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On 09/27/2006 07:21 AM Lisa says:
I had a kind of premonition that I’d be called out today to do casual teaching, and sure enough…
But it’s strange also that you should send this extract about Scott.
It’s our weaknesses that can drive us, and I do have a great fear of spending a year in Antarctica as much as I desire it – for the challenge, particularly through the dark months.
I relate to Stephen Eastaugh’s still-sickness and discomfort of being stuck (or feeling stuck) in one place. Animation can keep you moving, mentally as well as physically.
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Below is the Application I wrote to the Australian Antarctic Division last year in a bid for a second, longer residency on the continent. At the start of this document, my text has the vertical line to the left, with Simon’s suggestions made between. The rest is my own work.
A lot of time is spent researching and writing applications like these, and you can feel very removed from the process of art making. I found it important to write however, to be very clear about what I would do on a very practical level. And as I wrote, I thought through strategies for dealing with the possibility of not going to Antarctica again. I was important that once the application was posted that I worked out ways to proceed with the project from where I live – in Sydney.
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Application for Australian Antarctic Fellowship:
On 9/27/06, Lisa Roberts wrote:
Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship proposal:
Animating Antarctic Landscape>
Antarctic Landscape as evidence
[Perhaps the animation is more of a method of bringing the meaning of the landscape to life. Be clear up front about what you are proposing and why it is important.]
The Antarctic landscape is a key indicator for the rest of the world. This landscape is changing dramatically. The changes have environmental, scientific and cultural meaning that needs to be made visible if they are to be understood outside the Antarctic community.
It is proposed to record and integrate the evidence of change into a geospatially mapped artistic expression and to communicate this work to a global audience.
Specifically to:
Animate my own (artistic) and other people’s (scientific, biographic, historical, fictitious) responses to Antarctic landscape.
Identify particular locations in and around an Antarctic base that might be suitable as vantage points for observing, drawing and animating the changes in the landscape over a year.
Draw, paint, photograph and annotate selected locations within and beyond the base at daily, weekly and/or monthy intervals (determined by aesthetic/scientific significance, availability, logistics).
Explore the possibilities of animating scientific data that describes changes in the landscape we cannot see with our naked eye.
Keep an ear out for stories people may want to share, of Antarctic moments they’ve experienced, imagined or know about, and that they may allow me to animate, and record their voices telling.
Animate from what’s imagined (the myths and imaginings of myself and others), making good use of the library for research and (if offered) stories shared by base residents.
Explore the possibilities of linking animations to specific locations on a map of Davis, as the interface to access different (animated) perspectives of particular locations within and beyond the base. ‘Layers’ of knowledge (scientific, aesthetcic) surrounding selected locations might then be ‘read’ .
Maintain a website for putting up the animations as they accumulate, alongside daily journal entries including credits, annotations and related observations.
Build and animate a series of small assemblages from locally found discarded objects and waste materials.
Exhibit artwork and animations in the ‘Sat. Dome,’ or other Antarctic base venue
Then you explain why you are the right person to be doing this. You can refer to your doctoral research here.
Everything I have done to date has prepared me as the right person at the right time in the right place to realise this work.
Then you explain the kinds of tools and methodologies you will be using
Tools are now available for me to record observations in real time. All that’s required now is sufficient time in Antarctic landscape to observe, draw, animate, and annotate its changes.
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The work involved in my proposed activity:
IN ANTARCTICA I will:
Animate my own (artistic) and other people’s (scientific, biographic, historical, fictitious) responses to Antarctic landscape.
Identify particular locations in and around an Antarctic base that might be suitable as vantage points for observing, drawing and animating the changes in the landscape over a year. Draw, paint, photograph and annotate selected locations within and
beyond the base at daily, weekly and/or monthy intervals (determined by aesthetic/scientific significance, availability, logistics). Explore the possibilities of animating scientific data that describes changes in the landscape we cannot see with our naked eye. Keep an ear out for stories people may want to share, of Antarctic moments they’ve experienced, imagined or know about, and that they may allow me to animate, and record their voices telling. Animate from what’s imagined (the myths and imaginings of myself and others), making good use of the library for research and (if offered) stories shared by base residents. Explore the possibilities of linking animations to specific locations on a map of Davis, as the interface to access different (animated) perspectives of particular locations within and beyond the base. ‘Layers’ of knowledge (scientific, aesthetcic) surrounding selected locations might then be ‘read’ . Maintain a website for putting up the animations as they accumulate, alongside daily journal entries including credits, annotations and related observations. Build and animate a series of small assemblages from locally found discarded objects and waste materials. Exhibit artwork and animations in the ‘Sat. Dome,’ or other Antarctic base venue
ON RETURN I will:
Write up the experience and observations as part of my PhD research at COFA (College of Fine Arts), University of NSW, (also to be publishedon-line).
Assemble drawings, paintings and animations for installation/exhibition at galleries and education institutions (eg COFA, s.p.a.c.e., and others to be identified ).
Design the interface for integrating the reference work (The Antarctic Dictionary, Hince, 2000) with the completed animated artwork, and publish on-line for open access.
