Dark Cartographies

‘Dark Cartographies’ is a slowly evolving meditation upon seasonal change, life after light and the occluding shadows of human influence. Through creating experiences of the many ‘times of a night’ the work allows participants to experience deep engagement with rich spectras of hidden place and sound. By amplifying and shining light upon a myriad of lives lived in blackness, ‘Dark Cartographies’ tempts us to re-understand seasonal change as actively-embodied temporality, inflected by our climate-changing disturbances.

‘Dark Cartographies’ uses custom interactive systems, illusionary techniques and real time spatial audio that draw upon a rich array of media, including seasonal, nocturnal field recordings sourced in the Far North Queensland region and detailed observations of foliage & flowering phases. By drawing inspiration from the subtle transitions between what Europeans named ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’, and by including the body and its temporal disturbances within the work, ‘Dark Cartographies’ creates compellingly immersive environments that wrap us in atmospheres beyond sight and hearing.

‘Dark Cartographies’ continues our presentation of a series of dynamic new installations directed & choreographed by environmental cycles; alluding to a new framework for making works that we call ‘Seasonal’. These powerful, responsive & experiential works draw attention to that which will disappear when biodiverse worlds have descended into an era of permanent darkness – an ‘extinction of human experience’. By tapping into the deeply interlocking seasonal cycles of environments that are themselves intimately linked with social, geographical & political concerns, participating audiences are therefore challenged to see the night, their locality & ecologies in new ways through extending their personal limits of perception, imagery & comprehension.

SHOWINGS:
V01: KickArts Contemporary Arts, cairns, Qld, Australia. 17 March – 12 April, 2014.

TEAM: Keith Armstrong (Artistic director), Lawrence English (Co-Director), Luke Lickfold (MaxMSP Design).
Seasonal media project Project consulting Scientists. Dr. Peggy Eby (Behavioural Ecologist), Tim Pearson (Ecologist), Heidi Millington (Ecologist/GIS Mapping).

PARTNERS: Australia Council For The Arts, QUT Creative Industries, Arts Queensland, Queensland Museum. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Keith Armstrong is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts’ and QUT Creative Industries.