AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE: A METAPHOR

Australian Landscape - A Metaphor Oil on linen 61 x 66 cm 2021

As I write this the world is in the grip of the COVID19 pandemic. Mutations of the virus pose further threats. In Australia slow vaccine roll outs have placed our population in a vulnerable position. Despite having time, due to quite good pandemic management in 2020, authorities failed to secure enough vaccines, plan for distribution, formulate public education activities, foresee virus mutations as a threat and resolve weaknesses in quarantine arrangements. 

IMAGINATION

The lack of imagination in our political class [around the world] demonstrates diminished capacities to learn from history [even recent histories], to understand a globalised world, and to adopt a sophisticated mix of science and social science-based responses to the pandemic. A lack of imagination reveals poor capacities of simultaneously accounting for macro and micro concerns.

What if circumstance get out of hand as people become more frustrated and actions are increasingly politicised? Will violence and oppressive responses occur? As people lose faith, for whatever reason, in political leadership, will social unrest escalate?

ART HISTORY

As an Art Historian I can tell you there is plenty of visual evidence, over centuries, that sickness, plague and pandemic + revolution, anarchy and general social unrest are horrific, and often entwined. Art History shows the horrors of death, sickness, destruction, fear, hatred, hubris, ego, inequality, hunger and hopelessness. I argue that all politicians, policy advisors and really, just everyone, needs to learn some Art History! It might compensate for a lack of imagination....

There's a few grim images of pandemic for you to see in The Black death: Europe's Deadliest Pandemic in Human History

ANXIETIES
As I write this Australia and Australians are also experiencing anxieties about:

• Political resistance to climate change mitigation, in some instances a growing disconnect between  electorates and their political representatives. 
• Allegations of war crimes by some Special Forces operating in Afghanistan. 
• How our political class is handling our relationship with China. 
• Financial insecurity during the pandemic and post-pandemic.
• The US - Australia alliance.
• War talk.
• You can add to the list here!

Australian Landscape - A Metaphor 
After reading all of the above I will let you interpret this new painting! 

If you are a regular reader you will note the tree-of-life and the geolocation grid superimposed on the landscape.

Cheers,

Kathryn

THEATRE OF WAR: PATTERN RECOGNITION

Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2020

 

Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition is the fourth painting in what is turning out to be a series themed to theatre of war. You can see the other three at Theatre of War: Smart Team

As with the other three paintings I am experimenting with depicting the technologies of war as protagonists that could be both audiences and actors. A theatre where a strange kind of dual witnessing tangles with complicity! In each painting various drones inhabit strange landscape-stages that are patterned with parodies of geolocating or terrain visualisation computer graphics - hinting at drone imaging technology. Note, I do not say drone vision!

Loyal Wingman Drone
In each painting I have included either one or more Loyal Wingman drones. The Loyal Wingman combat drone is currently in development in Australia. Its development is a collaboration between the RAAF and Boeing. Considered a 'gamechanger' in drone technology, the first test flight is due later this year.

In Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition a Loyal Wingman drone is situated towards the bottom left of the painting. Visualised signals from its various sensors and data links form a fake star around the drone. But - are you looking down upon the drone or up towards it? As regular readers know, I like to play with multiple perspectives and a sense of flying. I think I have achieved the sense of soaring flight, in this painting, rather well! Importantly, this sense of imaginational flight provides the viewer with vantage points that cannot be accessed by the drones. After all, a drone cannot imagine! Thus, there is a human surveillance of the unfolding scene or performance. I call this kind of surveillance - imaginational metaveillance. What patterns do you 'see'? 

Imaginational Metaveillance
In Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition imaginational metaveillance provides a way to think about the contemporary theatre of war as an enduring performance, potentially with no end. What kinds of patterns indicate there might not be an end? Here, I suggest things like accelerating developments in update-able weaponisable hardware and systems, arms race competition driving iterative inventions, networked and interconnected systems operating at light speed. Underlying much of this are accelerating developments in autonomous systems, where pattern recognition is pivotal for systems to undertake data identification, analysis, monitoring and more. Indeed, machine learning and AI technologies need to be repeatedly exposed to copious amounts of data in order to 'learn'. 

Tree-of-Life
When I see computer terrain visualisation images I marvel at the technology, but I also feel despair that landscape is reduced to something that is strategised for optimal technological operation. Its a kind of reductive approach that disallows the human being. In Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition humanity is represented by the lone tree-of-life on a distant horizon. Is it swaying in a turbulent wind, aware of incoming forces? Is it the last audience? Or, does it indicate a new performance?

NEWS

The World of Drones and Robotics Congress is on here in Brisbane, November 12-13. My presentation Drones, Art and Risk Analysis will be available online as a ten minute film. When it is available I will certainly be spreading the word! 

