Complicity 1, 2, 3

1990 - Qld. Art Gallery, Brisbane

- Complicity  l  Pyramid

- Complicity  2 Wall,

- Complicity  3 Arch

Milk crates; cubes of stone caged in wire mesh; neon; transformer; electrical leads; photographs.

Conceived at the time when the Berlin Wall was dismantled, Tiananmen Square erupted, chaos theory and self organising criticalities captured the popular imagination, and ecological issues entered public awareness as both a global and local responsibility.

An evolving installation consisting of three consecutive components constructed through a rearrangement of the same base materials. Each section was photographed prior to its deconstruction and reconstruction. The documentation was made accessible to the viewing public. The total work was only available as a conceptual time based ephemeral experience. The materials and components were chosen for their ambiguity as historical and symbolic forms. Each structure was facadal and contained some form of incompleteness and some degree of ambiguity in relation to whether they were arising or disintegrating.

Each facade was embellished by a "cryptic" blue neon sign. This   represented a section of a sine curve, and is symbolic of the waveform of many of our invisible energies (sound, microwave etc).  Blue has connotations of spirituality as does light. This brings into focus the question of our belief systems. The cords connecting the neon to the transformer box were featured as an umbilical-like attachment to the power supply.

The use of caged stone continues the environmental theme of the works and references the huge swathes of caged stone that line the motorways as we drive across the Australian landscape, carved and tailored to accelerate our progress.