue essays and articles published, the latter including in ARTnews (USA), ArtAsiaPacific (Hong Kong), Art&Australia, Art Monthly, Artlink, Photofile Magazine and The Local Project.
Image - Jasmine Morgan Ryan, As Above, So Below, 2016. Aluminum. L860 H860mm.
Artwork Presented -
As Above, So Below, 2016.
Aluminum
L860 H860mm
In As Above, So Below, a Nacreous mother of pearl cloud formation has been filtered through a prism lens. This shows the optical effect that the cloud has on the landscape. Seen in the upper atmosphere, it reflects a rainbow of light across the earth as it disintegrates the ozone above. The ancient hermetic proverb, ‘As above, so below’ in the title of the work alludes to how its presence will have a lasting impact on the environment below in months and years to come. Visible radiating in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000 – 25,000 meters, these clouds increase ozone destruction and are proven to be implicated in the formation of Ozone holes.
Through continued atmospheric observation and research, we will be able to make informed decisions that access our collective will as a species towards co-creating a sustainable super ecology with our environment.
Image - Jasmine Morgan Ryan, Anthropogenic Atmosphere: Climate Canary, Furious Calm, Civil Twilight, 2016. Series of three prints on silk. 70 cm x 70 cm each
Anthropogenic Atmosphere: Climate Canary, Furious Calm, Civil Twilight, 2016.
Series of three prints on silk
70 cm x 70 cm each
This series explores our current picture of Earth’s Anthropogenic Atmosphere in which the natural and artificial have become inextricably linked to form a new type of super ecology. Caused by accumulated human activity, the appearance of Noctilucent and Nacreous clouds act as a sensitive guide to changes in the polar stratosphere and upper atmosphere. Read from left to right the series of silk prints use lenses and prisms to look deeper into nature’s early warning system to find markers of change.
The first silk Climate Canary, makes visible the appearance Noctiluecnt clouds on the horizon. Increasing in brightness and frequency these clouds have been dubbed the climate canary of super ecology’s early warning system; signaling the presence of water and methane in the upper atmosphere influencing climate change.
The second silk Furious Calm, uses a three dimensional prism to bring to life a research satellite’s compositional reading of the beautiful and violent chemical reactions crystalizing in the atmosphere when Noctilucent and Nacreous clouds are present.
The final silk in the series Civil Twilight uses an optical refraction lens to mark the presence of Nacreous mother of pearl clouds in the stratosphere. Implicated in the formation of ozone holes, these aesthetically seductive and lethal clouds become visible at civil twilight when the geometric center of the sun is 0°50? - 6° below the horizon. Their radiant iridescence reflects a rainbow of light across the earth as they eat the ozone above.
In Anthropogenic Atmosphere the motion of our body while orbiting the works mimics a research satellite surveying a selected path. We are given a ‘fly-by’ glimpse into the super ecological markers that signify the presence of human activity in the atmosphere.
Subverting the tradition use of silk to opulently adorn the body and home, the material is used to highlight the alluring aesthetic of these foreboding ecological phenomena that persuade us to take a longer look into the sky at twilight and contemplate the forecast for tomorrow’s changing weather.
This work was exhibited in Sign o the Times at Notfair 2016.
This artwork is held in private collection.