Being filmed for my WODR presentation

Cheers,

Kathryn

DRONESCAPE: A CREEPING NORMALISATION

Dronescape: A Creeping Normalisation Oil on linen 36 x 56 cm 2020

As the development and use of airborne drones accelerate, I think about landscape. I think about how landscape is changing, in ways we might not notice.

Creeping normalisation occurs when something happens over a period of time, and thus its impacts accrue slowly. For example, during the COVID-19 there are some concerns about the normalisation of the use of drones and robots for a variety of reasons - surveillance, monitoring, spreading messages, spraying disinfectant, delivering supplies including medicines, and claims that temperature and heart monitoring can be conducted. If these activities are normalised what kinds of intrusion are we accepting now and for the future? 

As time goes on, and military and civilian drone use accelerates, how does landscape change? It changes because invisible signals, used to transmit and receive data and instructions to and from nodes, devices, drones and satellites, infiltrate our environment. While the hardware may be visible, the signals that enable networking, inter-connectivity, operability and interoperability, transmission and reception are invisible. Yet, these signals occupy landscape, as an overlay or net that creates its own 'scape' - a signalscape.  

NEW KIND OF COLONISATION

This 'signalscape' is a sign of a new kind of colonisation of landscape, a stealthy techno-colonisation that disrupts traditional ideas of sovereignty, borders and concepts of Earthly landscape. As invisible signals ricochet from earth-based to sky-based and space-based assets, a volumetric occupation of our extended environment beyond Earth occurs. I often wonder when corridors in this occupied space between Earth and satellites will be commandeered. I often wonder if new titles of ownership will be 'surveyed' in this occupied zone. If commandeering and ownership of the signal-scape occurs, who or what benefits? Will it be individuals, non-state actors, governments, nations, mega corporations and artificial intelligence?

DRONESCAPE: A CREEPING NORMALISATION
In Dronescape: A Creeping Normalisation I have painted four quadcopter drones flying over an ambiguous landscape. The circular lines around each drone indicate the limits of their surveillance and data gathering arcs. These arcs are normally not visible, but here I am trying to demonstrate how signals stealthily occupy landscape. This is an act of imaginational metaveillance - turning human surveillance back onto the machines, without using the digital and cyber platforms the system itself relies upon. 

In Dronescape: A Creeping Normalisation the nets of signals create a new kind of scape, one that imposes itself on the landscape below. In the painting this imposed 'scape' seems to be creeping towards a white tree standing on a distant horizon. It does not appear long until the tree will also be netted. This tree, for me, is the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life, a symbol of life and humanity. What happens to humanity when our environment is cloaked with nets of signals that relay data and instructions between nodes and devices, many with increasingly autonomous functionality? What happens to humanity when the networked and interconnected system - the netted signal-scape - operates at speeds beyond human domains of time and space? If this system is something we rely upon, then we need to think about all of its potential vulnerabilities. 

But, have we even noticed that the occupation of landscape may mean we are already held hostage?

Cheers,
Kathryn

DRONE SHOW

Drone Show oil on linen 122 x 152 cm 2020

This painting was sparked by a few thoughts. And, now that it is done, it is sparking a few more thoughts.

I called the painting Drone Show because the weaponise-able drones are in a formation, as if performing. There are three types of drones - Reapers, Predators and X47Cs. It's like a parade of drones! I choose the word parade deliberately, its connection with military parades acting as a provocation.

Perspective and Imaginational Metaveillance

As with many of my paintings, the viewer could be below the drones looking up at a wild cosmic sky, or the viewer could be above the drones, looking down upon a turbulent but beautiful landscape. Once this play with perspective is realised, the viewer can 'fly', in imagination, soaring above, below and around the drones. I love to play with perspective by inviting viewers to 'fly'. It turns a unique human kind of surveillance back onto the drones. I call this an act of 'imaginational metaveillance'. It is uniquely human because it involves imagination - something machine learning and artificial intelligence are not capable of - some aspirational tech-bros may so 'not yet'. 

I argue that imagination, or a simulation of imagination, are capabilities no-one should aspire to enable an AI or an AGI with. If this is an aspiration then its more about creating an artificial human rather than an artificial intelligence.   

Light Shows

I also called the painting Drone Show to reference displays of civilian drones programmed to perform mesmerising light shows. These kinds of performances are, for example, great substitutes for fireworks. Although the drones in these performances are pre-programmed they represent a basic form of drone swarming technology. A sophisticated drone swarm will have more autonomous functions - geo-locating, orienting, target identification and so on. While militarised drone swarming technology is still being developed in a number of countries, a drone swarm could, among other things, be armed, be used as a swarm of weapons, act as a surveillance net or scaffold signal transmission to other assets. Suddenly the idea of a 'light show' becomes more ominous.