The final product will be an animated artwork (digital film) that proposes the notion of a shared visual language of Antarctic landscape. A version of the artwork will be designed for interaction with words from The Antarctic Dictionary (Bernadette Hince, 2000), for on-line open access (website). The animated artwork and its associated small scale drawings, paintings and assemblages, will constitute a portable ‘roadshow’ (exhibition), suitable for traveling to art galleries and education institutions. It is envisaged that the completed collection be held in a small roadcase, for safekeeping by the Australian Antarctic Division, as part of its equipment to promote Australia’s Antarctic year-round presence.
Work identifiable with AntarcticaThe work-in-progress and competed work will identify Australia’s year-long Antarctic presence. Through the on-line journal to be maintained throughout the residency, and the completed on-line art/reference work, an international public will be able to identify with different perspectives of humans in an Antarctic landscape. The
connection with the already known Antarctic Dictionary ensures this work is identified with Antarctica. The international work of scientists working on an Australian Antarctic base will be identified through animated data (if available). Visual references will to be made between current work and some of the history and fiction surrounding early Antarctic expeditions, some of which (such as Hurley’s images) have become iconic.
Fulfilling objectives of the Arts Fellowship
In line with the mission of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to value, protect and understand Antarctica, the proposed work aims to raise Australian and international awareness and appreciation of its landscape, our presence within it, and the different ways people can connect with it. From tiny details such as the delicate dance of snowflakes through air, to the vast forces of a katabatic wind, this unique natural environment will be brought to life. Animated scientific visualizations will reveal evidence of Australian and international scientific and environmental research.
Most people will never get to experience a whole year in Antarctica. I aim to portray aspects of the extreme Antarctic landscape as it might be experienced daily by those different people who make up an Antarctic base community. Cooperation and sharing of knowledge are values upheld through international Antarctic treaty. These values will be honoured through a communitarian approach to developing the work.. As I have experienced ( V7 2002), much knowledge and appreciation of the landscape is shared. I gained insights and understandings about the landscape from scientists, trades people and crew alike. Something of this sharing is what I’d like the animations to reflect. Sharing and cooperation will be important to the success of my programme in revealing a shared visual language of Antarctic landscape. This work offers an imaginative and engaging way of understanding the environment from scientific and aesthetic perspectives.
Benefit to Australia’s Antarctic Program
From the start of the journey and into the future beyond, this project will benefit Australia’s Antarctic program through its website andcompleted artwork. It is envisaged that the complete collection of digital and physical artworks be held in a small roadcase. This will be offered for safekeeping to the Australian Antarctic Division as part of its equipment to promote this country’s Antarctic presence. Through exhibition of its contents, both on-line and in various physical locations, the Australian Antarctic program of science – to value, protect and understand that landscape – will be promoted. Designed
specifically to engage people anywhere in Australia’s activities there over an entire yearly cycle, from a range of scientific and aesthetic perspectives, the work will inform and educate about Australia’s Antarctic work in ways never before seen.
Capacity to reach significant audience
Through this work, anyone will be able to make their own journey around an Antarctic landscape through time (a year), and space (a map), via a web browser from a website. A location map and links from that will be made accessible at any time, as the interface is developed. A media rich version of the completed work will be made available on CD, with links to the on-line presence. A larger map interface, and large screen projection could also turn one person’s journey through the interface into a shared experience to a larger audience. Through integrating the artwork with the reference work – The Antarctic Dictionary – a wide audience will be reached, of students, researchers, and a general public interested in accessing new information about Antarctica in new ways.
Prominence in field
As well as having produced the first interactive artwork in Australia to be integrated with a mainstream reference work (Roget’s Circular/Macquarie thesaurus, Macquarie Library 2002), I have a strong background as an independent exibiting artist and in working as a community artist in various locations around Australia. See Bio:
http://www.lisaroberts.com.au/content/bio/bio.php
Originality and Innovation
Digital tools are now available to record observations in real time. My work brings to this technology a more direct connection with landscape than digital media alone can offer, through the direct (eye to hand) techniques of ‘plein air’ drawing and painting. Drawings and paintings made on location have an immediacy about them that is unique to time and
place. To draw is to see, and to reveal the essential lines observed. Unlike digital photographs and video, animations made through such a direct observation offers the viewer a vicarious sense they they might be experiencing the places themselves.
Integrating a multimedia artwork with a reference work is a whole new genre of digital publication, which I first explored with Roget’s Circular in 2001. This interactive artwork, made to reveal two different perspectives of place and time (my own and fellow traveler Melissa Smith), was integrated with the Macquarie thesaurus for their first electronic edition on CDROM.
Now, inspired and encouraged by the work of Bernadette Hince (Antarctic Dictionary, 2000), I now explore the possibility of a shared visual language , of which I will be just one speaker, and make a work that reveals the many ‘voices’ of Antarctic observers. Examples of experiments already made into this can be seen at:
www.lisaroberts.com.au/content/antarcticanimation/antarcticanimation.php
The Antarctic Dictionary reflects a shared language of words, their meanings shaped by experiences of individuals in this extreme landscape.
To explore the notion of a shared visual language of Antarctica as an artwork, and make connections with a spoken language, is the next step for me in my research. It’s something I can contribute to the study of a visual syntax for that international language of imagery offered in this digital age of ‘instant messaging’.
I want to use this instantaneous imaging technology to have us ponder year’s labour by Humans and Nature in one place – Antarctica.