What does it truly mean to be human? To be part of a world designed and influenced by others?
WORLDING curator Dr Amber Smith encourages viewers to consider how we navigate, interact with and envelop the objects and ideas that form our world.
‘By confronting our own attempts to world-build, we gain insight into the purpose of worlding being about identity and creating an environment that signals back to us – sometimes unconsciously – our identity and essentials like security and self-actualisation. We like to know that our immediate world meets our needs and desires,’ Smith writes.
WORLDING erodes limits and explores multicultural and cross-disciplinary artists’ perceptions of world-building. While the scale of the exhibition may be intimate (with only 12 artists on show), each piece fosters a yearning for a deeper connection as we reflect on our own disposition. It’s an immersive experience, inviting viewers to engage with the art through our own lens.
From themes of object permanence and consumerism to myth and fiction, WORLDING celebrates idiosyncrasy exquisitely. A captivating journey through video, digital works, sculptures, installations and historical materials, compelling viewers to constantly re-evaluate.
At first, this reviewer searched for connections between the artworks, but then grasped the beauty of their disunity. Artists, truth be told, view the world through a ‘force-field of imaginative metamorphosis’, as beautifully described by artist Batia Suter.
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Personally, this reviewer found solace in exploring the thoughts and ideas of others. Perhaps it’s the universal yearning for belonging, a thread woven throughout history and time. It makes the coexistence of expressive freedom and a fascination with rules feel natural: a tension that fuels creativity.
Overall, this exhibition – a bridge between the self and the world – whispers a comforting truth: perhaps we are not so different after all.
WORLDING is open now until 19 July 2024 at Platform Arts, Geelong; free entry.