Aesthetic Seduction

I have painted each of the drones in Drone Show with different colours. I have painted the drones in a pattern, a diamond pattern. This pattern, the colours and the wild beauty of the landscape/skyscape draw the viewer closer. Once close, the drones becomes more apparent. Why are they there? I am using aesthetic seduction to create a shock, to garner attention and to stimulate questions about drone technology. A militarised drone's function stands in sharp contrast to the beauty which is evident in the painting. This is a deliberate means of arresting the viewer's attention. I know many people are critically interested in drone technology, but I have noticed that many others are either in awe or indifferent to it. Both awe and indifference are potentially dangerous. Awe and indifference are risks.

Drone technology - civilian and militarised - needs our attention! 

One of my concerns is that civilian drone technology can potentially be militarised. Militarise-ability, by state or non-state actors is a vulnerability. 

Imagine a 'light show' of civilian drones that have been militarised by malign forces! 

On the not-so-happy note,

Cheers,

Kathryn

Other posts of interest:

Imaginational Metaveillance

WINGMAN

Sad Thinkings: Risk and Imagination

Martial Map

MACHINE UNREADABLE

Machine Unreadable Oil on linen 56 x 76 cm 2020

Machine Unreadable was started not long after I returned from the UK in mid February, and it is now finished. I had gone to the UK to attend and present at the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference, University of Sheffield. One of my fellow presenters Mark Reinhardt, Professor of American Civilization at Williams College, gave an interesting talk "Killing Aesthetics? Theora, Automated War, and the Paradox of Drone Visuality" that posed questions about machine to machine scrutiny of images, or rather, their constituent data.* Here, for the machine, the data does not necessarily need to manifest into an image for human eyes. 

Reinhardt's questions intersected with concerns I have expressed in talks, and here on this blog, about attributing the ability of 'vision' to a machine eg: machine vision, drone vision. Vision as a human capability is far more than seeing with eyeball and pupil. Human vision is also about imagination, daydreaming, dreaming, visionary thinking. A machine cannot see or imagine - a machine does, however, scope. Machines that examine image data represent a removal of the human being, and therefore, even the need for an image, or as Reinhardt notes a "killing of aesthetics as both human judgement and human perception."** 

During Prof Reinhardt's presentation he mentioned the term 'machine unreadable' and suddenly I had pictures bouncing around in my head - imagination! Although I had heard the term before, I think the contexts of the talk and the conference opened a different appreciation of the term's meaning. It was one of those moments, which I love, when inspiration is sparked. 

And,

Machine Unreadable is the result.

In Machine Unreadable I have painted a 'corrupted', colourful and incomplete QR Code-like design  over a landscape. The QR Code almost becomes a landscape itself, its dispersed geometry acting like pixels that might, if completed, make up a digital image. The overlay of colourful squares and rectangles obscures the landscape behind. Is this an attempt to make the landscape unreadable? If so, who or what cannot read the landscape? Or, is the landscape the 'destination' image, if the QR Code could be scanned by a mobile phone or other digital devices? 

The 'corrupted' QR Code also acts as a camouflage, perhaps a bit like the dazzle camouflage used on British ships during World War I. Geometric patterns were painted on ships to confuse German submarine officers about the size and shape of ships, plus their speed and direction of travel. If the QR Code is a camouflage, what secrets does it hide? What might it be protecting? Is it confusing? The camouflage could be a metaphoric protection of event the idea of the image, a visual double-play where both the camouflage and the landscape are images that combine to create another image.

Machine Unreadable can be 'read' by a human being, drawing upon imagination, curiosity, experiences, knowledge, memories. This 'reading' can result in multiple interpretations that might be satisfying, enjoyable, or maybe even spark new ideas. A 'reading' could also result in disinterest! Some people might not recognise the geometric pattern as being like a QR Code, but that doesn't matter because the aesthetic response to a colourfully presented pattern incongruously laid over a landscape is likely to induce wonder. How does a machine's scoping capability compare with wonder, imagination, a sense of curiosity, and the ability to dream, daydream or even have nightmares. 

Maybe the machine is the nightmare? 

So much to think about.

Cheers,

Kathryn

  

* Check out the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference booklet  page 56-57 for details on Prof Reinhardt's presentation. And, then check out all the bios and abstracts!

** Ibid., P. 56. 

And, another recent post with imagination as a core topic Strange Times and Imagination

STRANGE TIMES AND IMAGINATION

Earth's Pulse Oil on linen 80 x 200 cm 2005

EXISTENTIAL RISK
As regular readers know I am very interested in ideas of existential risk, particularly posed by emerging technologies. I have attended talks and read quite a lot about existential risk generally, and pandemic is one of the risks I am somewhat acquainted with.

AND, here we are in the midst of a corona virus global pandemic.

IMAGINATION
Back in January, when I was preparing for my trip to the UK to attend the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference at the University of Sheffield, the corona virus had reared its ugly head in China. By the time I left Australia in early February I was getting worried, so I went overseas with a few masks, alcohol wipes, gloves, nasal sprays and a bar of soap in my handbag. Yes, I was that strange lady wiping her table at the hotel restaurant, opening doors with my elbow, washing my hands vigourously. My young adult children thought I was mad, but they don't now! The motto of this story is, don't dismiss someone with an imagination prone to extrapolating burgeoning negative situations into catastrophe and disaster! Remembering, too, that this someone has studied history and researched topics associated with existential risk for quite awhile.

