All That Is Solid Melts Into Movement
(2018) Kaya Barry, Rea Dennis, Jondi Keane. Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, AU, 1 February - 4 March.
Almost 200 years ago, the stability of society and culture were seen to be dissolving under our feet. Marx’s famous phrase, “All that is solid melts into air” poetically described a world transforming into an uncontrollable collection of wills and desires.
Our contention is that the dissolution of society—that has led to the Anthropocene, the new geological era—is less a “melting” than a movement from vertical hierarchies of power to horizontal distributions of access. Today, there is no stable connection of ideas to structures. The experience is one of constant movement and uncertainty of the strength of the social fabric.
This exhibition examines how, despite constant movement, common ground can be found. Through the way ideas affect our lived experience, we will focus on the destabilized pillars of meaning and the measure and shifting value. All That Is Solid Melts Into Movement uses the basic conditions of horizontal and vertical / stasis and movement to explore how the unexpected movement of solid, immoveable things affects the way we orient ourselves and make judgements about our shared world.
A large movable wall, residing in the centre of the gallery, is moved backwards and forwards by the artists. A series of concrete footpath segments, on wheels, can be manoeuvred around the gallery floor. A cyclist zips in and out of the moving walls and floor pieces, adding another level of mobility to the gallery space. Whether walking on, pushing with, wheeling around, or staying still and observing - All That Is Solid Melts Into Movement offers an array of mobile, kinaesthetic, and sensory points of entry and immersion.
On the far wall a video of panoramic imagery depict Copenhagen's boardwalk, swaying to and fro and creating a dizzying viewpoint. Extract of the video projection "Copenhagen boardwalk":
A video of the pathway segments being moved:
