NEW IDEAS Exhibition

As part of Sydney Design 2010, the Historic Houses Trust of NSW in collaboration with d/Lux/MediaArts and the College of Fine Arts (COFA) have produced NEW IDEAS, a digital media exhibition exploring the history of Government House and themes of heritage conservation and historic interiors.

Making use of Government House's environs and collections, artists from d/Lux/Media/Arts and COFA evoke different facets of the site's history through digital storytelling and new media technology. Participating artists include Damian Castadi and Solange Kershaw, Carolyn McKay, John A Douglas, Cassandra Hard-Lawrie and Joey Ratcliffe (presenting Cristina Cleveland), and Richard Fox (d/Lux/MediaArts), as well as students and staff from COFA.

The NEW IDEAS Exhibition is on at Government House from 28 July—8 August 2010. Closed 2 and 3 August; and 10-1pm on 7 August.

Run by the Historic Houses Trust, both events come under the NEW IDEAS banner, which stands for NEw Ways of Interpretation to DEvelop AccesS.

Drawing inspiration from the flowers and floral motifs in and around Government House, Carolyn McKay's work Flora intertwines three elements of the building: outside, inside and behind the scenes.

In Illuminations, John A Douglas's video collage portraits of the pre-Federation Governors of NSW—from Phillip to Lygon—draws on the tradition of figure-in-landscape and the Neo-Gothic aesthetic.

Richard Fox's mobile interactive work, Secret Scandals invites the audience to follow a written and pictorial tour of Government House that reveals dramatic stories from its history.

In Conversations (Damian Castadi and Solange Kershaw), the physical connection between the artwork’s sensor interface and the visitor will make it possible for anyone; looking at the artwork to play, stop, change and navigate through a series of thematic sound portraits developed for the work.

Rituals and Movements (by Cassandra Hard-Lawrie and Joey Ratcliffe, presenting Cristina Cleveland) combines a sculptural element and video to explore the notion that the Vice-Regal functions historically performed at Government House (both past and present) contain ritualistic gestures and movements at all levels—whether within the immediacy of ceremony or at a preparatory level behind the scenes.

[NEW IDEA graphic used with kind permission of HHT]

[IMAGE: video still from Illuminations - 'Arthur Phillip', John A Douglas]

Historic Houses Trust listing
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