The role played by informed imagination in times of unfolding catastrophe is an interesting one. A vivid imagination can compel action to be taken, but it can also provoke a paralysis of action. Ultimately fearful reactions to an existing situation, and subsequent imagined thoughts about the future, can be productive or non-productive.

LEADERS
But, what are the benefits or dangers of not having an imagination? Do our leaders need to have  imaginations that responds to data, are informed by a knowledge of history, are open to the expertise of others from across the sciences, social sciences and humanities? Surely an imagination is required to even 'see' how multiple sources of expertise can interact in meaningful ways? Surely an imagination is required to extrapolate future possible outcomes from graphs that map historic and current data? An imagination surely must help determine how intervention can arrest dire trajectories? I would say an imagination is needed in order to undertake logistical planning!

And, ultimately we need people who can imagine a life after pandemic, possibly a life vastly different from pre-pandemic life. And, a reminder, difference does not necessarily mean worse. Nor, does it necessarily mean better. But, it might mean we have a choice. Let's imagine in compassionate ways that are productive and meaningful. Let's imagine in ways that disallow the paralysis of fear. Rather, let fear contribute as a driver rather than a brake.

Compassion oil on linen 100 x 100 2010

Earth's Pulse [top]
This painting, from fifteen years ago, has a graph-like appearance. It 'maps' the pulse of the Earth. How do you think its currently performing?

I exhibited this painting in Abu Dhabi at my 2005 exhibition at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation. A Middle Eastern man dressed is swathes of white robes and a largish head-dress came to the exhibition a few times. I cannot remember which country he came from, but he had fought in Afghanistan. On one visit to the show we had a long conversation that involved discussions about a few of the paintings. When he looked at Earth's Pulse, before even knowing the title of the painting,  he said:

"This reminds me of my own mortality."

Now, I think that demonstrates an imaginative response!

DISTANCING
As a studio-based painter I am used to working alone. With a couple of conferences cancelled I don't have much else to do, but paint...and be online! I am currently working on a painting I will call Machine Unreadable. Please check out my Instagram page for studio photo updates of work in progress. Hopefully, when the pandemic is over, I can get to exhibit some of my paintings!

In the meantime please stay safe, for yourself and others.

Showing Them Our Home Oil on linen 30 x 56 cm 2017

Me, with my three adult daughters. And, Earth, the pale blue dot.

Cheers,
Kathryn

VULNERABILITY: THE NETWORKED & INTERCONNECTED SYSTEM

Lethal Landscape Gouache on paper 57 x 76 cm 2018

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
On the plane back from the UK* last week I watched quite a few movies. At 181 cm tall, sleeping in economy class is really not possible, until exhaustion steps in. So, I try to exhaust myself with movies. Among the array of movies I watched was the latest Terminator film, Terminator: Dark Fate. 

Interesting...

The first of the six Terminator movies Terminator came out in 1984. That's thirty-six years ago! Clearly, the idea of a terminator robot that will relentlessly not 'die' still pervades popular culture! However, with current debates about lethal autonomous weapons the idea of independently motile killing machines is something to seriously think about.

Scopic Gaze: 21st Century oil on linen 36 x 36 cm 2018

NETWORKED AND INTER-CONNECTED SYSTEM
In Terminator: Dark Fate, as in the other iterations of the Terminator story, a future where a Skynet MACHINE-SYSTEM imperils humanity, plays a key part.

In Terminator: Dark Fate the destruction of humanity's networked and interconnected technological system is key to the AI overlord's destruction of human civilisation and life. In the film this destruction seems to happen in an instant, almost at a flick of a switch. This is demonstrated with scenes of carnage coupled with systems failure, for example, a plane - obviously no longer supported by GPS and communication systems - suddenly falls out of the sky. THIS got my attention - not an easy thing to watch when one is actually on a plane!

Clearly a malevolent super intelligent AI destroys the existing interconnected and networked system, and replaces it with its own insidious time warping one. The physical tentacles of the system are shape-shifting robots, armies of killing machines and swarms of nano-slaughterbots.

SIGNALS
I immediately reflected upon some of my paintings where I make visible the invisible or discrete signals that enable networking and interconnection of the electronic, digital and cyber systems that propel military, dual-use and militarise-able civilian technologies. In these paintings I attempt to expose the vulnerability of an inter-connected and networked system. Vulnerabilities range, from possibilities such as global militarisation of systems by state or non-state actors, cascading effects of a technical accident, results of an unintended event or an event perpetrated with malign intent, either by a human being or a super-intelligent AI. And, then there is the possibility of another coronal mass ejection  [CME], a natural event beyond anyone's control. Do read up on what a CME is - one occurred in 1859, and Earth missed another one in 2012, by one week.

Although the figure of the Terminator robot elicits fear, its theatricality, physicality and materiality detracts from the prime evilness of the all-encompassing malign system that hijacks humanity's and civilisation's future. Regular readers will 'get' that I am somewhat concerned!

BECAUSE

Science fiction stories are often prescient.

Space Net Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 17

MILITARY SPONSORED SCI - FI WRITING COMPETITIONS
The prescience of science fiction is why contemporary militaries are now holding sci-fi writing competitions. Here is a link to the Australian Defence College's first science fiction writing competition, an outcome of a recent Australian Defence College Sci-fi and the Future of War conference, that included "eminent science fiction authors, cyber warfare specialists, futurists, and ethicists."

And, here is an example of a US Military 2019 science fiction writing competition .

And, an interesting article Science Fiction's Hidden Codes written by Lt Colonel David Calder, US Army. He writes about the benefits, for military personnel, of reading science fiction. Commander of the Australian Defence College, Major General Mick Ryan, is mentioned in the article, for his strategy of including science fiction in the college's training programs.

Sci-fi is getting another lease of life - a consciously militarised one.

I have questions.

Are these competitions signs that the future is already militarised, that it is already occupied by wariness, stealth, strategy, and, clearly - anxiety? Perhaps these sci-fi writing competitions are attempts to hack imagination? What happens if the future and imagination are militarised? If I were to write a sci-fi story for a competition run by the military I would play around with the hacking of imagination idea! Yes, it would be convoluted story!

There are more questions...

But...

In the meantime, I paint....


I have posted a few of my paintings that visually critique the networked system...


Cheers,
Kathryn

* I was returning from the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference, University of Sheffield. Such a stimulating and collegiate conference!

Charting the Invisible gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2019

Martial Map gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2019

Topography of Signals Oil on linen 57 x 57 cm 2019

Lethal Landscape, False Horizons Oil on linen 70 x 100 cm 2018

POST CONFERENCE- AESTHETICS OF DRONE WARFARE

     Ideas for new paintings, triggered at Aesthetics of Drone Warfare Conference

I attended and presented at the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference, University of Sheffield, last weekend. It was a thoroughly stimulating and collegiate conference, with an array of different perspectives from multiple disciplines - International Relation/Studies, Art History, Literary Studies, Geography, Cultural Studies and more. Do visit the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare project’s website to read more about their research and activities.

Keynote speaker Derek Gregory gave a forensic-like examination of the lead up and aftermath of a disastrous February 2010 drone strike in Afghanistan on three vehicles carrying civilians. Listening to his thorough step-through of US military decision making and commentary was a sobering experience that still occupies my mind. Fellow keynote speaker Antoine Bousquet presented an intriguing history of surveillance and targeting technologies using, in part, an art historical lens that drew upon the history of the development of perspective. His presentation followed research detailed in his recent book “The Eye of War”, which I highly recommend. I also attended a workshop given by Drone Wars UK. It was a great overview of their research, and research methodologies.

Every paper presented at the conference was interesting, opening up new insights and perspectives. Please take a look at the conference booklet to read the array of abstracts, and presenter bios.

I was delighted to present “Painting Airborne Militarised Drones: An Act of Imaginational Metaveillance” on a panel with two other artists and researchers, Anna Walker from the University of Plymouth, and Joseph DeLappe from Abertay University. Joseph and I had examples of our work in a small exhibition held for the duration of the conference. This was received really well by conference delegates and organisers.

I had a very interesting experience at the conference - being in the audience when my work was discussed in another researcher’s presentation. Michael Richardson from the University of New South Wales, Australia, gave a paper entitled “Drone Warfare and the Aesthetics of Nonhuman Witnessing”. I will admit to being pleased with a comment he made - that my paintings ‘pulled politics into account’. He also discussed the work of fellow Australian artist Baden Pailthorpe, as well as the fascinating Forensic Architecture group, Goldsmiths, University of London. The nonhuman witness, or to imagine what the nonhuman might witness, are ideas that open up intriguing perspectives on human/nonhuman relationships. Michael is convening a conference called Drone Cultures that addresses themes of witnessing - University of New South Wales, 30 April-1May this year. Do come along!

Going to conferences or presentations that focus on my areas of interest - militarised and militarised-able technology, contemporary war, the future, defence procurement and policy, existential risk - always trigger new ideas for new paintings. There are some photos of my notes and sketches from my notebook, top and below. Yes these scrawls will likely end up, in some way, in new paintings!

