Recent and ongoing projects

Guest Editor Artsource Newsletter

The latest Artsource newsletter was built around art and environments. As part of my role as a guest editor I decided to theme it around the concept of resilience. It was a great pleasure to assemble the 20 or so images of Western Australian art that varied from performance and painting to photography and site specific sculptures. I invited artist Gregory Pryor to contribute his article Our Life as Ants. I also wrote The trouble with sustainability (about ecological resilience) and produced A friendly practice (listing practical strategies for artists) and some links. Downloads of the original text are available from the writings page or as PDFs from Artsource. Copies of the entire newsletter are available from Artsource.

Green, grey or dull silver: Art and the behavioural ecology of the great bowerbird, Chlamydera nuchalis

This project runs from April 2007 to January 2008 with fieldwork taking place in the Kimberley between August and December. The residency is based at the SymbioticA art and science laboratory at The University of Western Australia. It is funded by the Australia Council Inter Arts program. Activities in the project will be blogged on this website.

The residency will research aspects of the collection of objects by male great bowerbirds and the vocalisations performed as part of their mating displays.

The great bowerbird is found across the tropical savannas of northern Australian. In common with related bowerbird species the male great bowerbird builds an avenue of twigs and collects stones, bones, shells and human-made objects that it places in piles at each end of the avenue. The two heaps and the avenue in between thus make up the bower. The primary function of the bower is as a display space for the male to exhibit its evolutionary fitness to the female. The male performs for the female by posturing and dancing and by taking up the collected objects in its beak and waving them at the female. The male makes a variety of noises including mimicry as part of this performance. The female visits a number of bowers before choosing a mate. She watches the performance from the safety of the avenue and when she has made her selection the two birds mate in the avenue.

Each species of bowerbirds has specific colours and shape criteria for the objects that the male collects. For the great bowerbird green, grey or white objects are preferred. Different types of objects are grouped in specific areas of the bower and the male spends time each day arranging and rearranging his collection, renovating his bower, and even stealing from or wrecking the bowers of his rivals.

The art project revolves around interacting with birds at the bowers. There are three discrete but concurrent conceptual approaches in Green, grey or dull silver. The first is to approach it by adopting an aesthetic standpoint of ‘interacting’ or ‘have a conversation’ with bowerbirds. The second is to undertake the process of science (as faithfully as possible) with a view to adding a small but accurate contribution to the knowledge of science. The third perspective is to undertake the process of science and use this performative experience as a material for artworks.

Proposed Timetable

Phase	Activity
First Month: April	preliminary investigations
	Initiate UWA ethics clearance for dealing with wild birds
	Confirm location of research site
	Investigate bird banding and organise professional expertise required
	Undertake literature search to determine extent of existing bowerbird scientific research worldwide and identify a small but discrete gap in great bowerbird scientific knowledge to be addressed in the project
	Enquire about regent’s bowerbirds at Perth Zoo (as possible backup)
	Investigate theoretical and practical aspects of bioacoustics that are relevant to the project
	Awaiting commencement of bowerbird breeding season
Second and third months: August and September	Fieldwork and processing of initial data.
	Visit field site during breeding season from August to February (best times: October to January)
	Locate and map bower positions
	Possible Colour band birds so that they can be identified in the field
	Quantify bower dimensions and contents. Quantify object colour, roundness, weight etc. Number material in different bowers. Perform removal tests to determine territory sizes. Place poetic material into/near bowers. Record spatial poetry produced.
	Record bird calls and video mating performances
	Return to Perth to process scientific and artistic results. Refine scientific and artistic experiments to be performed.
Fourth and fifth months: October and November	Developing connections Second visit to site during breeding season August to February (October to January) to perfect experiments and collect more focussed data.
	Analyse bird calls in Perth
	Work on artistic products and outcomes
Sixth month: December	Conclusion of scientific and artistic works
	Write up scientific results
	Finish spatial poetry artwork and other artworks developed as part of the project
	Bring together the potentials and learnings of the project
	Conclude with future possibilities
Continuous over length of residency	Record the process of the residency to generate creative content
	Cultivate bioacoustic contacts and environmental sound art network contacts
	Sit in on second semester course Behavioural Ecology where possible

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its principal arts funding and advisory body.

 

Vade Mecum (Walking Perth) Project 9 October to 17 December

Vade Mecum was a studio project at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. It was an open invitation for people interested in walking and locative media to meet and put their ideas and inclinations into practice. The aim was to develop a series of ten walks over the ten weeks of the residency.

 

fieldwork/fieldwalking

Images from the fieldwork/fieldwalking exhibition which ran from Saturday 26 August to Sunday 3 September at the Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery, Henry Street, Fremantle Western Australia are currently being processed.

 

Field Survey: The experiences of field researchers: on hold

As part of my PhD at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, I sought anecdotes about the experience of researchers in the field, and answers to why they might have chosen a career with fieldwork. In this particular case I define the field broadly as a place of research outside of the laboratory or the office. The survey officially ran until 31 May 2006 although I am very keen to follow up on this project after the PhD is finished in early September. For those people who participated in the project please make sure that you have signed and sent the statement of disclosure.

statement of disclosure/audio visual release as word document

You can download a word document containing the following three questions. Please answer in a few sentences:

1 What initiated your fieldwork experiences? (Can you describe the first time you went into the field? How old were you? What were your thoughts or feelings? How does it relate to what you do today?)


In bird watching, “jizz” is the ability to recognise a bird at a distance from its overall characteristics or pattern. It is different from using a key or a set of characteristics in a bird guide. It is something acquired after practice and as a result of familiarity. The same situation occurs in many other areas of research. For example: identifying grass species along the roadside whilst driving a car down a highway; or maybe recognising rock types on aerial photographs from the "look" of them.

2 Please describe an example of “jizz” in your fieldwork. (What (briefly) is the location and when does it occur? What are the characteristics of the “pattern”? How long does it take to get the “jizz” of it? Do your colleagues recognise your “jizz”?)


3 What has been your most memorable field experience? (This could be something pleasurable or frightening, moving or life defining. Describe your thoughts or feelings.)



This survey uses snowball sampling where initial contact leads to other contacts. Please pass these questions on to your field colleagues.

Remember: all replies should be sent to perdy@pobox.com

Deadline 31 May 2006

Your answers will be treated in confidence – you can opt to remain completely anonymous.

This survey is conducted as part of studies at Edith Cowan University. To fulfil the ethics requirements there is a one-page Statement of Disclosure/Audio Visual Release Form. All respondents will be asked to read and sign the form.