With the view to raising environmental awareness through art since 2001, the ‘Floating Land: at the edge of ideas’ biennale returns to the Sunshine Coast this month with a vibrant program of site-specific projects, tours, artist-led workshops, a symposium and performance works that will engage audiences in the beauty and fragility of the natural world, to reflect not just on the local environment but also more broadly.
Debbie Symons, Sing, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland
From 9 to 24 October, Boreen Point and Park Road Boardwalk at Noosa Heads will be transformed into an outdoor gallery of inspirational works by local, national, and international artists sharing their care and concern for the environment and reminding us of the urgency of climate change and its associations; pollution and the degradation of our lands and waterways caused by overt human consumption and our interactions with the environment, and asking ‘How far can we go?’
Installations include Sing, a collection of handwoven pendant nests by Debbie Symons’ equipped with mini speakers that project a choir of birdsong among the trees. Fabrizio Biviano’s Black Swan Theory sees 28 black swans made of reclaimed tyres floating on Lake Cootharaba, and Natalie Ryan’s underwater sculpture, A Fever of Sting Rays, pays homage to the rays of the lake with three life-sized bronze Whiprays shimmering just below the surface. Kristin McIver presents a text-based neon message in Tidal Piece, while Simone Eisler explores plant and animal life using paint and sculpture with augmented reality for Sea Spawn / Land Lay. Petalia Humphreys abstractly frames the landscape in Sightlines, and Amanda Bennetts’ Message Obscura ignites audience curiosity with recycled letterboxes.