Cheers,
Kathryn

ART - SCIENCE - IMAGINATION - WONDER

I Spy Oil on linen 36 x 36 cm 2014

 

 

 

INTERVIEW WITH COL CHRIS HADFIELD - ASTRONAUT

 

On Wednesday night this week I watched Chris Uhlmann, from the ABC's 7.30 Report, interview Canadian astronaut Col Chris Hadfield. It was only short, but it was fantastic! Chris Hadfield is on a whirlwind speaking tour in Australia, but unfortunately he is not coming to Brisbane. He's the astronaut who sang and recorded himself singing David Bowie's classic Space Oddity while he was commander of the International Space Station [ISS]. You can watch it HERE 

At around the 6 minute mark of the interview Chris Uhlmann asks Chris Hadfield, in reference to space and the Universe, Having seen the Earth from space and seen the universe beyond it, can it all be defined by science or only by poetry or perhaps even faith.
Chris Hadfield answered by saying ...exploring the solar system is teaching us a lot and it's technically really interesting and it's important, both politically and economically and technologically. But to me, the fact that so many people watched that music version of 'Space Oddity' that I did, to me, that really shows the importance, if you want to actually communicate, the importance of art. I mean, science, technology, engineering, math - they drive the economy, but we're people, we're not machines and washing machines and robots. We're humans. And to share the wonder and experience of what's going on, that is expressed through art, through music and through writing and through poetry and to try and get to the very essence of what's important.  

Yay! Yay! ART!

Notice how Chris Hadfield describes Art as a way of expressing wonder and the essence of what's important. Neither word....wonder or essence...are essentially scientific, yet they are incredibly apt to describe reactions to scientific research, investigation and discovery...and help propel and nourish these activities, at the same time as engaging those of us who are not at the cutting edge of scientific activity. The relationship between Art and Science, I think, works best when awe is the common denominator, driver, impulse.

On The Edge Gouache on paper 34. x 53.5 2001

INSPIRATION AND IMAGINATION

 

But not everyone can be an astronaut or even a passenger on a space craft. So, how does art engage with the scientific investigations of space and the Universe? I mean there are no joy flights designed for artists to literally experience outer space. The key is...imagination. The song Chris Hadfield sang in space, David Bowie's Space Oddity, was released in 1969 to coincide with the Moon Landing. The lyrics were inspired by Stanley Kubrick's1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey which Bowie went to see several times. Stanley Kubrick, in turn, was inspired by a documentary called Universe which was made in 1960 by Roman Kroiton and Colin Law for the National Film Board Of Canada in conjunction with the David Dunlap Observatory, Ontario. It's an amazing black and white film and I really encourage you to watch it HERE.

 

I just love the cascading inspirations...

About the 4 minute mark of Universe the narrator asks a question pondering what would the first people to travel into space see and experience. Remember this is 1960...only 3 years after the first satellite [Sputnik 1] went into space and nine years before the moon landing. The narrator answers his question by saying We can in imagination journey into these spaces...and the film is the answer with its special effects combined with some imagery of space and also of an astronomer working at night in the David Dunlap Observatory. But, the key word is imagination! Working with the scientific knowledge, that existed in 1960, the film makers extrapolated using imagination to make a film that went on to inspire.

The dance between knowledge [eg: scientific knowledge] and imagination is ambidextrous, with the lead being taken in turns. One may take control yet the other may beckon to 'come hither' and vice versa!

Star Dust Mixed on paper 30 x 42 cm 1997 [This image is the cover of my book For Everyone

 

MAYBE?

Chris Hadfield, singing Space Oddity and videoing himself, with the ISS as his 'stage' and Universe as his 'backdrop', very successfully beckoned people to 'come hither', come closer to share his experience, to engage more intimately with distance, to feel the Universal 'music', to gasp in wonder, to laugh a little, to think differently, expose themselves to new perspectives [literal and metaphoric]...and more.

In the 7.30 Report Chris Hadfield explains the moment when he decided as a 10 year old that he would be an astronaut I watched the first two human beings walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the summer I turned 10. And I decided that night - and it wasn't just watching them on television, it was going outside afterwards and looking up at the Moon and seeing - trying to link what I'd seen on the television now with looking at the Moon itself and making the conscious decision at that point that, "I'm going to grow up to be something; you know, why don't I grow up to be that?" I wonder how many people have been inspired by Hadfield's singing space video? Maybe there are children who are now holding close desires to be something they had not thought of before? Maybe there are people who now engage with scientific research of our Universal environment? Maybe there is less fear of the unknown? And, most importantly maybe more people, leave their computers-look up from their phones, and actually go outside to look up at the stars...and wonder!

MOON LANDING 1969

I too watched the Moon Landing in1969. My Dad insisted that my brothers and I stayed home from school to watch it live. I still remember the blurry black and white images on our box of a TV. I did not decide to be an astronaut, but the gravitas of the event still lives within. Although, I think I had already taken 'flight'. Isn't that what artists do!?

___________________________________________________________

In my last post THAT WORD - LANDSCAPE I describe the distance of my childhood landscape and my experiences 'flying'!

You might be interested in my MOON post too.

