Noospheres

Statement

from the Greek word, Noos (the mind). The world dominated by the human mind. An artificial environment gradually replacing the biosphere (the naturally evolving world which has existed for billions of years).

The work presented in this exhibition is the result of sustained interest in art and ecology. Issues focus on the site specific….Fletchers Lake, a salt lake in South West NSW. An important once natural space, but exploited and environmentally degraded lake.

This work was submitted for a Master of Visual Arts at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
The battleground between nature and culture, through the palimpsest layers of interpretation was continued and extended in this period of study. 

In a series of scanned photocopies installed in large grid formations, Noosphere explored the notion of the oasis; a rich and bountiful paradise. This mimics the reshaping of the natural biosphere into a noosphere. Shapes of artificial grass or turf (spheres) were placed onto the lake beds, and then photographed. Deliberately degraded by the poor quality photocopy process, the mediated images further distance the viewer from the landscape. We are forced to view the landscape through these framed and imposed interventions, like looking through a lens to an artificial world.