Patricia Piccinini: Modified Terrain

Modified Terrain is the proposition of a new perspective on what constitutes an Australian landscape. Given the reality that the majority of the population is concentrated within metropolitan areas,¹ the perpetuation of the Australian landscape as desert and shoreline as somewhat redundant. Obviously, this is not refutation of the existence of such landscapes of this kind, but rather, a questioning of the dominance of such a narrow perspective of Australian landscape. Modified Terrain seeks to explore ideas of present and future landscapes, extending both the idea of the natural landscape and the concept of landscape itself. This is a landscape that incorporates signs of life, or signifiers of life, as much as it questions how the identity of such life is affirmed, and could be affirmed in the future.

Modified Terrain comprises two environments. These can be abstractly considered within an understanding of the concept of 'nature/ nurture'. The 'natural' environment features Patricia Piccinini's immersive video installation Swell and Christopher Langton's large sculptural installation work entitled Wall Flowers. The series of flowers by Langton offer the beauty of a hyper florist, with stylised flowers rendered enormous, dynamic and aesthetically perfect, if only superficially. The motorisation of the flowers conjures up the effects of the elements upon the flowers, like wind that whistles through the fields, but here the effect of the wind is refined and controlled, so that the blustering can never impede a perfect vantage point of the beauty of the flowers. The glossy finish of the flowers is reminiscent of morning dew captured in the early hours, improved upon through the permanence that the Wall Flowers offer. Here Langton captures the essence of flowers, gratifying perceptions of how flowers should appear, while dispensing with some of the inevitabilities of living matter, namely the propensity to live and die.

Similarly, Piccinini's Swell satiates an oceanic within virtual terms. The ebbing and flowing of the sea has been simulated through painstaking computer rendering. The three-screened video installation initially offers a serenity and romanticism frequently associated with the ocean. Yet, the brooding movement of the swells are so convincing as to progressively induce a nauseating affect akin to a mild form of motion sickness. The volatility and relentless power of the ocean becomes a kind of metaphor for the possibilities and consequences of the 'media space' and communication technology's fervent desire for more power, more capabilities and perhaps most frighteningly, more autonomy.

The 'nature' component represents a modification of the landscape itself, rendered perfect, yet arguably more closely aligned with preconceptions of how nature should be. Ultimately, however, it is through such perfection and consistency that modified nature of this kind must inevitably become unfulfilling. An alternative to the perfection offered by the idea of these works is the 'nurture' environment, which proposes the extension of what is traditionally regarded as landscape.

The 'nurture' environment beckons analysis of the landscape most familiar to Australians on a day-to-day basis. This vista is more likely to involve car parks and shopping malls than rainforests and isolated beaches. Piccinini's Car Nugget GL's can be considered as abstract sculptural objects and collectively, as a bizarre landscape of the future car park. The smooth lines and glossy sheen of the amorphic objects evoke all of the awe of being at a motor show, yet they confound this awe with the realisation of the perpetually static status of these 'cars'. They are not cars, for they have been rendered dysfunctional through their inability to perform the task for which they have been manufactured. What Piccinini offers us therefore is the essence of the car in all of its beauty, without the burden of function or consequence of the effects of the car on the environment.

Langton's Action Men incorporate people into an understanding of the environment. These three life size sculptures present the face of the Australian suburbs. Their rigid stance gives way to celebration, as music triggers the figures to move and dance. The synthetic tracksuits in which these figures are clad perhaps allude to the pursuit of comfort and leisure synonymous with the Australian way of life, while questioning the materiality within which this lifestyle is constructed.

Contrary to global stereotypes of Australian life, Koalas do not roam in every backyard. Nevertheless, these animals present an iconic representation of national identity and are therefore a reference point to all that is distinctive about this country. To this end Langton has created the larger than life work entitled Soft Centre, which features two giant inflatable koalas, modelled not on the animals themselves, but rather on the stylised koalas found on the packet of an Australian chocolate bar. These monumental koalas present these animals not as nature has created them, but rather, through the mechanisms that consumerism perpetuates their stylised image. As if modernising the fusion between humans and the environment, these koalas do not look upon their natural habitat, but the vista of car parts that are Piccinini's Panel Works. These panels of fabricated automotive exteriors echo the seductive qualities of the Car Nugget GL's, abstracted and removed further from their source of origin.

Modified Terrain is an attempt to extend and update the representation of an Australian landscape, while at the same time affirming it's distinctiveness. While presenting familiar objects and images of Australian landscape, Modified Terrain also provides a re-evaluation of the effects of humans and consumerism upon this environment. The works included within the exhibition rely upon their materiality to communicate their meaning. Indeed the highly stylised and seductive objectivity of the works acts both formally, to communicate, and ironically as a critique.

Mark Feary, 2002

1 The 1996 Australian Census estimates that the percentage of the Australian population that live in rural areas equates to around 12% of the overall population, with the remaining 88% living in urban and suburban areas.

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