When I was A Child I Dreamt I could Fly oil on linen 80 x 120 cm 2003

AND

 

That brings me to my forthcoming exhibition

 

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

From Earth-Bound Horizons 

 

2 - 14 September here in Brisbane

Please visit the exhibition's site HERE

 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

 

I am on INSTAGRAM now too

kathrynbrimblecombefox

TEAM HUMANITY

Hope Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm 2013

Recent dreadful events around the world leave us feeling bewildered and frightened. For those directly affected it's far far worse.

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?

But, what can I do?

And now, my thoughts turn to how the arts could be an agent of change, an agent revealing new perspectives through which life can be viewed, revealing alternative pathways to seek solutions for all sorts of problems and issues. An agent that helps us re-discover our humanity...our 'team' which works and plays together on our shared planet.

Pale Blue Dot Oil on linen 120 x 160 cm 2014

Am I being naively optimistic, illogical? Maybe? But, where there's hope.....

CATALYTIC AGENCY
I've previously written that I do not see the arts has having a role, but rather a catalytic agency. The word 'role' insinuates prescription, not only in method but also in outcomes, thus for me it is too reductive, and vulnerable to manipulation through agenda. Whereas, 'catalytic agency' denotes a freer more wide ranging agenda-less, but not directionless, capacity. Who knows what new and surprising perspectives could be stirred and revealed? The arts per se are not the solution, but their catalytic agency can be a potent ingredient helping to stir humanity's imagination, generating creative and new questions... and answers. It's more hopeful!

But, what are art's barriers?

These barriers scream for attention, truly narcissistic in intent, myopic in vision, sensationalist but not sensational...secretly holding hands with apathy. Here's some examples:

• The ubiquity of fashion and style,
• money commandeering as value,
• the cult of celebrity,
• labels misidentified as meaningful symbols,
• sentimentality mistaken for beauty,
• simple copying misunderstood as piercing appropriation,
• super/hyper-reality quelling nuance,
• technical virtuosity mistaken for creativity, 
• didacticism masquerading as wisdom,
• virtual reality insidiously eroding the psyche.

Planet $ Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

 

MASS MEDIA
With mass media and its incessant reminder of disaster and mayhem in pictures, videos and words, the arts must somehow differentiate to be distinguishable in the maelstrom. And, to be distinguishable and affective [ie: transformative] the arts cannot simply or only reflect back. Indeed, this kind of reflectivity is ably and grotesquely the domain of 21st century mass media. It cannibalises disaster swooping for graphic images. Why would art want to compete? Mass media persistently reminds us of the blood, gore and human suffering, which I suggest, desensitises and neuters us to the point where hope fades, fear cascades, contempt for humanity escalates. Better to bury your head in the sand or in fashion or other 'entertaining' diversions?

So, what about the arts and hope...and team humanity?

And, how do I engage with current events in a way that does not neuter me?

All Of Us Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm

I think generating, or trying to generate, hope is astutely political. So, that's what I try to do in my paintings. I find inspiration in cosmology, the scientific study of the universe, if not the Multiverse. The ever increasing perspectives it reveals, across the close and far distances of the Universe, demand our attention! And, why should we indeed pay attention? These perspectives offer us new ways of viewing ourselves and our planet. For instance, they make it both painfully and beautifully obvious that 'Team Humanity' has only one shared home! Shouldn't we work together to look after ourselves and Earth, not only for the now but also the future?  Cosmic perspectives reveal new questions and demand rethinking about land 'ownership', borders and boundaries. They also re-contextualise human history against Uni/Multiversal history, begging reappraisals of relationships, from the individual to the international. All of this does not mean no robust debate, but it might mean de-escalation of war and conflict, horror and destruction?

Meeting Place Of The Mind Oil on linen 100 x 70 cm

So, in my paintings I try to visually interpret cosmic perspectives in a way which is hopeful, but also questioning eg: Planet $ above. I use age-old transcultural/religious symbols, mainly the tree-of-life plus landscape. With both, I attempt to untether them from traditional visual interpretations by catapulting them into Space and beyond.

My intentionally ambiguous 'scapes' disallow didacticism, thus leaving it up to the viewer to explore and interpret, even if they are initially disorientated.

The dark side, however, does still exist in absentia. It is not ignored, but acknowledged and then deliberately set aside. To not acknowledge would be naïve. The active choice to set aside means hope reigns.

Blood Connection Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm

A SELECTION:
Of Previous Posts Linked To This One-In Some Way Or Another!

WAITING FOR THE BEEPS
AGENDA-LESS BUT NOT DIRECTIONLESS
COSMIC OUROBOROS
STIRRING THE STAR DUST: A Short Story About Digging
DIPLOMACY
ART PERSPECTIVE AND POLITICS
BEAUTY GIVES HOPE A CHANCE
BEAUTY AS A PORTAL
AFTER THE IMPLOSION

Life Takes A Cosmic Perspective Oil on linen 91 x 137 cm 2014

 

UNTETHERING LANDSCAPE

 

 my next solo exhibition

 

2 - 14 September 2014

 

Graydon Gallery

29 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Earth, The UNIVERSE

Please visit Untethering Landscape's Webpage HERE

 

Cheers,

Kathryn
www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

ARE WE THERE YET?

