This brand-new exhibition is an immersive experience that’s part of South Australia’s Nature Festival.
Originally published in The Note | Words by Tobias Handke
The Bob Brown Foundation’s Art for Takayna makes its SA premiere this month at Immersive Light and Art (ILA) with a brand-new immersive experience as part of South Australia’s Nature Festival.
Running from Friday 18 September to Saturday 10 October, the striking exhibition showcases work created by Australian artists during Bob Brown Foundation’s annual artist residency in Takayna. A unique, multidisciplinary art project, the exhibition spans photography, painting, sculpture and more from artists such as First Dog on the Moon, Jon Kudekla and Oakey. The art captures the beauty of Tasmania’s sacred Takayna, a sprawling area of wilderness made up of mountains, rugged coastlines and Australia’s largest temperate rainforest.
Takayna has remained mainly unchanged for millions of years. Deeply significant to First Nations people, it is home to several endangered species but remains under constant threat from mining and logging.
This exhibition aims to raise awareness of Takayna’s beauty and significance as part of the Bob Brown Foundation’s national campaign to protect the area as a World Heritage-listed national park and return it to Aboriginal ownership.
Adelaide artist Dave McEvoy took a grand piano into Takayna as part of his residency with the Bob Brown Foundation. A filmed recording of his improvisation on the instrument as the forest wakes at dawn will be shown as part of the exhibition in ILA’s studio, complemented by a brand-new immersive experience created specifically for ILA’s one-of-a-kind 110m2 LED screen studio.
Speaking about the performance, McEvoy said, “My time in Takayna gifted me a profound and lasting sense of wellbeing. Making music there, I became viscerally aware of a deep interconnectedness, and I felt as though the forest, a wise and benign benefactor, was holding out a lifeline to us as a species. Takayna is home to one of the world’s last great temperate rainforests, a globally significant ecosystem. I hope through my music I can amplify the message of the urgent need to preserve it for the well-being and survival of future generations.”
Immersive Light and Art
Level 1, 63 Light Square, Adelaide
South Australian Style Magazine 