Landscape 3: Shrine

'Landscape3: Shrine' 1987

A nomadic, demountable environment, 'Shrine' consisted of a double Tori gate constructed from recycled timber, and a suspended cast resin slab; 3 house shrines; a zinc alumina pool surfaced with ceramic tiles; a timber deck; red scoria; earth, oil lamps, and fires. Paper prayers were burnt invoking safe passage for spirits.  Living plants, were used as a sculptural and a symbolic element.

The actual caretaking of the artwork, that is, the daily tending of the fires, the watering of the plants, replaced the water cycles of Landscape 1 and 2. This also became another performance element whereby the installation 'exhibited' its dependence on the artist/curators who are responsible for maintaining the exhibition as a vulnerable, dynamic, living and ephemeral entity/experience.

The overland trip to Adelaide was 'performed' over three days. Each night one of the house shrines was erected and the oil lamp lit and prayers burnt invoking 'safe passage for spirits'. This was documented and exhibited in the gallery adjacent to the courtyard together with photographs of 'Performances in the Landscape: Shrine'.

The rituals were performed and documented for both the Summer Solstice as well as the Winter Solstice,1986. The solstice acknowledges the end of a cycle. It is a turning point, symbolically a moment of death and renewal. Prayers were burnt invoking 'safe passage for spirits'. First the fire, and then the bodies and their biers were consumed by the incoming tide. Simultaneously the shrines released the blossoms upon the waters.