Are We There Yet? Oil on linen 80 x 140 cm

 

On long trips young children are inclined to ask, 'Are we there yet?' more than once or twice! Indeed, my own children, on long drives to and from Goondiwindi*, were inclined to ask this question a lot. One daughter more so than the other two. She did not like to sit still for very long. She'd start asking within minutes of leaving on a four to five hour drive!

 

I remember asking the same question of my parents too. Like my daughter I did not like to sit still for long periods of time. That was back in the days when time seemed to travel so, so, so slowly...when a half hour math class seemed an excrutiating eternity and a whole year was beyond that!

 

 

Photos of me [aged about 6] and my brother Wilfred in the back seat of our car. From memory a trip to Brisbane from our home at Dalby to visit our grandparents. In the 1960s this took about 4 or slightly more hours...an eternity! You can tell Wilfred is a lot happier than me! In fact he looks quite mischievous. 

 

But, the question Are we there yet? has a much wider amplification into various human endeavours and activities, from literal travel to individual self improvement and beyond to 'enlightenment' and spirituality. The question implies a destination, whether it is a geographical location or a hoped-for outcome or a state of being or a spiritual 'place' [literal or within the psyche]. But, does it also perhaps imply an inability to make the most of the present? I remember distracting my impatient daughter by drawing her attention to all sorts of things, from grazing cattle and horses, kangaroos hopping beside the road, pretty clouds wafting across the sky. She would spend a few minutes watching and thinking, before again asking...'Are we there yet?'

 

* Goondiwindi is a small rural town on the border of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.

 

 

ARE WE THERE YET? OIL ON LINEN 80 x 140 cm

 

So, to my painting Are We There Yet?.  I wanted to create an ambiguous landscape...and regular readers know this is something I like to do. I wanted a sense of flying, as if the viewer has reached the outer edge of a planet....which could be Earth, but maybe it is not? Hence my title...Are We There Yet?...suggests that perhaps we have travelled to another planet...perhaps in those round blue balls? Maybe we have just left Earth for a very long trip and this painting is the last fly-by? Or, maybe the landscape is a metaphor for our internal 'landscapes' of psyche or soul?

 

I thought about this painting after reading various articles, including a very recent one in National Geographic Most Earthlike Planets Found Yet: A "Breakthrough", about discoveries of planets that, maybe... just maybe, could be like Earth. There are a couple of implications stemming from the suggestion that these planets may support life. One is that they already have life in some form and the other implication is that humanity could find another 'home' on these newly discovered planets. Each of these implications have a myriad of others!

 

In the event of Earth's destruction, possibly orchestrated by aberrant individuals or groups, or as a result of our sun's slow and increasingly heat fuelled demise, or a wayward meteor causing nighmarish destruction of our life sustaining environment or indeed humanity's destruction of our life sustaining environment, we [humanity] may need a new home. Imagine remnants of humanity travelling on space craft to planets, possibly 1000s of light years away. New life would be born during the trip to the promised land. Imagine how many would be asking 'Are we there yet?' or 'When will we get there?' But, maybe scientists will send a special mix of human DNA, which upon some pre-determined trigger, forms into humans? But, who would ask the very human question 'Are we there yet?'

Indeed, as we seek to know more about our Universal environment, I think there is perhaps an equally vast internal one to explore as well.

 

As I look out my office window, it all seems so fanciful and impossible. It is a perfect Brisbane autumn day. The sky is a gorgeous blue and the sun settles softly on leaves and flowers. Birds are chirping and a soft breeze gantly drifts through my window tickling my cheeks.  Yep, I've just returned to the present after travelling in my imagination to distant futures and celestial destinations!

 

You will notice the small blue tree...my reference to the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life symbol. As regular readers know, it is a dominant visual guide in my work. I like it because it offers wisdom. I love t because it symbolises life across eons of time, cultures and religions.

 

A recent related post and painting is ON MY TRAVELS I SAW

 

 

BITS AND PIECES

•  COSMIC OUROBOROS is the most visited post on my BLOG
• Since my lucky experience with social networking working at its best ...when Deepak Chopra retweeted Nancy Ellen Abrams tweet about my painting and post COSMIC ADDRESS...it is now the 6th most popular post on my BLOG...even though it was only written in March this year! Very grateful. You can follow me on TWITTER HERE
• COSMIC ADDRESS is the title for my next exhibition  15-10-13 to 27-10-13 at Graydon Gallery, Brisbane. I am really excited about this show.
• My last post LET THERE BE LIGHT is a small online exhibition of selected 'light' inspired paintings. I link them back to my website where other details, including pricing, are listed.

 

Until next time,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com