This is an Article Julie Ryder wrote about the Fybermotion project. The article was published in Textile Fibre Forum ( Issue4, No84, 2006)
http://www.ggcreations.com.au/tafta/ Textile Fibre Forum is an informative magazine showcasing Australian and international textile artists.
THE FYBERMOTION PROJECT
Belinda Jessup, Lucie Verhelst and Alistair Riddell
A desire to create an exhibition that could be fully experienced by the vision impaired provided the inspiration for Fybermotion, held at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space in November 2005, and the Belconnen Community Gallery in Canberra in August 2006.
Initial discussions between Lucie Verhelst and Belinda Jessup, recent textiles graduates from the Canberra School of Art ANU, identified aspirations of common interest that incorporated their individual areas of expertise. Jessup’s woven textiles utilise unorthodox materials such as metal wire, monofilament, reflective yarns, glass beads and lead thread, to produce ethereal hangings. Verhelst’s investigation into three-dimensional collapsible forms incorporate stitched and bonded surfaces built-up from paper, cloth, cellophane, acrylic and monofilament. Verhelst believes that a folded object exudes a feeling of stillness and rest, but when unfolded it takes possession of its surrounding space. It performs. She uses flexible materials together with the folding technique: paper because of its crisp character, plastic allowing longevity in these frequently handled objects; and cloth because of its tactile quality.
Verhelst and Jessup were motivated to produce an installation that was interactive, one that stimulated the senses of hearing, touch and sight, targeting children and the intellectually-physically-, and visually-impaired. Their desire to converge sound and motion with textiles lead them to Dr Alistair Riddell, Lecturer in Computer Music, Centre for New Media Arts (CNMA) at ANU, who acted as a mentor to the duo, and devised the electronics and sound effects of the exhibition.
To enter Fybermotion, you must first negotiate your way through a curtain of transparent knitted structures containing box-like forms. As you pass through them they jingle, and the faint, yet unmistakeable scent of roses emanates from them as they brush past your body. Behind this curtain lies an internal space created by a central steel frame that supports eight textile hangings.
All is still.
Until you move. Then sound and motion come into play, triggered by the viewer’s actions. The textiles start violently twisting back and forth in a random sequence, movements which are heightened by the accompanying sound effects. The soundtrack was composed by several of Riddell’s students at CNMA, and was developed from an initial recording of the sound that the textiles made as they were mechanically moved through the space. This initial recording was then digitally remixed into a new composition that plays in response to audience interaction.
To be in the middle of this cacophony is, at first, bewildering, then surprising, and finally exhilarating. The motorized textiles move unexpectedly through the use of movement sensors. One struggles to comprehend the sequence they are following, only to realise that it is completely random. As you exit the space, all becomes quiet and still again, and the textiles wait, with their kinetic impulses, until the next person steps into the arena.
In the semi-darkened space, Jessup’s gauzy textiles reflect ambient light, enticing you to investigate further. Made predominantly from monofilament and reflective yarns, their transparency belies their tensile strength, needed to withstand the mechanized manoeuvres to which they are subjected.
In contrast, Verhelst’s structures are seemingly rigid, yet their pieced construction enables them to move with grace and fluidity. These pieces are variations on a theme – predominantly cyclamen in colour, they incorporate varying arrangements of circular cut-outs, reminiscent of the aesthetics of Braille. This decoration is reiterated in the large reflective artwork decorating the walls of the gallery space. On the back wall several words in Braille are formed from hot pink dots: ‘Sight, Scent, Sound’; and on another wall: ‘Fybermotion’. The colours and circular formations also recur through Jessup’s textiles and some collaborative, narrow, embroidered strips of weaving within the inner space.
I was puzzled as to why the colour pink had been chosen for an exhibition for blind people. “It is a common misconception that people who are registered as ‘sight-impaired’ cannot see ” explains Jessup. “In fact, many can partially identify shapes and colour, so even though our choice of colour was arbitrary, it certainly makes an impact!” The contrasts provided through colour, light, materials, technique, mass, sound and motion all combine to provide a journey of discovery for a group of people who rarely derive such sensorial qualities from mainstream artworks.
A special viewing of the exhibition was arranged for the vision-impaired from the Royal Blind Society in Canberra, which proved to be a highlight for the artists. Their descriptions of how they experienced the installation helped the artists understand their own work from a different perspective. “The group was able to experience the works through touch, sound, smell and, in some cases, sight. Being able to touch things was a major reason for their visit. As artists, it was refreshing to see the responses and obvious pleasure these viewers had, and the memories the experience invoked” says Jessup.
This exhibition certainly stimulated many of my senses, and in some ways I was sorry that I couldn’t experience it through the attuned senses of the sight-impaired. Fybermotion is a brave and challenging exhibition demonstrating the empathy the artists have for the vision impaired in their community, and it is refreshing to see such articulate artists care enough to respond to the needs of others.
In 2004, Object Gallery in Sydney exhibited ‘Out of Sight- Tactile Art 2004’ which encouraged visitors to have a hands-on experience of contemporary works of art. For many blind or visually impaired people a visit to an art gallery, with exhibits that are roped-off or behind glass, can be an unrewarding experience. Exhibitions of this calibre not only raise awareness of the issues faced by people who are blind or vision impaired, but ensure that thought, and sense-provoking art works can be enjoyed by all.
The Fybermotion Project was supported by an Emerging Artists Grant from ArtsACT with additional sponsorship from the Independent Steel Company in Queanbeyan.
Julie Ryder is a textile designer/artist living in Canberra Australia. Ryder has an exhibition opening in Melbourne at Craft Victoria in April 2007 .
http://www.craftvic.asn.au/exhibit/upcoming.htmhttp://www.anbg.gov.au/artist-in-residence-2004/index.htmlhttp://www.anbg.gov.au/anbg/exhibitions/2005-art&briophyte/index.html
