'SAD THINKINGS', RISK AND IMAGINATION

Scary Research?
I am often asked if my research into contemporary militarised or militarise-able technology makes me scared. A few people have said they feel fearful when they see my paintings. I have even had some fearful people say they don't want to hear about my research!

Fortunately for me, most people genuinely appreciate an introduction to issues associated with contemporary militarised and militarise-able technology. If they happen to be already informed about issues, they are interested in how I visually scrutinise drones, signals, connectivity etc. The topic opens up discussions that include, for example, the potential mal-appropriation of militarised technologies by state or non-state protagonists. Many people say they enjoy being challenged by my work. Some quiz me for ages.

But, truthfully, the topic is a sobering one. Through mal-intent, accident or design, contemporary technologies pose potential serious risks, even existential risks*. If they are militarise-able or weaponisable is some form or another, the risks are arguably heightened. Astronomer and cosmologist, Lord Martin Rees in his 2002 book Our Final Century: Will Civilisation Survive the Twenty-First Century? makes a clear argument that like at no other time in human history, 21st century humans are creating technologies that could cause global catastrophic impacts.

Yes, it is a bit scary!

Speed
For me, the scariest aspects of 21st century technology are the speed of technological development and the speed of technological operation. Legal, regulatory, social and cultural responses to technological development have difficulty keeping up. And, when interconnected and networked systems operate at near light speed signaling, human dimensions of time and space are excluded. To keep pace with light speed transmissions, artificial intelligence is increasingly used to monitor, react, respond. After all, it can keep up! So, where will that leave us humans?

My imagination goes into overdrive when I think about these things - and - paintings are created!

* Check out the work being done at the Centre for the Study Of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge.

Occupied Landscape Oil on canvas 76 x 76 cm 2018

POEM

My grandmother D. E Ross, wrote the above poem about me. I suspect I was not having 'sad thinkings', but at nearly four I did not know how to say 'philosophical or existential thinkings'! As a child I remember thinking about the end of life - not just mine - but all life. How far was the universe, what happened after people died, where did they go? Were we humans alone in this vast universe? What was time? I remember being a bit scared by my thoughts. As I tried to imagine, I remember feeling like my imagination would burst!  I am sure many readers remember having similar ponderings.

I love that my grandmother wrote 'long distance in her eyes', because distance is a recurring theme in my life and work. From the literal spatial distance of the landscape of my childhood and its influence on my work, to understanding how distance works in creative painting practice, to inviting viewers to fly with me in imagination in my paintings, to the distance of painting [by a human] from the contemporary technological system ie: painting can be used to critique the contemporary technological system without using digital, cyber or electronic platforms for creation, exhibition and storage.

Maybe this poem is an indication that risk analysis was possibly one of my strengths!

Maybe my grand mother's poem indicates that I would be an artist?

MY EXHIBITION 

OCCUPIED LANDSCAPES: EVIDENCE OF DRONES

DOORS OPEN TUESDAY 27 AUGUST 10 AM

POP Gallery, 381 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

More details are available HERE

I am getting ready to install the exhibition. So apart from the paintings I also need a tool kit.

 Tool kit ready for installation day 

Some of the smaller paintings packed, ready to go.

Cheers,

Kathryn

LIFE CALLING. ANYONE THERE?

Life Calling. Anyone There? Oil on linen 70 x 140 cm 2014

 

 

 

Life Calling. Anyone There?

 

What does this mean?

 

Regular readers will know I like to be ambiguous by implying multiple possibilities.

 

It's all about perspective...multiple perspectives, even experienced simultaneously!

 

 

One possibility is that 'life', in my painting's title, is humanity calling out to aliens living in other parts of the Universe. Indeed, the search for alien life is a serious investigation. It's actually got a name SETI [Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence] and there are various scientific research centres around the world, eg: the SETI Institute in California, USA. Please put some time aside to visit the SETI Institute's site to read about its activities, its history, the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and more. The Carl Sagan Centre sits under the umbrella of the SETI Institute. Its focus is on astrobiology, the study of life in the Universe. Its research seeks to understand the concept of habitability, on our planet and elsewhere in the solar system. [Carl Sagan Centre] If a planet's habitability seems to suggest life supporting systems, then there is the potential for not just simple life forms, but also intelligent ones...ha...like us...or even less/more so...or differently so!

 

Another possibility is that 'life', in my painting's title, is not actually humanity calling! It might be extraterrestrially intelligent beings ie: aliens calling out, seeking a response from other intelligent beings. Who knows?

 

But 'life' in my painting's title could just mean LIFE of any kind, simple, complex, physical or not? Surely the impulse of... and for.... life is a kind of resonating communication of rhythm and imperative force...across the universe [and possibly the Multiverse]?

 

Life On Earth

While scientists search for signs of life, from the simple to the more complex, in the Universe, we humans could be accused of not listening to 'life' here on Earth. I wrote in a recent post TEAM HUMANITY:

 

War and conflict rage in various locations around the globe, causing death, mayhem, social destruction and more. Innocent victims are caught up in the horror, loosing life and limb, fleeing homes and seeking refuge in other places. Long term effects are equally as deplorable and damaging.

What can we do?

It seems blame, reprisals, sanctions, increased surveillance and threats are what 'we' do. It seems that escalation is the currency of the moment. A pervasive fear exists. Politics fails to offer hope.

There's a loss of faith in the human race...surely humanity can do better than this?

With increased technological abilities to communicate and observe I wonder if we are really 'hearing' what we are 'listening' to? What is fear obscuring? What is loss of hope camouflaging? Does the fast paced and insidious nature of technology really help us listen in a way that allows hearing? Indeed, conflict is often the result of feeling unheard. It makes us alien to each other, until we don't even know ourselves and the 'alien' lurks within.

 

Life Calling. Anyone There? Oil on linen 70 x 140 cm 2014

So...to the painting. 'Life' is represented by the two trees. Yes, they are my interpretations of the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. The trees are connected by floating leaves. These are 'signals' of indeterminate nature...possibly? Yet, despite Earth-like landscapes, the viewer should not assume that either the foreground or the planet, are Earth. Indeed, the connected trees-of-life may represent communication between other life forms 'out there' on two other planets.

 

Yet, I've often written that I see landscape as a metaphor for the human psyche. The two landscapes in Life Calling. Anyone There? could be aspects of the human soul or the alienated 'self' attempting  reconnection in ways that go beyond technological imperatives, hence the suggestion of random leaves from the tree-of-life. The trees seem to sing into the wind, sending a lilting lullaby into space. The wind takes the lullaby to places known and unknown, seeking reconnection.

 

While life still calls...there is hope.

 

And, landscape is untethered from Earth-bound horizons, both physical and not!

 

 

 

Here's me chatting, very briefly, about Life Calling! Anyone There? This was recorded at my exhibition Untethering landscape, mentioned below.

 

 

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

 

2-14 September

 

Please check out all the details on the exhibition's page HERE

 

 

 

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Please check out my last post

 

CELEBRATING 8 YEARS BLOGGING

 

My last post was a celebratory one!

This August I have been Blogging for 8 years, posting once a week.

Please click HERE to read my post:

8 YEARS BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

 

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

I am on Instagram @kathrynbrimblecombefox

 

 

 

 

DIZZYING PERSPECTIVE

Dizzying Perspective [inspired by Tim Winton] Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm 2014

 

 

Dizzying Perspective relates to my last two posts and their accompanying new paintings Falling Out Into It and The Universe Draws You Out Like A Multi-Dimensional Horizon Yes, again the terrific speech The Island Seen and Felt: Some Thoughts About Landscapes by Tim Winton at London's Royal Academy in November 2013 has struck a chord of inspiration in me! You can hear the speech HERE

 

Dizzying Perspective is deceptively simple....so say myself! For me....there are many questions-Are we drawn towards the dark circle? Are we propelled away from it? Is it the only point of reference? Is it solid or is it a new portal? Where am I in relation to the 'scape' before me? Is it a vast 'scape' or a microscopic one? Is the dark circle Earth or is it a galactic body seen from Earth? Or, maybe Earth is nowhere around in this part of the Universe? Where am I?

 

I am sure you might have even more questions.

 

Words by Tim Winton, which I previously quoted in my earlier post Falling Out Into It, have again inspired me:   At night in the desert the sky sucks at you, star-by-star, galaxy-by-galaxy. You feel as if you could fall out into it at any moment. It's terrifyingly vertiginous.

 

VERTIGO

This time the bit that got me excited is It's terrifyingly vertiginous. Why? Because, I sense that Winton uses the word terrifying, not simply to suggest a scary physical experience where loss of balance and dizziness induce stumbling and nausea. Metaphorically speaking terrifyingly vertiginous may be more about the revelatory possibilities of new insights and perspectives revealed in the process of letting go...falling out into it.

 

But, I want to return to my previously mentioned ideas of untethering landscape from Earth-bound horizons. The terrifyingly vertiginous experience of falling out into the Universe is provocative, because it invites us to let go of Earth-bound horizons. It actually demands us to leave the safety of the known to welcome new perspectives of ourselves, our planet and our Universal environment.

 

FEAR

Essentially, I think, Tim Winton suggests we confront fears of letting go, fears of the unknown, fears of shifting perspectives. I've been with people who are literally fearful of the distance in the Australian landscape. These people, mainly city born and bred or from Europe, actually expressed their fears in words and with real physical reactions. They felt more than uncomfortable with the open skies and the vast often desolate distances. Their physical reactions were obvious: strange tiredness, gripping themselves or anchor points in a vehicle, normally confident gaits affected by trepidation, eyes darting hither and thither...all signs suggesting a sense of vertigo. But, maybe we need to place ourselves at the mercy of distance, fall out into it, let go...and in the terrifying vertiginous experience we may discover new ways to live and be, new questions and thus possible answers to problems that are plaguing us with their intensity and danger. Who knows? But, I suggest it is worth trying!

 

Dizzying Perspective is similar to an earlier painting which I called Where? This painting asks questions to, indeed its title is a question. It asks about time and space. Both paintings, I sense, move beyond their physical limits of size ie: 50 x 50 cm. There is something quite satisfying about painting an image of Universal vastness on a 50 x 50 cm canvas! A bit like the size differential of Dr. Who's marvellous Tardis.

 

 

Where? Oil on linen 50 x 50 cm

 

 

GOOD NEWS

My entry for the biennial $20,000 Stanthorpe Art Prize has been selected as a finalist. This means that the actual painting now gets sent to Stanthorpe to hang with the other finalists and to be considered for the prize which is announced at the end of February. I shall keep you posted!

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com