Collecting rocks with friends on Wadawurrung Country
AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 5 2022
Film by Rachel J Morley.
While perhaps mistaken for a indie album cover photoshoot, these images were captured by Rachel J Morley during the fourth Anthropic Rock Recovery Tour on a recent project development in Geelong. Together we navigated Geelong’s CBD, talking about concrete, rocks, dampness, moss, pigeons and spiritual convenience.
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UNSPACES: Anthropic [Concrete] Rocks tests a new way of navigating public space, redirecting attention to interstitial and quietly present remnants of development, maintenance and urban degradation. Through collection, interaction and intervention, the concrete [anthropic] rock is understood as a cultural artefact of the anthropocene. Shaped by the systems and behaviours performed by the public, concrete rocks transmute from waste matter to socio-cultural objects of interest.
Through a shared activity of seeking and collecting Anthropic [Concrete] Rocks in three intimate tours, the artist invites public participants to collaborate and converse in a durational workshop format. Encouraging active engagement with typically *invisible* urban spaces and questions of value, the project becomes a shared act of resistance through public maintenance, care and exchange. Collected Anthropic [concrete] Rocks from the Geelong Tours will be installed at Platform Arts and as temporary interventions around Geelong CBD.
Both the Gold Coast and Geelong are in a period of intense urban growth marked by increasing demolition, construction and infrastructure development. Through these processes, materials like concrete have edged their way into public spaces beyond the work site and are appearing as an everyday urban geological phenomena in *rock* form.
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UNSPACES: Anthropic [Concrete] Rocks tests a new way of navigating public space, redirecting attention to interstitial and quietly present remnants of development, maintenance and urban degradation. Through collection, interaction and intervention, the concrete [anthropic] rock is understood as a cultural artefact of the anthropocene. Shaped by the systems and behaviours performed by the public, concrete rocks transmute from waste matter to socio-cultural objects of interest.
Through a shared activity of seeking and collecting Anthropic [Concrete] Rocks in three intimate tours, the artist invites public participants to collaborate and converse in a durational workshop format. Encouraging active engagement with typically *invisible* urban spaces and questions of value, the project becomes a shared act of resistance through public maintenance, care and exchange. Collected Anthropic [concrete] Rocks from the Geelong Tours will be installed at Platform Arts and as temporary interventions around Geelong CBD.
Both the Gold Coast and Geelong are in a period of intense urban growth marked by increasing demolition, construction and infrastructure development. Through these processes, materials like concrete have edged their way into public spaces beyond the work site and are appearing as an everyday urban geological phenomena in *rock* form.
This project is funded by the Regional Arts Development through City of Gold Coast. The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and the City of Gold Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland. This project is supported by Platform Arts (Geelong) and GENERATE GC, which is a City of Gold Coast initiative delivered in partnership with Tasdance and SITUATE Art in Festivals.
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