20 May 2016
Year 10 Visual Arts students' excursion to the 20th Biennale of Sydney on Cockatoo Island
On Tuesday the 3rd of May the Year 10 Visual Arts student visited Cockatoo Island to view the art works of the 20th Sydney Biennale, a bi- annual art exhibition that showcases some of the best international contemporary visual artists.
Cockatoo Island's history as a convict prison, a reform school for girls and boys and its subsequent function as a shipyard for the Australian Navy offered a unique and unusual setting for this international art show.
The following report was written by Eric Bahk, Year 10
We made our way to Kogarah station early that morning; you could say we were just a bit excited to be going to Cockatoo Island. I was excited to travel on a ferry to the island; something rare for me. The Island was smaller than I expected but what it lacked in size it made up for in creativity.
Three artists from the Sydney Biennale were on show for our trip – Lee Bul, William Forsythe and Chiharu Shiota. The first work was by Chiharu Shiota; her artwork features strings and beds. Black strings criss-crossed the small room like spider webs holding seemingly heavy beds at obtuse angles. The artwork titled itself ‘Conscious Sleep' to symbolize the interconnection of the mind, body, emotions and memories. As the island used to be a convict prison, Conscious Sleep; in tandem with the prison and cells; produced a state of reflection upon the devastating physical and emotional experience of men long dead, connecting us to the past for just a moment.
We proceeded to the ruins of the "exercise-yard" and found huge speakers placed all over repeating one to two beats continuously. Some of the beats were irritating, but when they combined it made quite a nice beat, a bit like a heartbeat. The "exercise- yard" had thick sand-stone walls with "arrow slits" facing the ocean to shoot at any escaping convicts. Looking through one of the arrow slits I happened upon a beautiful view of city. Even Sydney's jellyfish floating along on the surface of the water added to the experience of our day.
We then found a huge high ceilinged old factory hall that demanded the attention of the whole class. Pendulums were suspended from the ceiling and swinging in a magnetic rhythm. These pendulums did not stop moving and at first I didn't understand what was going on before a helpful assistant explained that it was the artist William Forsythe who enjoys experimenting with installations, magnetic fields and the reaction of the audience. We all had a fantastic time running through the strings as if we were dancing, challenging each other to miss the oncoming pendulums at play.
Venturing on we found a huge hall even bigger than the pendulum room containing enormous unknown machinery. Helpful Ms Dauter explained how the machines; almost too big for our eyes to take in all at once; were once used to build battle ships.
The last artwork we looked at was by Lee Bul an artist from South Korea. This was an installation of a sizeable silver Zeppelin floating in a factory hall accompanied by a large transparent balloon. I wish I knew what any of this meant but I guess there's always more to learn and think about.
The day ended well as we took the ferry across the harbour, the wind blowing flowing gently over us as the sea sprayed.
After arriving home my legs stopped working; but it was nice to go out. A day well spent in the company of good friends, good teacher and exciting ideas.
