Navigation was a four part curatorial series held at Articulate, Sydney, from June to September 2018. It drew together artists and writers whose work explores the navigation of urban space. Approaches included the articulation of space with the body, walking and mapping projects, explorations of way-finding and navigational aids, and interrogation of the divide between public and private space. The series as a whole shows the way navigation and movement not only explores but also defines space, physical and metaphorical, personal and public.

Exhibiting artists: Vanessa Berry, Rebecca Gallo, Caitlin Hespe, Judy Marsh, Sara Morawetz, Mollie Rice, Ebony Secombe, Margaret Seymour, Molly Wagner

Writers: Sasanki Tennakoon, Angela Garrick, Gabrielle Chantiri

Curator: Nadia Odlum

This exhibition took place on Gadigal land. Articulate and the artists acknowledge Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land. We offer our respects to the Elders – past, present and emerging – and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Navigation 4: Footsteps in The Corridor

Artists: Vanessa Berry, Rebecca Gallo, Judy Marsh, Sara Morawetz, Mollie Rice, Margaret Seymour

catalogue essay by Nadia Odlum

15 September - 30 September

Offered as a response to Parramatta Rd, a stretch of urban space that is hardly friendly to pedestrian activity, this exhibition claims space for walking by drawing together artists whose practices engage with processes of urban navigation. 

For more documentation of this exhibition, click here. Documentation by Molly Wagner

image details: Sara Morawetz, étalon(provisional light metre), 2018, vinyl, light, dimensions variable

Navigation 3: Caitlin Hespe, Which Way 

25 August – 9 September 

Opening event: Friday 24 August 6-8pm

Artist Statement

I am interested in ways. Ways we have been, come, and are going. In the things that mark our ways, and the things that direct them. 
I am currently studying for my Master of Fine Art at the National Art School, where my research-based practice is centred on art about tourism, places and direction finding. Exhibited as installation, Which Way will comprise collected anti-souvenirs and a series of obstruction devices constructed from found objects and inappropriate consumables. 

Caitlin Hespe

caitlinhespe.wordpress.com

The writer for this exhibition was Gabrielle Chantiri

For documentation of this exhibition, click here. Documentation by Molly Wagner


Navigation 2: Ebony Secombe, Navigating fear through empathy

14 - 29 July

Artist Statement

My practice explores the social, political and economic implications of urban development and renewal. Navigating fear through empathy hones in on what it means to exist in space and the many underlying fears that are implicit in our every day lives. We navigate our daily experiences of the world in accordance to various intersections of marginalisation and privilege. How we move through space is inseparable from our identities, the political is personal.

The installation and sculpture within this exhibition expresses these fears indirectly, through materiality, process and abstraction. While the works speak to a sense of fear, anxiety and trepidation my presence as a performing artist aims to counter this with an offering of empathy, whimsy and humour. Throughout the duration on the exhibition I will be performing in irregular intervals, interacting with the installation intuitively and presenting myself as a silent listening ear, while seated on the hand crafted hazard tape ottoman.

I provide no counsel, no expertise but sit silently and willingly, awaiting the presence of an audience member. I will sit with you in this moment, I will listen to you speak of your fears.

Ebony Secombe

ebonysecombe.tumblr.com/

The writer for this exhibition was Angela Garrick

For documentation of this exhibition, click here. Documentation by Molly Wagner

Navigation 1: Molly Wagner, No Trespassing

30 June- 8 July

Artist Statement

No Trespassing: the art and politics of walking in New South Wales is a process-based art project in which I walk the roads, highways and footpaths between Sydney and (eventually) Bathurst, New South Wales. The title highlights my sense of trespassing into lands and stories despite my practice of walking in public places and pedestrian zones, e.g. footpaths, the shoulder of the road, tracks and stories published for general access. I activate and share the historical and contemporary stories of these roads as a ‘Pedestrian Artist.’ My artworks are how I transform the roads into places rather than blurred images glimpsed through the windows of a speeding car. My walks are artistic and political acts that resist and confound contemporary habits of speed, spectacle, paranoia and consumption. 

I want to acknowledge and pay my respects to the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which I walk, on which I trespass.

Molly Wagner

www.mollylwagner.com

The writer for this exhibition was Sasanki Tennakoon.

For documentation of this exhibition, click here.

Using Format