The Invigilator 2022
Welcome to The Illawarra Pavilion. Confabulated by the ArtHitects Gary Carsley and Renjie Teoh out of 3,563 overlapping A4 photocopy sheets, applied patiently over 24 consecutive days.
Linking the past and future of this region to the wider one of the Asia Pacific though objects from the Wollongong Art Gallery’s Mann-Tatlow Collection of Asian Art and Antiquity has enabled the ArtHitects to develop a distinctive visual language. One synthesised at the intersection of their diverse cultural backgrounds and different but complimentary creative practices as Artist and Architect. The ArtHitects through their commitment to labour as cognitive, contest the progressive collapse of work relative to capital through the distinction they make between representation and enactment as approaches to image making.
New subject biographies by members of the Illawarra Writers Centre complement the existing object one’s and can be accessed through the various QR codes embedded in the pavilion’s architecture. This adds new layers of meaning and value to the objects on display, enriching them by linking them to contemporary discourses. Please enjoy your visit and remember…. do not touch anything, as I will be watching.
- The Inviligilator (voiced by Yi Song)
The Illawarra Pavilion is invigilated by an 18th century (1765-1770) by a Derby porcelain figurine that has been in the collection of the Gallery since its inception. Invigilators watch over exams and guard exhibition displays and, in this work, animated by Runqing Ye and Yi Song the Derby figurine looks around casting her protective gaze over the Pavilion and its contents. The Invigilator introduces The Illawarra Pavilion and informs the viewer that supplementary content can be accessed through the numerous QR codes embedded in the Pavilion’s architecture.
Porcelain originally evolved in China and the use of Yi’s voice and facial expressions mapped by Runqing onto the face of the (originally) 11 cm high Derby figurine reminds us of the long history of cultural and technological exchanges between China and the West. We are mindful that the mutuality of this historical dialogue seems to have been forgotten in the present. The monitor speaker also delivers the soundscape composed by Louise Loh.
The soundscape is a vital part of the ambience of The Illawarra Pavilion and in addition to composing the soundscape’s music which features flutist Angie Wyatt, Louise also generated The Illawarra Pavilion’s master audio file. This contribution incorporates Louise’s music, Yi’s voice and a minute of silence which allows the visitor to hear the gentle tumbling of water down the face of The Escarpment, a microverse or moving water bowlscape that occupies a prominent position in the Illawarra Pavilion’s peristyle or internal courtyard.